Baychester Avenue
Baychester Avenue is the penultimate stop on the Dyre Avenue Line, but when the station opened in 1912 on the New York, Westchester, and Boston Railroad, it was simply an intermediate local stop on the line between the Harlem River station and Columbus Avenue in Mount Vernon where the line split into Port Chester and White Plains branches. The station was built with two side platforms for the four track high-speed grade separated railway, today three of the four tracks are intact with the Dyre Avenue-bound express track removed. Train service to the station has always been electrified with overhead wires on the original line from 1912 to 1937, and then subway third rails installed for the conversion of the line to subway service starting in 1941.
The station was further rebuilt in 1991 to 1992 which resulted in the unusual, historic and ornate Italian-villa style platform canopy structures from the NY,W,&B station’s opening being removed and replaced by a conventional corrugated cream painted windscreen. Right after the renovation they were at least painted with a unique primarily red I think pattern I have a vague memory of from my 6 year old self. These canopy structures cover the northern half of the platform, with blue metal frameworks holding up a simple canopy structure. The exposed portions of the platforms have a series of very early 1990s boxy black lampposts, a low concrete wall and a chain link fence with a backdrop of trees and some apartment buildings beyond the station.
The station's only exit is at its extreme northern end of the platforms where a single staircase from each platform leads down to a narrow underpass area with simple painted concrete walls. From the Dyre Avenue-bound platform there is a single high turnstile out to the street immediately before the underpass continues inside beneath the tracks, set back from the street as a concrete tunnel to doors into the actual small station house beneath the Manhattan-bound platform. The station house contains concrete walls and a simple mosaic trimline. Inside the small station house here there is fare control along with a small sized token booth (with fencing around it that are closed when it’s unstaffed overnight) and doors out to the west sidewalk of Baychester Avenue north of its intersection with Tillotson Avenue. Another set of doors within fare control leads out to the single staircase up to the Manhattan-bound platform.
Photos 1-7: February 10, 2004; 8-15: April 25, 2004; 16-33: January 7, 2011; 34-46: September 8, 2013; 47-49: September 30, 2013;
