“It’s a treasure right under our feet,” Mr. LeStrange said on a recent walk through Van Cortlandt Park, where he said has found and picked up railroad spikes and other train remains. 

Parks is currently awaiting New York State Department of Transportation approval before proceeding with the greenway construction.

Mr. LeStrange said he doesn’t want to stop the Putnam Trail greenway, he just wants Parks to be conscious of the history so if workers find anything during construction, they don’t simply give it the heave-ho.

“I’m concerned that they will rip it up and not even acknowledge it,” he said. “They are just going to unearth it and throw away a major piece of history.”

He said he would like to see the area cleaned up and for Parks to preserve and publicize the history with a plaque or information board.

“Revealing the concrete skeleton of the switching tower and light towers is a part of the life that was once there: memories of hard working men, steam engines, passenger and freight trains, phantoms of the past that need to be acknowledged,” Mr. LeStrange wrote in a letter to The Riverdale Press.

He said he’s walked the area with Park Administrator Margot Perron and told Urban Park Rangers about it.