an underground pedestrian passageway in 1904 to allow safe pedestrian travel in the park. By 1942, the railroad was already seeing signs of decreased ridership: there were 600 daily riders on the Yonkers branch, down from 2,000 daily riders sixteen years prior. The Interstate Commerce Commission gave New York Central Railroad permission to abandon the branch on November 12, 1942. Subsequently, riders filed a lawsuit to keep the line open, and the federal lawsuit was heard by the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York, who ruled in favor of the railroad on June 21, 1943. Nine days later, the railroad abandoned the line. By December 1944, the rails were being removed. The main line also saw fewer riders as the years passed, and on March B, 1958, with daily ridership numbering between 400 and 500 commuters, the New York State Public Service Commission gave its approval for the railroad to stop passenger service on the line. The last day of service was June 1, 1958, and the station was abandoned, the line now only being used for freight. Conrail continued to operate the line for freight use, though by 1979 trains only ran twice a day, and hikers often utilized the underused train tracks. Modern mass transit There are two nearby New York City Subway stations. The eastern side of the park is served by Woodlawn (), and the western side by 242nd Street (). The 242nd Street station was part of the first subway line of the Interborough Rapid Transit Company, running along the current IRT Broadway–Seventh Avenue Line to City Hall and later South Ferry. The station, serving as the line's northern terminal, opened in 1908. The Woodlawn station was built later as part of the IRT Jerome Avenue Line, opening in April 1918 as the line's northern terminus. Bus service is provided by New York City Bus's Bx9, Bx10, Bx16, and Bx34 local routes and its BxM3 and BxM4 express routes. Bee-Line Bus System's 1, 2, 3, 4, 20, and 21 routes also provide service to Westchester. In popular culture Van Cortlandt Park appears in the Nero Wolfe detective stories by Rex Stout. It is where the bodies of several murder victims are found - Joan Wellman in Murder by the Book (1951) and Simon Jacobs in Plot It Yourself (1959). The park is also where the climactic scene of the 1944