Friday, September 13, 2013

New York City - 1

Hi, I'll begin my coverage of the New York City Metropolitan area with images taken on former New York Central lines.

This caboose hop was lead by an oil/electric/battery switcher.  It was crossing Spuyten Duyvil, which is the connection between the Harlem and Hudson Rivers, from Manhattan into the Bronx.  The mainline from Grand Central to Chicago was behind me.  This trackage is now part of Amtrak's Empire Corridor route to Penn Station.  The photo was taken in the mid 1950s.

Also taken in that time frame is this westbound long distance train at Marble Hill in the Bronx.  The Putnam Division split away just beyond the tower and headed north on its east side.

In June of 1957 I spent the afternoon at the Woodlawn commuter station on the Harlem Division.  At one time this went all the way north to a connection with the Boston and Albany at Chatham, NY.  Today it ends at Wassaic, NY with the the electrification ending about a mile north of Brewster.  The Electrification extension was completed in 1984.

The train below was bound for Grand Central Terminal behind, I believe, a New Haven EP-3.

Another Grand Central bound train was behind an EP-4.

I am not sure of the locomotive class leading this train headed to GCT.

This New York Central train with an ex Cleveland Union Terminal (P motor) electric on the point was passing under the southbound New Haven track.  On the far right is the northbound New Haven track.  Heading north on the New York Central tracks leads to Brewster and beyond.

A 3 car set of New York Central's most modern MUs was northbound.

An ABA set of E8s waited to take over for electric power on a long distance train at Harmon, NY.  Again, the photo was taken in the late 1950s.

Here is the south end of the above power set.

Back at Woodlawn during rush hour in the late 1960s or early 1970s a train powered by a pair of FL9s on the express track was passing MUs making a station stop.  Penn Central replaced the New Haven's orange, white and black scheme with this one of yellow and blue.

On another occasion a single FL9 lead a train into North White Plains, NY.

This was the first train photo I took with my new Nikkormat in 1971.  The station is Mount St. Vincent in the Riverdale section of the Bronx.  The Hudson River is on the left and the train was inbound to GCT.

This long distance train was approaching Spuyten Duyvil station behind a former CUT electric on its way to GCT in the early 1970s.  The track to bridge across Spuyten Duyvil is to the left of the motor and the bridge is out of the photo to the left.

Finally, another train behind a P motor was passing Mount St. Vincents headed for GCT on a much nicer day.

Thanks for looking.

3 comments:

dalmann said...

Bob
The green and gold New Haven electric is one of 6, (0361-0366) 3600 hp General Electric EP-4 class locomotives. (Electric Passenger, 4th class.)
The 10 member class of EF-3's (Electric Freight, 3rd class) looked similar, were heavier, 3 feet longer and were rated 4,860 hp and weighed almost 500,000 lbs. The main spotting feature is the side louvers are much shorter on the EF-3's.
All of these locomotives were scrapped unfortunately.
Dennis

khelft said...

How great it is, how great it was, as Jackie (Peekskill) Gleason was wont to say to see those pictures taken just inside the City. Incidentally Bob, the tower in the background in Fordham Section of your native Bronx, where the Hudson and Putnam parted was BN Tower.
Getty Sq.is long gone, but the rails on the Put were still in place to Eastview for traffic to the A&P Distribution Center there, Are they still there now?
A&P is likewise long gone.

Unknown said...

Those two photos appear to be Riverdale, not Mt. St. Vincent.