| Begun in 1846, the West Side Freight Line was the only freight railroad directly into Manhattan. | ||
|
|
|
| Some old photos of the West Side Freight Line. 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). | ||
|
Welcome to our New York Central West Side Freight Line WebSite
Here's a preview of some of the exciting projects we have put together for you: Our feature article is "The West Side Rail Line" You can fly the path of the West Side Freight Line on Google Earth. Start at St Johns Freight House. move up the line to the New York City Postoffice. Then see the 60th Street Rail Yard and "Hudson Yards". See the ferry from Weehawken. See the Customers on the West Side Freight Line A most interesting section is the locomotives that ran on the West Side Rail Line. Other interesting sections include Head End Equipment that ran on the New York Central and who owns Grand Central Terminal. Read about neighbors of the High Line. Finally, you must check out our reference section. See a 1934 pamphlet describing improvements in the New York Central's freight distribution system in Manhattan. It closely approximates the original but some of the pictures have been reordered. |
|
Disclaimer: As the New York Central system-wide timetable, Form 1001, used to read: "Subject to change without notice, not responsible for errors and ommissions." |
|
|
|
|
|
| Interested in Penn Central? New York Central? Pennsylvania Railroad? New Haven Railroad? or in the smaller Eastern US railroads? Then you will be interested in "What if the Penn Central Merger Did Not Happen". You will also enjoy "Could George Alpert have saved the New Haven?" as well as "What if the New Haven never merged with Penn Central?" | ||
|
|
Greenland's ice caps are melting! Find out more about Global Warming at our Ominous Ecology WebSite. |
| Just Around the Corner by Bertrande H. Snell |
|
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. |
|
Syracuse Post-Standard, Oct. 3, 1948
Just Around the Corner By Bertrande How many of you folks ever went hop-picking down in Madison county, 50 years ago? The hop picking season used to be considered by a good many people as a kind of, a yearly relaxation and a good chance to pick up a little extra money. Shortly after Sept. 1, back there in the wane of the 19th century, there'd be 35 or 40 of us taking the Hojack train for Central Square. Here, we'd wait around the Ontario & Western depot for the "hop train" which usually lagged in about 3 p.m. This contraption was, to tell the truth, but little above the grade of a cattle train. It had a half dozen decrepit and moldy passenger coaches, and it also boasted a caboose and a couple of freight cars with merchandise to be unloaded at stations along the way. Only during the hop-picking season was it known as the "hop train"'; all the rest of the year we called it the "freight and accommodation." We all piled into the ancient coaches, which were already well occupied by people from Pennellville, Fulton and Oswego - all bound for the hop fields. We chugged and snorted and rattled along the north shore of Oneida Lake, across Fish Creek, through State Bridge, Durhamville, Oneida Castle, and on to Munnsville, arriving there in the dusk of the evening. Awaiting us were a couple of big hayracks drawn by John Davis' teams and manned by his hired hands. We jumped, helter-skelter, and every which-way into the big wagons and rode the three miles to Davis' hop farm.home was a big, white house of rambling design, with many wings and additions. When we pulled into the wide yard, the kitchen was lighted with a galaxy of oil lamps, and we could see the two cooks and their helpers loading the long tables with food. The spicy tang of the hop fields was in he air; you breathed it deep and it smelled good - and also it made you hungry! And when we all filed into the dining room, we were glad that we were hungry. Big platters of tender ham, all along the center of the tables; mountains of fried potatoes; oceans of ham-gravy; huge pots of tea, vast hillocks of hot corn bread, scuttles of country butter - that was just part of the spread. John Davis had the reputation of 'feedin' his pickers good. The men's bunk room was directly above the kitchen and dining room, with an outside stairway leading to it. here were some 40 or 50 cot beds, complete with blankets and pillows. The cots wee wide enough for a fellow and his buddy to bunk together, if they so desired; and there were enough of them to allow certain of the 'aristocrats' to sleep alone. "Roy Nutting and I picked out a bed beside a large window; others of the early-commers made their choice, and the laggards as ever, took what was left. Old John Coger from Palermo, who boasted that he hadn't missed a hop pickin' in 40 years, always pre-empted the cot just at the side of the front door. he was always the first man out of bed in the morning when the big bell in the yard clanged. That would be at just 5 o'clock; and John would bounce out to the floor, yawn prodigiously, stretch his arms heaven-ward, and yell, 'Two suppers in one night - hooray fer hell.' Then we'd run down to the long benches in the yard where the rows of tin wash basins stood waiting. We performed our morning ablutions in cold water, piped from the adjacent