Brewster (Metro-North station)

Brewster
The station building.
Location	9 Main Street Brewster, NY, 10509
Coordinates	41°23′41″N 73°37′11″W / 41.3947°N 73.6198°W / 41.3947; -73.6198Coordinates: 41°23′41″N 73°37′11″W / 41.3947°N 73.6198°W / 41.3947; -73.6198
Owned by	Metro-North
Line(s)	Harlem Line
Platforms	1 island platform
Tracks	2
Connections	Putnam Transit: PART 1 HART: 3, Danbury Shuttle
Construction
Parking	517 spaces
Disabled access	Yes
Other information
Fare zone	7
History
Opened	1848[1]
Rebuilt	1931[2]
Electrified	1984 700V (DC) third rail
Traffic
Passengers (2006)	284,700  0%
Services
Preceding station   Metro-North Railroad   Following station Croton Falls toward Grand Central Harlem Line Southeast toward Wassaic   Former services   New York Central Railroad Croton Falls toward New York City Harlem Division Dykeman's toward Chatham Terminus Putnam Division Tilly Foster toward Sedgwick Avenue Lake Mahopac Branch Tilly Foster toward Katonah

The Brewster Metro-North Railroad station serves the residents of Brewster, New York via the Harlem Line. It is the southernmost station in Putnam County. Trains leave for New York City every hour, and about every 25 minutes during rush hour. It is 52 miles (84 km) from Grand Central Terminal and travel time to Grand Central is approximately 1 hour, 24 minutes.

This station is located in the Zone 7 Metro-North fare zone.

A sizable amount of the station's ridership comes from across the Connecticut state line given the quicker trips, shorter headways, and (outside peak hours) lack of a mid-trip transfer to Grand Central as opposed to taking the Danbury Branch of the New Haven Line. Because of this, Housatonic Area Regional Transit (the Danbury-area mass transit provider) has a route and a shuttle connecting Danbury to Brewster station.

History

Railway service in Brewster can be traced as far back as the late-1840s when the New York and Harlem Railroad expanded their main line from Croton Falls to Dover Plains stations. Realizing that the NY&H was going to run through the Town of Southeast, Walter and James Brewster constructed passenger and freight stations in 1848, and donated the buildings to the railroad.^[3] By 1869 it also served as the terminus of a railroad named the New York and Boston Railroad which eventually became the New York and Putnam Railroad, and by 1881 it was also a terminus for the Boston, Hartford and Erie Railroad which was eventually acquired by the New York and New England Railroad. On March 7, 1913, the NY&P officially became the Putnam Division^[4] trains of the New York Central Railroad and Brewster served as the terminus of that line up until May 28, 1958 when passenger service was discontinued on the Putnam Division main line. After that point, there remained one Harlem Division train which traveled up the Lake Mahopac Branch to the Mahopac railroad station and continued over Putnam tracks and making stops on upper Putnam stations until arriving at Brewster station. This "around the horn"^[5] train lasted until April 2, 1959 when all passenger service was terminated.

As with most of the Harlem Line, the merger of New York Central with Pennsylvania Railroad in 1968 transformed the station into a Penn Central Railroad station. Penn Central merged with the New Haven Railroad and its affiliates in 1969 giving them control of all lines in the village. Penn Central's continuous financial despair throughout the 1970s forced them to turn over their commuter service to the Metropolitan Transportation Authority which made it part of Metro-North in 1983.

The station itself which dates back to 1931, is located next to downtown Brewster, on US 6. Since parking on the nearby streets is extremely limited, a large parking lot slightly uphill from the station serves commuters. Smaller parking lots are located along eastbound US 6 and on a private road named Ellen Avenue, where it is also notable for having a grade crossing right next to the station, like Katonah. Whenever northbound trains come through, the gates remain down for the entire time the train is in the station.

Platform and track configuration

This station has one four-car-long high-level island platform serving trains in both directions. The Harlem Line has two tracks at this location.

References

External links

• Media related to Brewster (Metro-North station) at Wikimedia Commons
• Metro-North Railroad - Brewster
• List of upcoming train departure times and track assignments from MTA
• Station from Google Maps Street View
• Brewster Railroad History (Southeast Museum)