During my cyber travels in 'Google land' researching the history of the Maybrook Line and specificaly the 41 mile Beacon-Danbury branch line,in regards to the rail and trail that is/was being built along this line in Putnam county,I had found my way to this site.I had found references to the BD line on several discusion posts and blogs. I had read the posts and the coments made to those posts.A few of those coments were somewhat amusing. Like the person who had sugested using some sort of 'people mover' to providetransit service along this branch line. To that person... its called a train. Another person, who had made a reply coment, at least had the general concept-idea,a rail trolley. That person however forgot to mention the 'minor detail' that a rail trolley (or a road trolley bus) typicaly requires external power. And of course, any rail vehicle to operate revenue passenger service on this virtualy abandoned rail line,would require station stops.Typicaly this would be a high level platform as at the Hudson line Beacon station.

There is a more practical rail vehicle option for use on the BD branch line, one that MNRR had used in the early 1990's for the non electrified branch lines in CT (they still might be) and the non electrified upper Harlem line (north of Brewster), a self propeled rail diesel coach - RDC. The ones MNRR were using are the 1950's - 1960's RDCs, manufactured by the Budd corporation, which they inherited from the RR they had taken over,Conrail (which was the former New York Central>Penn Central rail roads) Up untill 1992 I had lived in Mt. Kisco. This is on the 3rd rail electrified section of the Harlem line.The train I would take from there to points south would be M.U. (multiple unit) electric. There was a special commuter express diesel locomotive train from the northern terminus, at the time Dover Plains, that blew through Mt. Kisco non stop. (I had dubed this train the "Super Chief") The snub-nosed 1950's locomotive pushing or pulling this train harkened to my early youth when the family would take the LIRR train from NYC out to Port Jefferson to visit my Aunt.At the time,L.I. was like 'the country' compared to NYC.When I had moved to Pawling (FYI: there have been passenger trains to here from NYC since 1848), in south eastern Dutchess county,I had experienced another 'blast from my past' when I saw a familiar, to my tween-teen years, hump-toped silver coach traveling along the single track, locomotive-less, through the village of Pawling. I knew what this was, a 'Budd diesel'.This was the 'train' my father took along a branch line in Mounmouth county NJ (I think it was the Central NJ RR at the time - this branch line is now a rail-trail) to go to work in NYC. (technicaly he would have had to take at least 3 trains,the RDC to the main line in Matawan or Perth Amboy and a train from there to Hoboken,then a PATH train to Manhatten NYC)

What a bit of a thrill it was, as an adult,to be able to ride in one these 'Budd diesels' when I would travel,by train of course, to points along the Harlem line between Brewster north and Dover Plains.(FYI: there was a train change from the RDC to the M.U. electric at what was then called BREWSTER NORTH,now called PUTNAM JUNCTION? - the transfer for the big trains with the FL9 locos was at CROTON-HARMON) The Budd RDCs faded into American RR history along with some of the rail roads and branch lines they used to operate on.

However,in Europe,not only did their RDCs not fade into history but they evolved into what is known as a DMU - a Diesel Multiple Unit.These LRVs ('Light' Rail Vehicles) are self-propeled articulated double units much like the articulated double buses in Westchester county or NYC. These are,literaly,not my father's RDCs.These modern DMUs have super low emission diesel engines and the passenger area is of the 'low floor' type like the diesel-electric hybrid buses of NYC or here in the city of Poughkeepsie. The Siemens Desiro model NCTD SPRINTER LRV DMUs,in southern CA,have a feature the MTA should take an interest in, they have a deployable threshold thus eliminating the whole gap issue.This deployable threshold is ostensibly for those with a wheelchair,but all passengers can use.NCTD (North County Transit District) put these DMUs into revenue service in 2008. However another transit agency much closer,NJ Transit,had DMUs in service for several years prior on the River Line from Trenton to Camden.The DMUs in operation, on this LRV only line, are the Swiss made Stadler Rail GTW 2/6. These are a slightly diferant variant from the Siemens DMUs or the Budd RDCs, which have a direct mechanical drive like a bus,the Stadler Rail GTW 2/6s are diesel-electric like a big locomotive - DeMU. These DMUs, such as the Siemens Desiro and the Stadler Rail GTW 2/6, are idealy suited for inter-urban operation on the relatively short non-electrified branch lines. This is where these DMUs have been operating for many years in Europe.

It is interesting to note that not one transit agency,but now two transit agencies have failed to provide service for southern Dutchess county. First when MTA Metro North bought the BD line back in 1995 and have yet to run revenue passenger trains,then the DC LOOP stoped running the shuttle bus they were providing and then when they implemented the new routes and schedules as per the 2008 transit development plan. It should be noted, as per that 2008 plan, the buses were to stop at the Hudson line Beacon sation for inter modal connections (train,bus and ferry) For more about the DC LOOP,and the lack of bus service there in Beacon, please read my companion PoJo blog "where have the buses gone?" There was a recent Poughkeepsie Jornal article entitled: "Dutchess part of 3 county traffic congestion study" (Rebecca Crosier) The article tells of Pawling resident Alan Wolfe who has to drive 4 miles out of his way to avoid traffic congestion on SR 55 during his morning commute to Poughkeepsie. He is quoted in the article "I realy think they need to widen part of this road" This is typical antiquated American mentality in regards to transportation.

To the MTA, and those here in New York and Dutchess county, with a 1960's - 1970's mentality in regards to transportation I say in the vernacular of today's modern TXT MSG GEN :

WK UP N SML TH LATTE ITS 2010 FGS

Here's a thought... how about taking all that money to widen the highways in Dutchess county and put all of that money into improving the 19th century BD branch line ROW into a 21^st century LRV rail line and purchasing modern DMUs to operate on said line to reduce motor vehicle traffic (including buses) on the highways in southern Dutchess county. With connection to the big trains on the Hudson line at the Beacon station,Alan Wolfe could (one day) take rail transit all the way from Holmes (town of Pawling) to Poughkeepsie. He then could take the MAIN STREET City Bus,a modern 21^st century 2008 Gillig low floor diesel-electric hybrid,from the transportation center at the station up Main Street in the city of Poughkeepsie for connection to other similar City Buses.America,other than here in New York, seems to be re-discovering trains as an alternate transportation to the use of personal motor vehicles, to reduce congestion on the highways. The tite of the special Bombardier web site says it all - The Climate is Right For Trains. That NCTD SPRINTER LRV,in southern California,operates on a rail line along a heavily congested highway, just like the... (drum roll please) Beacon-Danbury branch line which goes along SR 52 through Fishkill.

Atatched is my transit development plan for southern Dutchess. SoDutchess_TDP_2010.pdf

This plan outlines the creation of the Trans Dutchess Railway LRV line and improvement of the BLT into a full fledged mass transit service combined with the rail component. I have also created a hypothetical web site for the new sourhern Dutchess transit entity - the Southern Dutchess Transit District. Of course,to make this happen will be a Walkway-like big money project and a person like Fred Schaeffer with a good raport with our local representatives in Washington DC to be able to secure the big money federal funding needed.

SOUTH COUNTY TRANSIT DISTRICT

local railroad historian Bernard Rudberg has a wealth of historical information,with photos,about the Maybrook Line,the Beacon-Danbury branch line and a whole section about the Budd RDCs on his "
CNE - Maybrook Line

Budd RDCs

To see the NCTD SPRINTER 'in action' check out the video on the NCTD site SPRINTER

NJ Transit River Line DMU