hillside springs, and we used yellow laundry soap to aid the process. The idea was to was up, eat breakfast, and be in the hop field by 5 sharp. There, we'd gather at or hop-boxes and hell for the pole-pullers to bring on the hops. A hop box, my friends, was supposed to be an eight-bushel receptacle, and when you had filled it up to the brim with the oft, yielding buds, you yelled again, and the yard boss or one of his aides came and sacked the contents, then punched your ticket - and you were 25 cents richer. The poll-pullers were a busy clan. One of these was supposed to keep 16 pickers supplied with the vine-covered poles -ad there was little time for lagging. Each puller wore across his shoulders a canvas belt at the end of which dangled a contraption like a toothed steel trap. With a sharp knife, he'd cut the tough vines at the bottom of the pole; he'd stoop a little, clamp his steel-toothed gadget around the pole - and yank. the pole would come out of the ground, and he would bear it away, all hop-loaded, and put it, slantwise, on the cross-beam of your box. Then you picked off the fragrant fruit and prayed you'd be able to get it filled, sometime. A hop in its native haunts is an innocent-looking vegetable; soft and spring and delicate do the touch. But, after you'd picked a bushel or so with your bare hands, you began to notice that their looks deceived. They had what it took to make you fingers might raw and sore. All experienced pickers wore light canvas gloves, which would wear right through to the flesh in a day or two. the hop grower always had them for sale in the dining room - and he had a big turn-over. I've seen experts pick seven or eight box of hops for a day's work, but the average was about four; so you see were hardly in the higher labor brackets, even for those days . But what the heck. We had three good meals a day, a hop kiln dance most every night - and some days it rained! Then we just lay around and exulted about the business of being alive. It was a hop picker who coined the phrase, 'More rain - more rest.' In the evening, we'd loll on the big front lawn - boys and girls together. We'd sing a little and we'd joke a little; we'd watch the big harvest moon come up from behind the Madison county hills - and with her came romance and a vague yearning, and the glory of he coming was a trumpet to our spirits and a golden harp unto our souls. The hop fields have vanished, the kilns and the storehouse have long fallen to ruin; the hop pickers of my time have, for the most part, vanished around the turn in the road - and only memory stays to tell the tales of an all-forgotten day. But tonight, that same shimmering moon will look into the Devil's Punch Bol, out there just beyond old John Davis' hop farm; and as she look she will recall the picture of the boy and girl who sat there on the rim of the Bowl, so long, so long ago, and made love and gave promises with their kisses which they knew they'd never, never keep. Ah, well, old moon, I guess it was all my fault, anywayt - but you - Or, maybe she, has forgotten - old folks get that way, I've heard! |
|
|
|
|
The Global Highway: Interchange to Everywhere A portal to the World. The Global Highway leads everywhere! Follow it to wherever you might want to go. We have something for everyone! |
Nice, France Weather |
Mexico City Weather |
Philadelphia Weather |
Saint Tropez Weather |
Montreal Weather |
| Find out more about vacations in Nice, France | Find out more about vacations in Mexico City | Find out more about vacations in Philadelphia | Find out more about vacations in Saint-Tropez | Find out more about vacations in Montreal and the Laurentian Mountains |
|
Find
weather around the World
.
Temperature and forecasts for hundreds of cities.
See adverse weather conditions. Upcoming storms, snow, tornados, hurricanes. Check out our special weather forecasts for the French Riviera!!! Visit our Travel Reservations and Information Center and see our CRUISE section. Make Hotel Reservations as well as rental cars. Book a ferry from Nice to Corsica. Rent Vacation Homes. |
||||
Railroads On The Rebound |
|
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. |
|
Carbon Calculator
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. |
|
|
JWH Rapid Response Temporary Housing How are your disaster recovery plans? Talk to us! We can design a plan to provide you temporary housing, office, manufacturing or warehouse space. We design your solution, then we store it for you. If a disaster hits, we move it into your site, assemble it, and maintain it. On site containers become residential accommodation, offices and much more! |
|
|
There is a
"Snow Belt"
in New York State that runs above Syracuse and Utica.
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. |
|
|
Golf in Nice and the French Riviera
Golf in Laurentides / Laurentians Region of Quebec Golf in the Montréal area Golf in Northwest France The U.S. Open Golf Courses on Google Earth |
|
|||||||
|
|
All tracks under Riverside Drive were 3rd rail- 3rd rail along both wall tracks thru 72nd down thru the cut and into
33rd and into
Morgan Annex. Not on the viaduct past there. Most Yard tracks at 72nd & 33rd were not 3rd rail.
But there was 3rd rail into the engine house at 72nd.
