| 1913 saw the completion of electrification from Grand Central to Croton-Harmon. Logically, it became important to the Central as a transfer and maintenance facility. |
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| Shops at Harmon (photo by the author) |
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Welcome to our New York Central Harmon Shops WebSite
Here's a preview of some of the exciting projects we have put together for you: Our feature article is all about the shops at Harmon Read about Harmon in the 60's , how Harmon got its name , and all about freight in the Croton-Harmon area. See stories on modernization plans and progress for the Harmon Shops. General Motors in Tarrytown. |
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| (Photo clipped from an old New York Central Headlight) |
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Completion of Niagaras in 1946 and New York Governor Thomas E. Dewey speaks (Photo clipped from an old New York Central Headlight) |
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| (Photo clipped from an old New York Central Headlight) |
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| (Photo clipped from an old New York Central Headlight) |
| Just Around the Corner by Bertrande H. Snell |
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Bertrande H. Snell, author of the following article, a native of Parish,
Oswego County, N.Y., was a telegrapher all his working life.
For many years he was employed by the New York Central Railroad, and for
33 years was a telegrapher for Western Union in Syracuse.
Bertrande Snell commenced his writing career with the Syracuse Syracuse Post-Standard in 1945 and continued it until shortly before his death in 1949. His columns were primarily of a reminiscent or historical nature, which included railroad stories. If you like his column, we have more. |
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Syracuse Post-Standard, March 23, 1947
Just Around the Corner - By Bertrande Snell On a warm evening of the early summer of 1905, Wilfred Passmore and I arrived in Buffalo from the west. We had been telegraphing in the southwest for the Missouri, Kansas & Texas Railroad and were on our way home, each with about $300 in bills tucked away in one of our shoes, nestling comfortably between skin and sock. Unfortunately, we got into Buffalo rather late in the evening and decided to stay there overnight. We got a room in a small hotel off Ellicott Square, deposited our suitcases and started out to "look around" a little. Just 36 hours later we sat in our hotel room and took inventory of our assets. These consisted of two brand-new suits, two Ingersoll watches, a varied assortment of pawn tickets and about $12 in cash. So, we decided to go home. Passey lived in Gillette, Pa., and I lived in Parish, so it immediately occurred to me that I could easily get over to Suspension Bridge, where I was more-or-less known, nd bum a ride on the Hojack to Oswego and thence home, with little, or no outlay. My partner's case was different, since he was practically unknown as a railroader outside of Pennsylvania. In spite of his strong reluctance i forced all our remaining cash upon him - that is, all except a dollar in change for, "emergencies" - and went our separate ways, promising to take up where we left off, later (as to what had become of our joint $600 fund - that's something not to be divulged in this particular story. So don't be looking for it). I trolleyed over to Suspension Bridge and hung around the signal tower until 3 a.m., when I boarded the caboose of the east-bound fruit train captained by Conductor Bob Cronin, whom I knew well. Bill and his crew greeted me, not too effusively perhaps, but made me free of the caboose accommodations, which in those days included plenty to eat and a place to sleep. We arrived in Oswego about 10:30 that night and I promptly hied me to the train dispatcher's office, where my good friend, Roy Nutting held down the "third trick." i stayed with him until morning and easily negotiated a loan of $10. I rode the baggage car of 201 to Pulaski. Here I waited for the Salina-bound local freight, No. 22 which left there about 1 p.m. While waiting I had contacted George Murphy, Parish station agent, by wire and he had informed me that my folks were out of town for a day or two, so I rode the local clear into Salina yards. In those days this freight train boasted as salt and efficient crew as you'd find in a month's hunt. Sam Hollingsworth was engineman, Barney Fidler the fireman, and Bill Mudge head brakeman. In the caboose were Conductor Loren (Hop) Look, Flagman Jones and Brakeman Denny Haley. As we rattled over the frogs into Salina yards, late that afternoon, Conductor Look fixed me with speculative eye, stroked his handle-bar mustache and remarked: "What you doin' tonight, Doug?" When I assured him that my schedule was blank, he continued: "You hang around till I sign off an' get washed up. I'm a-goin' over to th' transfer dock for a minit, you come along an' I'll show you something pretty dang classy." So, a little later, Hop and I crossed the yard and visited the R.W.