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NYC's High Line Project

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NYC's High Line Project
Posted by psseshadri on Tuesday, September 30, 2014 4:21 AM

The High Line project must rank among the most accomplished projects in converting a derelict rail track to a glorious  meetingplace for the people. 

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Posted by 081552 on Wednesday, October 15, 2014 6:20 PM

This has developed into a tourist attraction for international visitors to NYC. 

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Posted by MidlandMike on Sunday, October 19, 2014 9:08 PM

My worry is that the viaduct is 80 years old and probably has not been maintined for 30 years.  Is there money in place to maintain it before it starts to fall down?

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Posted by mudchicken on Monday, October 20, 2014 8:10 AM

1. Railroad structures are overdesigned to start with (compared to most civil projects, I defer to PDN here). It will still be standing there when everything else around it turns to dust.

2. Not the railroad's problem anymore.Wink

Mudchicken Nothing is worth taking the risk of losing a life over. Come home tonight in the same condition that you left home this morning in. Safety begins with ME.... cinscocom-west
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Posted by Wizlish on Monday, October 20, 2014 9:28 AM

MidlandMike
My worry is that the viaduct is 80 years old and probably has not been maintained for 30 years. Is there money in place to maintain it before it starts to fall down?

Answer: yes.  But even so, at the required loading, I'd expect it to last a long time.  The old elevated West Side Highway only had problems because of excessive and improper use of road salt in the absence of effective inspection and maintenance ... combined with massive overloading in the form of a garbage truck on a no-trucks road.  (I still think it was a mistake to take it down rather than try to rebuild it a la the 125th St. viaduct, but I'm prejudiced... ;-})

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Posted by vsmith on Tuesday, October 21, 2014 12:03 AM

Midland[quote user="MidlandMike

My worry is that the viaduct is 80 years old and probably has not been maintined for 30 years.  Is there money in place to maintain it before it starts to fall down?

 

When NYC issued the building permits for the conversation I can guarantee that one of the provisions was to repair/renovate and upgrade the entire steel substructure to meet the current building code requirements. All the work on top of the highline is matched by an equal or greater amount of work under it to hold it all up for another half century.

   Have fun with your trains

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Posted by Leo_Ames on Tuesday, October 21, 2014 1:15 AM

Just spent about 90 seconds wondering what sort of "conversation" that the New York Central was issuing building permits for.

Using NYC in reference to New York City should be banned in railfan circles. In my vernacular, NYC means something entirely different than its normal use.

:)

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Posted by vsmith on Tuesday, October 21, 2014 9:31 PM

NYC = New York City.... Yeah I should have seen that one, oops Embarrassed

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Posted by tomikawaTT on Tuesday, October 21, 2014 10:17 PM

Reference NYC.

The late, somewhat less than great, New York Central Rail System is defunct, barely hinted at when CSX used NYC reporting marks while it and NS were sorting their Conrail plunder.

New York City, land of my birth, is alive, well and will probably continue to be so for a long time to come.

Hence, NYC = New York City (and probably was when the Union Jack still flew there.)

As for the re-purposed high line, whatever happened to that cockamamie idea to hang a Santa Fe 4-8-4 by the drawbar over it?

Chuck (Native Noo Yawka 2500 miles removed)

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Posted by Leo_Ames on Wednesday, October 22, 2014 12:51 AM

In normal circles, but you're in a forum dedicated to the history of railroading so it doesn't necessarily apply.

And that said, I wasn't seriously chastizing him. I was having fun, if it wasn't immediately obvious. ;)

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Posted by vsmith on Wednesday, October 22, 2014 3:18 PM

tomikawaTT

Reference NYC.

The late, somewhat less than great, New York Central Rail System is defunct, barely hinted at when CSX used NYC reporting marks while it and NS were sorting their Conrail plunder.

New York City, land of my birth, is alive, well and will probably continue to be so for a long time to come.

Hence, NYC = New York City (and probably was when the Union Jack still flew there.)

As for the re-purposed high line, whatever happened to that cockamamie idea to hang a Santa Fe 4-8-2 by the drawbar over it?

