| I made the drive down to Poughkeepsie, NY from Albany which is located about 75 miles north of New York City (by the route of the railroad). I parked my rental car on the Poughkeepsie side of the Walkway Over The Hudson State Historic Park and started walking across the bridge. This bridge once carried the New York, New Haven & Hartford Railroad's Maybrook Line. Today, its a walking and bike riding trail that provides great views of the mighty Hudson River. If you're ever in this area, I encourage you to visit this park! The photos shown here were taken during my visit, Enjoy!!! |
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| These posters are located on the Poughkeepsie side of the bridge and provide some good info on the bridge! |
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| Five Star Facilities await you at the park! Jeez I crack myself up!!! |
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The walkway begins. The parking lot behind me was where I parked my car and there are picnic tables on each side of the
walkway if you would like to have a picnic lunch before or after taking the walk. |
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There's still a few indicators that this was an active railroad mainline through here! On the left we have one of many old
telephone poles along the line and on the right is a former New Haven signal light! |
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Do not adjust your monitor, you are not seeing things! Yes, these are GOATS!!! A few local residents near the walkway brought
them out for a nice walk in the 38 degree December air on the day I was visiting the walkway!
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Walking further up the path, you pass some concession stands that are open probably on a seasonal basis (they were closed
the day I was there), and eventually see the gates on the east side of the bridge! |
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| A base from another signal light, now supporting a rock! |
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| And now on the bridge itself before going over the Hudson River! |
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| Looking south at the City Of Poughkeepsie. |
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| Another view of Poughkeepsie, this time looking north. |
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| Now getting closer to the river, we can see the Mid-Hudson Bridge in the background. |
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| The Franklin Delano Roosevelt Mid-Hudson Bridge! I drove over this bridge to get to Poughkeepsie so as to get here! |
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The Amtrak & Metro-North Station at Poughkeepsie. This is the farthest north that Metro-North operates. From this station south,
Metro-North owns and dispatches the mainline from here to Grand Central Terminal which is about 75 miles away!
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| You start to get an idea of just how big this bridge is when you start to see its shadow!!! |
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| The mighty Hudson River looking north! |
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| One of many tugboats and barges moving freight up and down the Hudson River! |
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| A couple Metro-North Commuter Trains sitting just north of the Poughkeepsie Station. |
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| A zoomed out view from the bridge of 2 Metro-North P32AC-DM's. |
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Of course, one of the things I wanted to do while waking over this bridge was to get in some railfanning! Here is Amtrak
Empire Service Train #256 arriving at Poughkeepsie Station. This train originated in Albany and is headed for New York. |
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| The beautiful American Flag flies high above the bridge, and yes, it was a bit windy today! |
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| On the west side of the bridge which is in Highland, NY, we have the CSX River Sub (the old Conrail River Line). |
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Another view of the Mid-Hudson Bridge from the Highland side of the walkway. |
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| The end of the bridge on the Highland side. |
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More facilities, a bike rack and concessions (not in this photo but they were opened) are available on the Highland side of the
bridge. I had a $2.00 hot chocolate once I got to this side of the bridge as I was just about freezing!!! |
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| The pathway once you get off the bridge continues west as the Hudson Valley Trail which is a walking and bike riding trail. |
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And you thought there were small Amtrak stations??? This is the "Highland Station" which is really just a place where you can
pick up brochures about the area. Some of the advertising on the sign to the right however was making me really hungry!!! |
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| This former Pennsylvania Railroad N-5B Caboose is on display in Highland near the end of the bridge. |
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The end of the bridge from the Highland side looking back towards Poughkeepsie. I had to walk across the bridge again to
get back since my rental car was on the other side, but this meant more pictures!
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| Another tugboat, this time pushing 2 barges full of gravel. |
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| An "extreme wide-angle shot" of a CSX freight heading north on the River Line with the Mid-Hudson Bridge in the background. |
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Now with a slightly better sun angle, here's a tugboat about to go under the
Mid-Hudson Bridge with Poughkeepsie in the background. |
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And finally, Amtrak Empire Service Train #284 arriving at Poughkeepsie! I hope you enjoyed this photo tour on this
great bridge! Until next time, Happy Railfanning!!! |
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