Garrison is one of two full-service Hudson Line Stations in Putnam County. It is directly across from West Point on the opposite side of the Hudson and before bridges were built (the first vehicle bridge over the Lower Hudson, the Bear Mountain is near the station and opened in 1929) it was the location of a ferry across the Hudson to West Point. The current station consists of two modern high-level side platforms built in the 1990s just south of the original low-level platforms where the historic 1893 station house and open underpass that still remain intact.
The current platforms are concrete with black railings and can accommodate six cars. It's just old enough to have just a yellow line and not a tactile warning strip. The lampposts are green and modern. A pedestrian bridge with a black roof and Plexiglas walls that surround the overpass, staircase, and elevators (making it act like a greenhouse and be extremely stuffy in sumer) connects the two platforms. The New York-bound platform has a flat canopy held up by green supports that covers the area for about three cars extending south of the staircase off the pedestrian bridge. The Poughkeepsie-bound platform is completely exposed to the elements. It is along this platform that is the station's parking lot with 291 total parking spaces. Uniquely, this parking lot is mostly gravel (the driveways between the stalls are paved. The spaces are marked by wooden triangles with the space numbers on them. Four staircases and an ADA ramp lead down to the parking lot. Along the brick base of the elevator control room beneath the Poughkeepsie-bound platform, facing the parking lot is a New York Central black with gold text sign.
The New York-bound platform has additional access at its extreme northern end where a ramp and staircase at the very end of the platform leads down to historic Garrision Landing, a small historic residential and commercial district, along with a marina. A short ways north of here is the historic 1893 stone station house. The building has somewhat circular walls, distinctive white trim and a circular gabled roof that extends out in each direction. This covers the former platform area that has a few benches before the fence that overlooks the tracks. Attached to the southern porch is a brick enclosure covered in ivy that surrounds the staircase down to the still open 1929 pedestrian tunnel. This tunnel leads under the tracks to a similar brick enclosure on the former Poughkeepsie-bound platform. The Poughkeepsie-bound low-level platform is still intact with rusting metal holding up a wooden canopy structure that could cover about two cars. The brick portals do have plywood panels covering what were the original windows. The plywood has fading murals. One of some boats, the other of a landscape.
Just north of the former low-level platforms is road bridge of Upper Station Road that provides all access to Garrison Landing. A sign at the top of the bridge and another welcome sign entering Garrison Landing remind Metro-North riders that there is no Commuter Parking on the side of the bridge. Just north of this overpass is a unique section of track with a unidirectional tunnel. The tracks separate slightly; the New York-bound track passes through a short tunnel through a hill while the Poughkeepsie-bound train goes around through a rock cut and around this hill.
All Photos taken on 5 July, 2014
Cold Spring 