Almost entirely hidden behind the foliage (but visible if you zoom in near the center of the photo) is a remnant of the Staten Island Railway's North Shore branch, which once carried people and freight all the way across the island's North Shore (duh). Passenger service on this route ended in 1953 and freight operations terminated in 1989, although the eastern and western ends of the line have seen some use in the years since. The MTA is currently considering reviving the railroad's right-of-way for use as a bus rapid transit line.
Day 244
North Shore branch
August 30th, 2012
I see your and their point. Interestingly enough there once was four rail roads in Westchester County instead of three. Besides the Hudson one, and of course the Harlem, and the New York New Haven, there was also what’s now called the Old Putt. And it carried people of course from the area of Baldwin Place in the cusp of Putnam County through Yorktown Heights and then the Saw Mill River Valley area all the way to the Bronx. Eventually service stopped. It was abandoned, all the documents I could find suggest that the New York Central decided to just abandon it in place. Freight ran on it for a while, and then even that ended.
Its now become a walking trail as far as the point where it runs out of Westchester County. Sadly the termination point in Baldwin Place area was grabbed and built over by someone who didn’t know what he was building over.
The MTA should turn it into a walking trail and if the other branches are also ending service for the rail road, it too, should do that there. Probably not I suspect.