It's just far enough away from the two bridges that west-of-Hudson riders wouldn't be interested, but that makes it more interesting for east-of-Hudson riders who don't want to compete with WOH traffic for parking spots at POU or Beacon. and you have the added appeal of the fact that it's also an Amtrak station. Similarly, Poughkeepsie station is very close to the Mid-Hudson Bridge, which brings people over from Ulster County. Even though Orange County is an MTA county and has "MNR" service (operated by NJTransit) via the Port Jervis Line, that service is infrequent, doesn't go through Newburgh, and it winds up in Hoboken rather than GCT. Lots of people drive or take buses across the bridge to catch the train here. Beacon station is close to the Newburgh-Beacon Bridge. In addition to Dutchess County itself, you also need to consider people commuting from the west side of the Hudson. By the time we moved further upstate in the late 80s, you could literally watch cars streaming out of the parking lot for a good 15-20 minutes, non-stop, after each outbound train had discharged its commuters. After that, it wasn't too long until the parking lot was expanded (multiple times) and the station was eventually upgraded to longer, high-level platforms in the late 90s. As a young kid, I mostly remember seeing SPVs for most of the day, until the Shoreliners arrived on the scene. I used to live within sight distance of the New Hamburg station - it was nothing more than two low-level platforms and a shelter when MNR reopened it in the early 80s. Western Dutchess County experienced quite a boom starting in the mid- to late-80s. I haven't lookied at a Harlem Line Schedule, but there must be a market for a similar service for the Wassaic area folks in terms of commuting. Rockingham Racer wrote:You have to wonder, then, why there were what I'll call "super expresses" on the Hudson Line which made only Poughkeepsie, New Hamburg, and Beacon.
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