& O. transfer house, just above the point where the overhead now crosses N. Salina St. Here was a scene of great activity. Merchandise of every description was being carted about the floors and shifted from one car to another through the length of the long warehouse. At the point where we entered, four or five freight handlers were loading a car of cheese. This cheese was packed in wooden "half-boxes," weighing about 18 pounds each. I dare say many of you will recall these cheese containers - flat, round thin-sided boxes with supposedly tight-fitting covers. Two loaded planks were placed across the interstice between the car door and that of the warehouse, and the boys rolled these little boxes merrily up the incline while one man in the car piled them up in neat tiers as they arrived. It wasn't uncommon for a box to fall from the planks as it rolled, and in such cases the container was frequently broken. For such emergency, there were always near the transfer door, two or three tall piles of empty boxes used as replacements. It was toward these boxes that Hop made his way. "Hey, Rick!" he explained to Foreman Althaus. "Me an' Dough wants a coupla these here empty boxes to take along. We're a-goin' to make some whatnots fer th' wimin an' these'll be jest th' thing fer th' tops." Rick waved a careless hand toward the empties. "Sure thing, Hop," he agreed, "help yereself - they don't belong to me, nohow." Hop winked violently at the two cheese-loaders and as he engaged them in loud and rapid conversation, they diverted two of the rolling boxes of cheese off the planks and in his direction. As one came to his hands, he deftly placed it on the top of a pile of the empty boxes, and in a short moment repeated the performance with the other. After a not-too-long exchange of persiflage with everybody in sight, Hop turned to me and remarked: "Well, come on, Doug, here's yer cheese box - let's go." With no apparent effort he reached up and plucked the full boxes from off the pile of empties, handed one to me and started for the door. "So long, Rick," he shouted to the foreman, "be seein' you." And now you may visualize Hop and this narrator walking sturdily up N. Salina, bearing between us 35 pounds of the best North Country cheddar that was ever pilfered. We proceeded, forthwith, to Gaffney's Onondaga Hotel bar room, where the savory stuff was deposited right on the bar and the barkeep's kitchen knife quickly brought into play. The north side sure had a cheese fiesta that night. Indeed, it is my fondest hope that this narrative may meet the eye of some old-timer who was actually at the feast. Well sir, as we all stood around, eating cheese and otherwise keeping the bartender busy, the swing doors with a mighty "swoosh" - and there, immaculate and debonaire in his 6 feet 2 of virile manhood, stood my partner, Wilfred Passmore, with whom I had parted in Buffalo only the day before. After introductions all around, I forced a huge triangle of cheese into the not-unready hand of my friend and demanded to be enlightened. "Nothing to it," he averred. "I made it to Gillette in fast time and explained everything to dad, especially how you were broke on account of us using all the money for my carfare. So, like I've always told you, he's a good guy and an understanding guy; and he handed me a stake and told me to hunt you up, and here I am...This time, we'll try the far east. I wired the New Haven chief at Willimantic and he's got jobs waiting for both of us - come on, let's go." "Sure," I grumbled, "you've got a stake, but me - I'm broke and I'm not going to trot around on your money, feller, you can depend on that." "My fine-feathered friend," bantered Passy, "I just told you my old dad is an understanding man - and he thought about that, too. When he handed me this hundred, he gave me another for you; here she is." And he tucked $20 bills in my pocket. There was nothing further to be said in the matter - so we went east. And, do you know, down there on the N.Y.N.H.& H., Passy and I got ourselves into the darndest mess you ever heard of. You see, it was life this - but shucks! That's another story, entirely. Let's save it. Thus we cavorted and cacchinated while still the glamor was on the sunrise. |
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Railroads On The Rebound |
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Over the last 50+ years, railroads have changed a lot. Now they are about to change again.
It is all about a combination of economic factors and climate factors. Since 1950 , railroads have consolidated. Freight moved from a "box car mentality" to a "unit train,mentality". Passenger went from a robust business to a "caretaker" arrangement called AMTRAK. This happened as everybody could drive for free on the Interstate Highway System or fly on an airline system where the government subsidized both airlines and airports. In the meantime, railroad express and railroad post offices went "down the tubes". The old Post Office Department and the Railway Express Agency could not adjust to the new way. UPS and Fex Ex could. |
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What's the most environmentally-friendly way to transport goods? The answer is freight rail. The EPA estimates that every ton-mile of freight that moves by rail instead of by highway reduces greenhouse emissions by two-thirds. But what does that really mean? Our easy-to-use carbon calculator will estimate the amount of carbon dioxide that can be prevented from entering our environment just by using freight rail instead of trucks. We'll even tell you how many seedlings you'd need to plant to have the same effect. |
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It goes East from Oswego to at least Boonville. Here's the station at Boonville.
