(Image: Peter Greenberg. The long-abandoned Westchester Avenue station in the Bronx)
The New York Times called it a place “Where Ghost Passengers Await Very Late Trains”, and it’s not hard to envision ghostly figures dressed in turn-of-the-century clothes, clutching their luggage and waiting for trains that will never pull into the station.
The disused Westchester Avenue station in New York City‘s Bronx was built in 1908, and today, it’s one of four surviving stations designed by Cass Gilbert. Each one was completed in very different styles, but it’s the Westchester Avenue building that’s particularly beautiful even in its advanced state of decay.
(Image: John)
The elevated station seems to float above the tracks. Even though it’s overgrown and crumbling now, you can still see traces of the glazed cream terracotta detailing, decorated with elegant flourishes befitting the financier who commissioned its construction: none other than JP Morgan.
(Image: Peter Greenberg)
The Westchester Avenue station was built by the New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad and also served local commuter trains operated by the New York, Westchester and Boston Railroad. But in 1931 the station was closed to passenger trains.
(Image: Peter Greenberg)
By 1937 the New York, Westchester and Boston Railroad had ceased operating, leaving many of its local stations abandoned. Eight decades later, Westchester Avenue station is a haunting shell.
(Image: Jim Henderson)
A catalyst for the railway’s downfall was the New York Subway and its five-cent fare. Unable to compete, the writing was on the wall for the New York, Westchester and Boston Railroad. While some of Gilbert’s other stations have found new use – like Morris Park’s transformation into a gun club – Westchester Avenue has sat neglected for years.
(Image: via Bing Maps)
Though the station is now owned by Amtrak, and a series of proposals have been put forward on how to save the decaying structure, none have yet come to fruition. There’s been talk of incorporating the ghost station’s waiting room into the Concrete Plant Park and the Bronx River Greenway, should the usual funding hurdle be cleared.
Read Next: 10 Disused Subway Stations & Platforms of New York City
The post Westchester Avenue: Ruined Railroad Station in the Bronx appeared first on Urban Ghosts Media.