2015-09-20 40 -73

Location

Aboard a moving train in the Bronx

Participants

OtherJack

Plans

Noticed this very lucky point on Friday, directly on the southbound local track of the Metro-North railroad's Hudson line in the Bronx by the Harlem River, just south of Morris Heights station. This is the second time this year New York has had this type of train-rideable hashpoint! Even the schedule timing was near ideal - northbound weekend trains arrive at Morris Heights at :38 past the hour, and southbound trains (through the hash) leave Morris Heights at :48 past the hour.

Expedition

After sleeping in till 1pm and spending a lazy afternoon cooking brunch, reading, and listening to Art Tatum, I belatedly decided to make for the 4:30 departure from Harlem (the one that would get me to Morris Heights at 4:38.) I got on the bus to the station around 4, only to be quickly told that it was taking a lengthy detour! The driver advised us to get out and walk if we were headed anywhere in Harlem, so soon I found myself walking briskly east down 125th, still four very long blocks from the station. At this point it was already well past 4:10, so this was going to be close.

At 7th Ave I found the reason for the detour: there was a big political rally going on by the federal building and the whole road was blocked off by barriers and police. There didn't even seem to be a way to cross. I headed south and found a police-sanctioned crossing at 124th, but we had to wait several more minutes to be allowed through. By the time I was on the other side of 7th, it was already 4:20, with three very long blocks and one short block still ahead. I ended up kind of half-running, half-walking and made it at 4:27 or so, seeing Marcus Garvey Park along the way. Luckily there was no line for tickets and I successfully got the train.

Morris Heights station turned out to be wedged between a small freeway and a big park by the river... the views were actually quite nice. The southbound 4:48 came only a minute or two late, and I easily found a seat that I guessed would be just inside the left rail of the track (where Google indicated the hashpoint.) I had already put the hash into the yellow GPS, so with anticipation I put the thing down in my lap and began taking video. Unfortunately the track just before the hash was rough, jostling my legs and the GPS up and down a little, but you can still clearly read 3.something feet (1 meter basically) as I passed through the hashpoint! Mission accomplished.

Knowing about the rally and bus detour, I didn't want to walk all the way across Harlem yet again (I'd also done it the previous night, to reach a friend's place) so I got out at Yankee Stadium and took the D subway home instead. This allowed me to explore the stadium area a little more, which was a nice extra touch.