Mount Vernon West is the southernmost stop in Westchester on the Harlem Line and northern most station with four tracks along the Harlem Line. North of the station is the unpowered (and full of MOW equipment) Mount Vernon West Yard. The line then becomes 3 tracks by Fleetwood. One siding is powered and fittingly one train in each peak direction per day originates in the morning and then terminates at the station in the evening. Otherwise service is every half hour or better from the Lower Harlem Line local trains. The historic station is a large facility (up there in size with Yonkers) and was built 1915. The New York Central Railroad sold the station in 1959 with railroad uses delegated to a ticket office and benches in the tunnel from the original station to the platforms. The station became wheelchair accessible starting in 1991 during renovations and the tunnel waiting area received some interesting artwork on the roof.
The historic Mount Vernon New York Central Station is a 1 and 2 story brick building located near the corner of West Street and Mount Vernon Avenue, with a tiny parking lot not for commuters. The main entrance has a set of concrete columns and a very faded original red and yellow sign that said New York Central R.R. An awning gives the address of the businesses at the station, 156. In the central part of the building, are a couple of small businesses. The northern half is taken up by a Chase bank that has a drive through teller and ATM sticking out of the former rail station (luckily, there is only one in a single traffic late, no second ATM islands). Rail passengers must enter through two doors on either side of the station behind the businesses, one of these is from a courtyard to Mount Vernon Avenue, the other on the opposite south side to a walkway towards West Street. Passengers enter into a tunnel that includes skylights, a back entrance to the Chase bank and a convince store. In the middle of this back walkway, silver doors lead into the small station area where the usual railroad amenities are including TVMs, a couple of grey painted benches and a ticket office still open for one weekday morning shift. This ticket office is a small black window beneath white letters that say Mount Vernon West, next to an older generation M-Metropolitan logo.
Today the station has two 12-car long island platforms that serve the four-track line on am embankment. These platforms begin just south of the bridges over Mount Vernon Avenue. Along the southern side of the sidewalk, are two portals now sealed by concrete that have Exit engraved above them. These were clearly originally staircases up to the platforms. These platforms begin slightly farther down with an elevator soon followed by a staircase up to the northern end of each platform. The platforms are slightly offset from each other with the southbound, west platform starting farther south than the eastern one. This also means the tunnel to the platforms runs at an angle, making it wider. The platforms themselves have simple brown steel canopy structures that cover about half of the eastern, White Plains-bound platform, and slightly less of the New York-bound platform.
Photos: 13 January, 2012
Arts For Transit at Mount Vernon West
Rising and Setting, 1991
Perforated painted steel
By Dennis Oppenheim
Wakefield 