In the early 1980s, and south of 61st Street, you got a train up until about 1982 when that portion closed. The "yard full of cars" quickly disappeared, and soon a typical job was a 10-car that might consist of eight newsprint cars mostly from CN but some with CV markings. The other two cars were invariably hoppers and went along for the ride. In the last two years of operation, most of the yard was lifted (that is, the 14 parallel tracks), leaving only three tracks that basically functioned as a run-around with an extra track to facilitate switching of the then sole-customer -- the New York Times. Eight loads went in, eight loads went out, and as the switcher put the train back together again to run back north, the forklifts came alive and began moving the heavy rolls on the dock for their trip by truck to (43rd Street?) the old NY Times printing plant. RS -- was near RIVERSIDE CHURCH and was located not too far from the northportal of the tunnel (about 110th Street, maybe?) just beyond the curve. Essentially, this was where tracks 1 and 2 split into five tracks. Apparently, the center track was the "main" track, the two on either side of the "main" were sidings. The letters "RS" were labelled in black and white on the concrete wall on the east side of the tunnel. A large air tank stood vertically, about 12-feet tall. It was last inspected in 1962, according to the stenciling. More specifically, the south end of RS was where five tracks became four -- the east-most track ended in a trailing switch (looking north), guarded by a long abandoned and rusted two-light dwarf signal. The four tracks then had a four-track double crossover (not unlike the modern CP-19, as an example). In later Conrail days, only the "center" track was used and a facing crossover was traversed by northbounds to go from the "main" track to the #1 track. By then, the #2 track had been out of service for years. By 1982, the switches for the two tracks closest to the river were largely intact, but the track in both directions were torn up. North of there, only ties could be seen as evidence of there ever having been a third and fourth track there -- they ended in the weeds next to the two (main) tracks. So the five tracks continued down from RS to West 72nd Street -- these were "commonly referred to as the upper four" given the four parallel sidings that fed the yards. As the five tracks approached 72nd Street, the split apart under Riverside Park, so that the two eastern-most tracks basically ascended up grade (one going to street grade, the other going back down grade to join the tracks at the West 61Street end via a double-slip) . The two western-most (river side) tracks went towards the engine house, turntable and RR-YMCA and apparently once fed the leads for the piers (long-since torn up and disconnected, to make way for the parallel 14-track yard that replaced the switching leads for the piers). The center (or "main") track went first to a passing siding that was used a lot in later years, and also fed a five-track double-ended yard that included a scale track. The south throat of this yard ended right under 72nd Street as the throat emerged and connected to the (north) throat of the 14-track yard. Just south of the 14-track yard (small classification yard?) was a number of team tracks, with pavement between them to facilitate truck transfers, then south of that was a number of freight houses with high-level docks at which boxcars would be spotted for unloading. These fanned out from the five main tracks that ran the east side of the yard, and eventually merged into two tracks that went into the cut and ran down to West 30th Street. Only the river-side track was in use since the mid seventies, and up until the 1980s there was hundreds of tons of trash and junk, in some places ankle deep and piled high in others that had accumulated over the years. In the early 1980s, Conrail began to spot gondolas on the east track to facilitate trash removal. This whole cut actually did not exist until the 1930s, and even then in the LATE 1930s. Prior to this, the tracks ran in the street down Tenth Avenue. Along with this came the heavy elevated structure (aka the Highline) that ran south of West 30th Street to St. John's Park. The latter terminal existed from the time of the Hudson River Railroad, but I can't quite fathom that it was run at street level by the NYC all those years! There is an excellent article of the "West Side Line Improvement" that has been copied and placed online somewhere...(We also own a copy by virtue of contributing to the West Side Improvement Foundation) The highline had fully ballasted tracks, and was mostly double-track. In places it ran right through buildings, some of which had a loading dock that was literally on the second floor. Usually a third track would facilitate this. Down at the Nabisco buildings at 14th Street (later became the "Manhattan Industrial Center") the line was four-tracks wide and this section had tracks set in concrete on half-ties with a trough down the middle, looking like it was from the IND. It is fascinating to think that most of this line was electrified with third-rail, and the high-line featured tri-mode Ingersall Rand locos that could work from third-rail, battery or from a small diesel-electric generator. The battery power allowed the locos to operate directly inside of buildings without blowing diesel fumes and without the need to run high-voltage third-rail inside the buildings. Since there were many meat-packing plants along this line, some of which had loading docks with large sides of beef hanging trackside, electric power meant that meat would NOT get coated in diesel soot. From what I understand, the highline was last used in 1980 with a local train departing with "five loads of frozen turkey", the line south of 61st Street last used in 1982, and the rest of the line abandoned about 1984. It wasn't until 1991 that the r-o-w was re-used again, this time for Amtrak Empire Corridor trains connecting to Penn Station. |
