Robert McCue takes his audience for a ride

BY Ginny Privitar
CHESTER — Robert McCue was struck by a train when he was five. Not physically, but emotionally. The spectacle filled him with wonder.

“I saw my first train at Vails Gate, and the sight of it never left me,” McCue said.

His family lived near the train station in Cornwall, and they regaled him with stories of the railroads. His love of the subject was evident in his recent presentation at the Chester Historical Society’s Erie Station Museum.

Like his family, McCue knows how to tell a story. And he shared images from his extensive photo collection.

After his presentation, McCue answered questions and swapped stories of railroad lore with the audience.

Here are a few highlights from his talk:

Runaway trainMcCue is especially fond of the “Newburgh branches.” There were two: The Newburgh branch proper ran from Newburgh to the Erie mainline at Greycourt in Chester. The second branch ran from Vails Gate to the Erie mainline at Harriman, which was the more direct route to the city and known as the ‘shortcut.'” The express trains from Newburgh used the shortcut.

If any cars got loose in the yard, McCue said, a safety track prevented them running down the main track. But the switch had to be left in the open position. On one particular day, it wasn’t.

“A roundhouse foreman sees this engine go by, and then he sees the engineer chasing after it," McCue said. "They get in his car — I’m sure it was a Model-T, being the '20s — and they chase it almost to Newburgh from Vails Gate. Now the engine runs out of steam and rolls back down the bank and goes over the safety track anyway.

"Now to add insult to injury, the wreck crew, the next day, is putting the engine back on the track. The engine tender gets away and rolls down the bank a second time. Now, that might have something to do with the fact it was a hot day, and there was apparently a speakeasy not far from the track.”

High up on the viaductThe remains of the Moodna Viaduct can still be seen today and have proved a favorite vista for photographers. McCue said the highest point on the viaduct above the Moodna Creek is higher than the deck of the Brooklyn Bridge above the East River.

Death by boulderOne particularly striking photo showed the aftermath of a train wreck at Howells, caused by a large boulder that rolled down a hillside onto the track. The locomotive hit it and flipped over, and the rest of the train was wrecked. Engineer J.J. Bradley, one fireman and one brakeman were killed in the accident.

Butter and oatsAn old postcard, from around 1906 or earlier, shows the Chester depot with its original wooden station (the "new" station, existing today, dates from 1915). Several cars are on the siding near Roe’s feed store. Livestock were driven through town and put on the cars, and butter, and later, milk, were shipped to New York City. It was a busy depot and existed before the Greycourt station was built.

Greycourt itself was a huge hub, complete with a turntable, the remains of which can be glimpsed off Greycourt Avenue, near School Street. Some track still remains.

McCue noted that H-O Mills, birthplace of H-O Oats, was at Craigville, just off today’s Craigville Road (along the Cromline Creek, just west of Route 94). It made use of the Craigville station, near Hardscrabble Road, to ship its products.

The Meadowbrook station, once across from today’s Meadowbrook Lodge on Route 94 in New Windsor had a distinct and familiar architecture. In fact, it was just like the one-time station in Mechanicstown, Middletown, later occupied by “The Rusty Nail” restaurant. It is now in decay, like so many of the structures from bygone times.

Catnip for railroad buffsAmong the railroad enthusiasts in the audience was Jerry Jewels, outfitted in an Erie Lackawanna shirt and cap. He came up from Melville, Long Island, to hear McCue’s presentation. "I’ve been interested in railroads my entire life, ever since I can remember," he said.

An Ontario & Western Railroad fan as well, he said hoped to later see the O&W station in Middletown, once the headquarters for that line.

Last train pulls outIn April 1983, the last commuter train passed the Chester station. Now the rail trail has been converted to the Heritage Trail, beloved by walkers, runners, and bikers. But some can still remember the sound of the train whistle and miss the romance and excitement of train travel.

Robert McCue can be reached at robwriter65@gmail.com.