help needed about scenic ride on train

[champ12345]

actually i am going to NYC this march 2007 .........and i want to go to NEW JERSEY by scenic train ...........if any body could help me about the shortest scenic train ride(like time duration =1 hour ) from new york to new jersey.....if someone tell me the name of the stations of departure and arrival that would be great .
thanks in advance.

[lofter1]

Are you looking for purely a nice short scenic trip with no specific destination in mind?

[champ12345]

yes, i am looking for a short trip with no destiation in mind......could u plz give me some options if possible

[undertoes]

there is none

[lofter1]

Rather than a train to NJ I suggest a ride on Metro-North (http://as0.mta.info/mnr/schedules/sched_form.cfm) along the Hudson Line (http://http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hudson_Line_(Metro-North)) to Beacon (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beacon_(Metro-North_station)) -- you go right along the edge of the Hudson River -- very nice.

The trip is about 1 hour 20 minutes.

In Beacon there is the terrific DIA (http://www.diabeacon.org/) : Beacon, a museum for Dia Art Foundation's renowned collection (http://www.diabeacon.org/exhibs/bindex.html) of art from the 1960s to the present.

It is adjacent to the Beacon train station.

by train
Dia:Beacon is located adjacent to the Beacon train station, which is served by Metro-North Railroad trains from Grand Central Terminal and Poughkeepsie. Trains run hourly in either direction during museum operating hours. For train information, visit www.mta.info (http://www.mta.info/) or call 212.532.4900 or 800.METRO.INFO.
Winter hours:
11 am-4 pm
Friday-Monday
[closed Tuesday/Wednesday/Thursday]

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/9/93/Metro-North_Hudson_Line.jpg/800px-Metro-North_Hudson_Line.jpg (http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/9/93/Metro-North_Hudson_Line.jpg)

[ManhattanKnight]

FYI, Champ, those tree-covered hills on the far side of the river are in NJ.

[lofter1]

Actually those in the picture are the Hudson Highlands (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hudson_Highlands) and are in NY state ...

Info on The Highlands Province (http://3dparks.wr.usgs.gov/nyc/highlands/highlands.html) from USGS ...
http://3dparks.wr.usgs.gov/nyc/images/fig10.jpg

[ablarc]

Great recommendation, lofter. A very scenic trip to an interesting destination.

[Schadenfrau]

I'll add approval to Lofter's suggestion and add that there's no similar views via train in New Jersey.

[RSDer]

excellent advice. While NJ is a lovely state, the train rides from NYC are definately not scenic.

For something completely different, may I suggest you stay in the city. Take the M5 bus up Riverside Dr. which has Hudson River views. Transfer to the M4 on Broadway and travel to the Cloisters (Metropolitan Museum of Art) at Fort Tyron Park. The museum is lovely and the views of New Jersey from the museum at the Northern tip of Manhattan are stunning.

[ablarc]

excellent advice. While NJ is a lovely state, the train rides from NYC are definately not scenic.
Well, now ... let's look at this from another perspective than trees and river valleys. Personally, I find the industrial Jersey Meadows to be wildly scenic --like stepping into Charles Sheeler's world. Or Allen Ginsberg's consciousness. All that trusswork, all those refineries, all those cranes and stacked trailers, those landing planes and freighter superstructures, all that brown grass and graffitied granite ... To me it's devastatingly beautiful.

After an hour in the Northeast Corridor, you arrive at bucolic Princeton, prettiest college town of all. The last leg is on the aptly named Dinky --shortest train ride in the country.

A great day-trip: both university and town are beautiful and interesting. Walkable.

New Jersey Transit will get you there from Penn Station, and so will an occasional Amtrak train (preferable).




The man wants to go to Jersey.

[lofter1]

Agreed -- That ^^^ is another great day trip with an ~ 1-hour train ride.

This thread will get you started:

Piano Planning New Neighborhood for Princeton (http://www.wirednewyork.com/forum/showthread.php?t=9218&highlight=Princeton)

[NYatKNIGHT]

You can reach scenic parts of NJ by rail on New Jersey Transit, but the first half hour on any line will be through the industrial towns, so you probably can't do it in an hour.

schedules (http://www.njtransit.com/sf_tr_schedules.shtml#)

http://www.njtransit.com/images/railmap06.jpg

[ablarc]

^ Which lines get to be especially scenic?

[NYatKNIGHT]

The Morristown line, the Gladstone branch, and the Montclair-Boonton line all get into quite nice areas and especially if you take them out as far as Bernardsville or Mt. Olive. But he said "scenic", not necessarily the "most scenic" (which to me would be a ride up the Hudson) so even the closer suburbs of Chatham, Montclair, or Ridgewood are pleasant enough.

[ablarc]

...he said "scenic", not necessarily the "most scenic" (which to me would be a ride up the Hudson) so even the closer suburbs of Chatham, Montclair, or Ridgewood are pleasant enough.
He also said "New Jersey." And now he's saying nothing. Too bad he's gone; we could use his feedback.

[NYatKNIGHT]

Yes, "scenic" is relative.

But I found this after a quick google search:

...Considered by many to be the most scenic rail line in New Jersey, the Lackawanna Cut-Off was the last mainline to be built in the state (it was opened in 1911).

...Today, N.J. Transit uses the former Lackawanna mainline to provide service to Hackettstown.

http://www.njskylands.com/hscutoff.htm