Rail service in Croton Falls can be traced as far back as June 1, 1847 with the establishment of the New York and Harlem Railroad.[1] The station was the terminus of the line until it was extended to Dover Plains in 1848.[3] The New York and Harlem Railroad was acquired by the New York Central and Hudson River Railroad in 1864, and converted the original station house into a freight house in 1870, then built a newer station house on the opposite side of the tracks. A second track was installed through the community by 1907, and the second station house was replaced by a third brick station house in 1910, before the NYC&HR was eventually taken over by the New York Central Railroad. The 1847-built former freight house,[4] and 1910-built former passenger depot [5] still exist to this day.
As with most of the Harlem Line, the merger of New York Central with Pennsylvania Railroad in 1968 transformed the station into a Penn Central Railroad station. Penn Central's continuous financial despair throughout the 1970s forced them to turn over their commuter service to the Metropolitan Transportation Authority which made it part of Metro-North in 1983. Metro-North electrified the line and added a standard high-level platform with staircases, a pedestrian bridge and elevators shortly after acquisition.
Station layout
The station has one four-car-long high-level island platform serving trains in both directions.[6]: 13
^ abMETRO-NORTH 2018 WEEKDAY STATION BOARDINGS. Market Analysis/Fare Policy Group:OPERATIONS PLANNING AND ANALYSIS DEPARTMENT:Metro-North Railroad. April 2019. p. 6.
^Grogan, Louis V. (1989). The Coming of the New York and Harlem Railroad. Self-Published. pp. 128–134. ISBN0-962120-65-0.