Chuck (Native Noo Yawka 2500 miles removed)

 

I should mention your saying this to a guy who's known for wearing an NYC as in New York Central ballcap on weekends.Wink

As I said above I should have realized saying NYC on a news site is going to be taken very differently than saying NYC on a train site  

Embarrassed DunceLaugh

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Posted by MidlandMike on Sunday, October 26, 2014 10:14 PM

[quote user="vsmith"]

 

 
Midland[quote user="MidlandMike

My worry is that the viaduct is 80 years old and probably has not been maintined for 30 years.  Is there money in place to maintain it before it starts to fall down?

 

 

 

When NYC issued the building permits for the conversation I can guarantee that one of the provisions was to repair/renovate and upgrade the entire steel substructure to meet the current building code requirements. All the work on top of the highline is matched by an equal or greater amount of work under it to hold it all up for another half century.

 

[/quote]

Upon further research, I see that NYCity purchased the line from CSX and the linear park is operated by the Friends of the High Line which started with $150 million in donations, so there should be some millions available for maintanence.

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Posted by daveklepper on Monday, October 27, 2014 3:54 AM

New Amsterdam was renamed New York when the British took it from the Dutch in 1674.  It had been a colony of the Dutch East India Company.  Peter Stuyvesant, the Dutch Governor wanted his burghers to fight to repel the Ennglish invasion, but the burghers knew they were vastly outgunned by the Brkitish warships, and forced him to surrender peacefully.  The new British colonial administration of the city gave him a pension and a house north of the City Walls at Wall Street at what is now Sturvesant Park. 

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Posted by wanswheel on Monday, October 27, 2014 8:47 AM
Perhaps without the Dutch there is no High Line.  Although Cornelius Vanderbilt’s mother was New Jersey English, his father’s people “came from the town of De Bilt, in the province of Utrecht in the Netherlands.”   It was the Commodore who built the original St. Johns Park freight terminal.
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Posted by 54light15 on Monday, October 27, 2014 1:16 PM

Dave, it's not Burgers (mmmm... burger) but burgher, which means citizen. In the Boer war, the Brits called them "Boojers" When I bought a house in Poughkeepsie in 1982, the sale was from the estate of Sarah Knickerbocker, talk about an old time New York name! I don't think there's a lot of Knickerbockers left.  Not a lot of Stuyvestants or Schemerhorns left either, I imagine.  

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Posted by cefinkjr on Monday, October 27, 2014 6:43 PM

Leo_Ames
Using NYC in reference to New York City should be banned in railfan circles. In my vernacular, NYC means something entirely different than its normal use.

AMEN!  As a former Central employee, it even grates on my nerves in non-railfan circles.  The fact that I had to spend more time than I would have liked in "the City" as an NYC employee makes it worse.

Chuck
Allen, TX

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Posted by Deggesty on Monday, October 27, 2014 7:44 PM

54light15

Dave, it's not Burgers (mmmm... burger) but burgher, which means citizen. In the Boer war, the Brits called them "Boojers" When I bought a house in Poughkeepsie in 1982, the sale was from the estate of Sarah Knickerbocker, talk about an old time New York name! I don't think there's a lot of Knickerbockers left.  Not a lot of Stuyvestants or Schemerhorns left either, I imagine.  

 

I have the impression that "Boer" means "farmer," just as the "Bowery" comes from "farmland."

Johnny

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Posted by wanswheel on Monday, October 27, 2014 8:09 PM

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Posted by daveklepper on Tuesday, October 28, 2014 5:50 AM

54light15

Dave, it's not Burgers (mmmm... burger) but burgher, which means citizen. In the Boer war, the Brits called them "Boojers" When I bought a house in Poughkeepsie in 1982, the sale was from the estate of Sarah Knickerbocker, talk about an old time New York name! I don't think there's a lot of Knickerbockers left.  Not a lot of Stuyvestants or Schemerhorns left either, I imagine.  

 

correction (and others) made.   Also see my latest question on the Classic Trains Forum.   Relavent to Cornelius Vanderbilt's mother.

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Posted by 54light15 on Tuesday, October 28, 2014 10:05 AM

Boer does mean farmer, Burgher means citizen. There's quite a few South Africans here. You can buy Boerwors (farmers sausages, naturally) at the St. Lawrence market. Mostly beef with coriander and they are excellent!

I have a book about the Boer war, in it there's a picture of a farmhouse wall where soldiers of both sides took shelter. The Boers painted graffiti saying "don't foget Majuba, boys" (site of a British defeat) and some Tommies wrote "No fears, Boojers, no fears" The Boer war was very fluid, apparantley.

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