Purdy's station is a

commuter rail Commuter rail or suburban rail is a Passenger train, passenger rail service that primarily operates within a metropolitan area, connecting Commuting, commuters to a Central business district, central city from adjacent suburbs or commuter town ...

stop on the

Metro-North Railroad The Metro-North Commuter Railroad Company , also branded as MTA Metro-North Railroad and commonly called simply Metro-North, is a suburban commuter rail service operated by the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA), a New York State publ ...

Harlem Line The Harlem Line is an commuter rail line owned and operated by the Metro-North Railroad in the U.S. state of New York. It runs north from New York City to Wassaic, in eastern Dutchess County. The lower from Grand Central Terminal to Southea ...

, located in

North Salem, New York North Salem is a Administrative divisions of New York#Town, town in the northeastern section of Westchester County, New York, Westchester County, New York (state), New York, United States. The town, incorporated in 1788, is a suburb of New York ...

History

In 1847, Issac Hart Purdy agreed to allow the

New York and Harlem Railroad The New York and Harlem Railroad (now the Metro-North Railroad's Harlem Line) was one of the first railroads in the United States, and was the world's first street railway. Designed by John Stephenson, it was opened in stages between 1832 and ...

to build their main line through the community for one dollar upon the condition that they establish a station within the community for both passengers and freight. NY&H was acquired by

New York Central and Hudson River Railroad The New York Central Railroad was a railroad primarily operating in the Great Lakes and Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States. The railroad primarily connected greater New York and Boston in the east with Chicago and St. Louis in the Mid ...

in 1864. The decline of the railroads after World War II threatened the very survival of the station until a descendant of Purdy drove to New York City with a copy of the original contract in order to thwart a potential closing in 1955. At some point, a smaller station house was built along the southbound track which still survives to this day. As with most of the Harlem Line, the merger of New York Central with

Pennsylvania Railroad The Pennsylvania Railroad ( reporting mark PRR), legal name as the Pennsylvania Railroad Company, also known as the "Pennsy," was an American Class I railroad that was established in 1846 and headquartered in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. At its ...

in 1968 transformed the station into a

Penn Central Railroad The Penn Central Transportation Company, commonly abbreviated to Penn Central, was an American Railroad classes, class I railroad that operated from 1968 to 1976. Penn Central combined three traditional corporate rivals, the Pennsylvania Railroad, ...

station. Penn Central's continuous financial despair throughout the 1970s forced them to turn over their commuter service to the

Metropolitan Transportation Authority The Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) is a New York state public benefit corporations, public benefit corporation in New York (state), New York State responsible for public transportation in the New York metropolitan area, New York Ci ...

which made it part of Metro-North in 1983. Work on adding an elevator began in 2022 and was completed in 2024.

Station layout

The station has one eight-car-long high-level

island platform An island platform (also center platform (American English) or centre platform (British English)) is a station layout arrangement where a single platform is positioned between two tracks within a railway station, tram stop or transitway inte ...

serving trains in both directions.

Bibliography

References

External links

*
Station from Purdys Road from Google Maps Street View

Articles related to Purdy's Station (I Ride The Harlem Line)
Metro-North Railroad stations in New York (state) Railway stations in Westchester County, New York Former New York Central Railroad stations Railway stations in the United States opened in 1847 1847 establishments in New York (state) {{NewYork-railstation-stub