Sunnyside Yard ~1930

[Bob.M]

 Can anyone identify the engines in the clips below?

They were captured from a film my father took around 1930. The only one I think I know is the DD1 in "Sunny1_45". The numbers refer to how many seconds into the video they appear. Flickr shows Time remaining, so that is shown also.

Sunny1_25   Remaining 1:05


Sunny1_33   Remaining: 1:00


Sunny1_45   Remaining: 1:00

Sunny1_50   Remaining: 0:40


Sunny1_78   Remaining: 0:12


Sunny1 The first 90 seconds of the video: Sorry I don't know how to embed a video here, but you can click on the link.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/11157878@N06/4527730129/

 

 

[Redwards]

Bob,

Great clip and pictures - thanks for posting!  That's the first clip I've seen showing what the ride out of Penn Station into NJ looked like in the days before overhead catenary.

This website might be helpful in ID'ing the other motors:  

 http://www.northeast.railfan.net/classic/PRRdata9.html

--Reed

[Eddystone]

Bob, the first two photos look like a PRR class L-5 loco.

[cudaken]

  Thanks for sharing!

[Bob.M]

Eddystone

Bob, the first two photos look like a PRR class L-5 loco.

 

Thanks. That was my best guess after viewing  the 2nd part of the video. But most of the pictures of the L5 I have seen on the web show either one large pantograph over the cab, or one on each end, like a GG1. This picture shows a very small pantograph, which I recall seeing on older Standard Gauge Lionel models. I wonder if they were at all functional?

Panto:

Reed said: "That's the first clip I've seen showing what the ride out of Penn Station into NJ looked like in the days before overhead catenary.".  Good eye: I failed to notice the lack of overhead wires, I am also unaware of whether the footage along the right of way was shot in NJ or Queens, where Sunnyside yard is located. The original film reel was labeled Sunnyside Yard and Penn Station. The Penn station footage shows no trains, but has a good shot of the interior of the building. I have reached the 2 video per month limit at Flickr. Maybe I will find elsewhere to upload the 3rd.

FWIW: There is a "Warning 650 volts" sign on the engine. That sounds more like third rail operation than catenary.

Sunny2:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/11157878@N06/4528744443

[henry6]

Breath taking!  I think I've seen parts of these clips along with the next part after Portal Bridge: Manhatten Transfer!  Can't complain 'bout the jumps, the bumps, the short nips and shots one bit!

[Bob.M]

henry6

Breath taking!  I think I've seen parts of these clips along with the next part after Portal Bridge: Manhatten Transfer!  Can't complain 'bout the jumps, the bumps, the short nips and shots one bit!

 

Must have been some other clips. These were on a film roll til about 20 years ago, when I had them Xferred to VCR tape, and were converted to .MPG on Friday. Anyway, here is the last part of the film. No trains, but it shows an old trolley, and the cars and trucks of the era.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I2-1c0w9rqA

[Bob.M]

 Rummaging around old pictures, I found these which I took in 1954. I initially thought the squarish engine was a DD1, but, it apparently isn't. Does anyone know what it is?

GG1_Auto_Washer


GG1_1954b


Sunny_1954


GG1_1954a


Unknown_1954

 

[timz]

5939 was an L6 (i.e. the same 2-8-2 wheel arrangement as the L5's in the film). PRR got... maybe 30 L6's to haul freight under catenary, but they ended up hauling few or no trains on the road. Most were scrapped (or disassembled, at least) without having been used at all? Dunno offhand how many survived as switchers.

[feltonhill]

 This is probably the most amazing PRR find I've yet seen.  I know of no video record of the L5's in service prior to this.  The movies also look like they may have been color.  Is this possible prior to 1930-32?  I didn't realize color movie film existed for amateur use prior to about 1938. 

The small pantographs on top of the L5 are for overhead third rails used above complicated switchwork such as double slip switches, where the ground level third rail couldn't be reached by the pick-up shoes on the locomotive.

Again, this is a significant set of videos.  I'm a life-long PRR freak, and I've never seen anything like this.  Thanks for posting the stills and the link!!

[Bob.M]

feltonhill

This is probably the most amazing PRR find I've yet seen.  I know of no video record of the L5's in service prior to this.  The movies also look like they may have been color.

 

No, they were not in color. The film has yellowed somewhat, which makes it look like they were in color.

[Bob.M]

timz

5939 was an L6

Thanks for that info. Here is another which I could use an ID: I think it may be a DD1, but not sure. Also do not know the exact year. Best guess is around 1930, same as the video.

DD1?

This is something that any PRR fan should like, though it doesn't fit the 1930s theme:

1951 Calendar