Find out more about Weather around the World Ominous Weather is about more than weather. Its about our environment. Its about our social issues that need to be surfaced if we want to save our environment. See Champions of our Environment like Al Gore SAS le Prince Albert II de Monaco John R. Stilgoe Ralph Nader. We have addressed several railroad-related projects that will conserve fuel and lessen pollution. Our Window on Europe spotlights projects that can help the rest of the World. We have other environmental sites on garbage trucks and Rapid response temporary shelters / portable housing. |
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Harmon Modernization: 2006 Plans
New York - Metro-North Railroad will spend $280 million over the next 2½ years to replace the shops at its Harmon yards where locomotives and coaches are repaired. The Metro-North committee of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority yesterday approved the contract with a joint venture of four New York-based construction companies. The MTA is expected to sign off on it later this month. The contract represents the third, and biggest, phase of a four-phase program to replace the 100-year-old maintenance complex in Westchester County. The Harmon yards sprawl across 100 acres next to the Croton-Harmon station and are far and away the largest of six similar facilities that Metro-North owns. Until now, the rebuilding of the Harmon yards had focused on installing the infrastructure to support the new shops - new underground utilities, oil and water separators, fuel tanks. Smaller new buildings are already in place, too, to house such specialized operations as signal maintenance and repair. Marjorie Anders, a Metro-North spokeswoman, said the new shops will provide long-suffering employees with safe and comfortable working conditions, including such basics as modern heating and air-conditioning systems and adequate lighting. About 650 people work at the complex. The new shops will also eliminate many inefficiencies in current operations. For example, the tracks that run into the shops aren't long enough to hold today's trains. As a result, employees have to waste valuable time breaking a train apart before repairs can be tackled, then put it back together again. |
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Harmon Passenger Station
The old station was torn down, in Penn Central days. The station was torn down and relocated to the south of the original location about 1974-1975, and it might have been before that. The first time I used the new location, it was in the autumn of 1975. At that time, what is now the dry cleaners was the ticket office for both Penn Central commuter trains as well as Amtrak. A catalytical factor in the change was the need to raise all the platforms for the new M-1 trains introduced about 1971. Also, the station was moved because the parking lot at the top of the hill became too small, and management wanted to make "modifications" to the yard which boosted the need to relocate the station "out of the way". Now with more than ample parking, one must worry in severe noreasters, tropical storms and hurricanes about flooding in the parking lot. The old New York Central station at Harmon was pretty neat, despite the killer climb up the stairs from the platform that seemed to go on forever. It was a self contained structure above the tracks, paralleling the bridge, which I'm sure served as the inspiration for the present structure. I heard that the present station will soon be either "Modified" or demolished for something completely different, I suppose it's part of the project to tear down the old New York Central engine house and build a new one. This will be the THIRD dramatic alteration of Harmon station at it's present location, in just over thirty two years. For any newbies, the bridge there now is NOT the bridge from Central days, you can still see the footings for it. The entrance to the old station was an enclosed walkway with a few small windows, immediately to the left of the bridge. Years ago , everybody called that station just "Harmon". If one were to model the Harmon station in HO or N gauge, the best start would be with the old Atlas coal mine, just because of the shape. |
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International tourist mecca, St. Tropez's mythical name has played a large part in the renown of the whole Côte d' Azur.
The world's most rich and famous have found escape in St. Tropez for centuries. Icons Brigitte Bardot and artist Henri Matisse helped spread word of the unbridled, isolated luxury of France's southern peninsula. |
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| St Johns Freight House | ||
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Photo above is of the St Johns Park Freight House. These are from a brochure published by
the New York Central in 1934 and re-issued by the West Side Rail Line Development
Foundation (author was a former member and supporter of this foundation).
St. John's Park was abandoned when some of the High Line ROW below Bank St. was sold for housing. But had traffic there dried up by then? Was there any debate over it at the time? The line was only about 20 years old at that time. When St. John's was in service, there were about 8 tracks running into it-- how was it switched? And what kind of stuff was shipped to St. John's. Also, the line served Nabisco, Armour--when did they stop using the line? And did the RR serve Bell Labs (now Westbeth) whose building it ran through? For answers to these questions, click here or on picture above. |
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