| During the TUGBOAT STRIKE in 1960 NYC serviced various meat product receivers around 14th street with livestock off the inbound trains from CHGO & St.LOUIS, so I know that we delivered lamb,beef,though no pork as the hogs were delivered at 42nd street slaughter yard. Mechanical reefers were in the minority as produce was still delivered to 33rd st in iced reefers. St.Johns Park was used for freight forwarders at that time. By 1966, two meat customers were left. At 33rd St, Midtown Pkg 1,142 Meat cars/year; Sterling Provision 2,638 Meat cars/year. |
|
Traveling in Europe? You will probably need to make a FERRY RESERVATION. Stop by and see our Reservations Center. |
|
|
|
|
|
Haute de Cagnes
Haute de Cagnes is a village in Alpes Maritimes. It amounts to the medieval origin of the Cagnes settlement and nestles around an imposing medieval castle once owned by the Grimaldi dynasty (the Royal family of Monaco). The picture perfect village has been maintained successfully over the years and offers an alternative to the concrete of the modern French Riviera. Passing through Cros-de-Cagnes, Cagnes-Ville, or Cagnes-sur-Mer you will catch a fleeting glimpse on the skyline of the rising battlements of the Chateau Grimaldi, crowning the medieval bourg of Haut-de-Cagnes. Within the Chateau is the arresting Donation Suzy Solidor, thirties Parisien cabaret singer as painted by fory different artists of the pedigree of Cocteau and Lempicka. |
|
The Hudson River Line, opened in 1849, was a grand track that ran from New York City up the Hudson River to Albany,
built at a cost of $45,316 per mile of track. Below 30th Street, railroad cars drawn by horses funneled goods from the
West Side railyards to Spring Street, with stops that today's subway riders will recognize: 23rd Street, 14th, Christopher.
In 1867, when the horses were replaced by steam engines, both traffic and speed increased. So did the inevitable conflicts arising from a street-level railroad operating in a crowded neighborhood. This lethal mix of industry and humanity earned Tenth Avenue the nickname Death Avenue. The speedy abatement took half a century. Finally, a deadline was set: If the tracks were not raised above the street by May 1, 1908, the city would seize them. The date came and went, with neither elevation nor condemnation. The only concession to safety that had ever been made was the recruitment of young men to ride horses one block in front of the trains, waving a red flag by day and a red light by night. These men, a total of 12 often recruited from the countryside, rode the two-mile stretch for more than 80 years starting in 1850. Finally Mayor Jimmy Walker and Gov. Al Smith stepped in with public money to elevate the tracks. By 1933, 1,000 men had eliminated 105 street-level rail crossings, and when the elevated track was christened in June 1934. |
|
Grand Central was owned by the
New York Central Railroad Do you know who owns Grand Central now? If you said Metro North Railroad, or its parent company, the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, then you are wrong. Nor is it Donald Trump, Disney or WalMart. Find the answer and find out a lot of interesting facts. |
|
From the NYC blueprints of the yard @ 30th Street. The NYC had a
spur that came off turned South on 12th Avenue under the
Miller/Westside Highway and Crossed the Erie 28th Street yard and
then entered the Terminal Stores. The Terminal Stores building was
built by the NYC (when, I don't know) and was originally serviced
from 11th Avenue. On the 12th Avenue side there was (until the
street was repaved) evidence of rail heading both North (toward Erie
and NYC 30th Street) and South (toward Lehigh Valley on 27th Street).
Just to set the location: Between 24th Street and 26th Street was the B&O Between 26th Street and 27th Street was the Lehigh Valley Between 27th Street and 28th Street was Terminal Stores Between 28th Street and 29th Street was the Erie RR Between 29th Street and 30th Street was the Stanley Soap Works (Private siding from NYC) Between 30th Street and 34th Street was the NYC Find out more about New York Terminal Stores |
|
|
There is no "brrreeeport" in Connecticut, but there are plenty of towns
that are served by freight railroads. Search them out! |
|
Head End Railway Express and Railway Post Office |
|
|
On passenger trains, railroads operated lots of equipment other than
sleepers, coaches, dining cars, etc. This equipment was generally
called
'head-end' equipment, these 'freight' cars were at one time
plentiful and highly profitable for the railroads.
In the heyday of passenger service, these industries were a big part
of the railroad's operations, and got serious attention. We have text and pictures not found elsewhere on the Web. |
|
JWH Rapid Response Temporary Housing On site containers become residential accommodation, offices and much more! Services we provide are: Transportation to your site. Site preparation for your portable shelter. Assembly of your portable shelter. Subsequent enhancements or moving of your portable shelter. |
|
| Garbage Trucks |
|
|
|
||||||
|
|
|
|
|||||
| SEARCH THIS SITE |
|