page_title: New York, Westchester and Boston Railway
section_title: Liquidation
hierarchical_section_title: New York, Westchester and Boston Railway / History / Liquidation
caption_attribution_description: English: This a timetable from the now-gone New York Westchester Boston Railway in 1931.
context_page_description: The New York, Westchester and Boston Railway Company, was an electric commuter railroad in the Bronx and Westchester County, New York from 1912 to 1937. It ran from the southernmost part of the South Bronx, near the Harlem River, to Mount Vernon with branches north to White Plains and east to Port Chester. From 1906, construction and operation was under the control of the New York, New Haven & Hartford Railroad until its bankruptcy in 1935.
  A 4-mile section survives as the IRT Dyre Avenue Line of the New York City Subway.
context_section_description: The NH had been making up any shortfall in the ability of the NYW&B to meet its debt obligations. Thus, when the NH entered bankruptcy in 1935, the NYW&B did as well. Former New Haven General Manager Clinton L. Bardo was appointed as Trustee to try to turn around the fortunes of the ailing Westchester. But the trustees of the NH bankruptcy and the trustees of the NYW&B bankruptcy were responsible to different groups of creditors. The liquidation brought them into conflict. The NYW&B was forced to cease operating on the Port Chester line to enhance the revenues of the NH from its parallel service. The loss of revenue could not be offset by lower costs. If the NYW&B had been left intact, it would have required the New Haven to pay off a bond issue that was due in 1946. Total liquidation was the only answer. Bardo died of a heart attack in August 1937, before the full effect of his policies could be realized. The NYW&B ceased operations on December 31, 1937.
  There were legislative and legal efforts to restore service on the route in the ensuing years. A bill to create the new Bronx-Westchester Railroad Authority to purchase and operate the Westchester for public benefit made it all the way to New York State Governor Herbert H. Lehman's office before he was pressured by New York City Mayor Fiorello La Guardia to veto the bill. The only successful effort was the purchase by the City of New York of the track, stations, and right-of-way between 180th Street and Dyre Avenue. After the installation of a third-rail it began operations as a shuttle service. With the construction of connecting trackage at 180th Street, it commenced operations as the current IRT Dyre Avenue Line.
  The rails, steel bridges, and electrical distribution system were dismantled to provide steel and copper for the war effort in 1942. The sale of other assets, principally real estate, was complete by 1946, bringing the final end to the corporate entity.
  During World War II, the original Stilwell MU cars were acquired for the war effort and shipped to Texas. Their pantographs were removed and the cars were hauled by a steam locomotive to bring workers from the city of Houston to the shipyards in Pasadena to build liberty ships. The train was locally called the "shuttle train" and operated until the end of the war.
caption: 1931 timetable
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