Last stop for the historic New City train station?

It’s been more than 80 years since a train pulled into the New City station, and it looks its age.

The decaying exterior of the building off Demarest Avenue is obstructed by debris and tangled overgrowth, although its slate roof is in slightly better condition.

The interior walls and ceiling beams appear sturdier, but boxes of discarded items, furniture and siding are scattered about the floor. A no-admittance sign is posted on the door.

But when Valerie Moldow looks at this remnant of the defunct NJ & NY Railroad, she sees visions of her childhood growing up in Nanuet, where a similar station once stood.

Moldow, a real estate agent and president of the Nanuet Civic Association, had dreamed of salvaging the New City station’s remains and moving them five miles down the road to Nanuet. After her engineer gave it a thumb's down,  she's abandoned that plan.

But Moldow is holding out hope that at least some of the wood and hardware can be used to help re-create the 19th century relic in her neighborhood.

“As family members who lived in Nanuet our whole lives, we grew up with a beautiful station and we used to spend time down there and play,” she said recently. “This is kind of a heartwarming opportunity to replace what we had and just bring the community together to enjoy something that’s a bit of a historic landmark.”

Jeff Ziffer and his sister Valerie Moldow inspect the exterior of the defunct New City train station on Nov. 8, 2024.

The three-mile single track railroad ran between Nanuet Junction and New City from 1875 until 1939. The line fell into disuse as automobiles gained popularity and roads were built.

The New City station sits on property that's proposed for a senior housing complex named Vanderbilt Grande on a five-acre site that formerly held the Vanderbilt lumber yard. The owner plans to demolish the station to clear the way for development, Moldow said. 

Clarkstown Supervisor George Hoehmann said he loved the idea of preserving the station but multiple engineers said it’s not structurally sound. Previous proposals to salvage the building never gained steam.

A train ticket from February 1927 found in the old Nanuet train station by Jeff Ziffer. Contributed photo

The Nanuet train station was destroyed by a fire in March 1991 that the fire chief called “obviously suspicious” according to an account in The Rockland Journal News.

The station was on Prospect Street, where the Nanuet Veterans Memorial Park is now located, and where Moldow would like to see a replacement located.

Her brother, Jeffrey Ziffer, said the old Nanuet station was once occupied by an antique shop. When it was vacant he found old train tickets from the 1920s.

Valerie Moldow hopes to gather support for somehow realizing her dream of a historic station in Nanuet. 

“It’s a very lofty goal,” she admitted.

Robert Brum is a freelance journalist who writes about the Hudson Valley. Contact him and read his work at robertbrum.com.

Doorway to the defunct New City train station with a no-admittance sign on Nov. 8, 2024.