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The first elevated railroad

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The first elevated railroad
Posted by wanswheel on Sunday, June 14, 2009 5:39 PM

Charles T. Harvey's West Side Elevated Patented Railway had two stations.  The downtown station was attached to the corner of a building on Greenwich St.  The uptown station on 9th Ave. at 29th St. was just down the block from the Hudson River Railroad depot and all trains to Albany before Grand Central Depot was built.  The car grabbed onto a cable, four cables on the route, then letting go of one it would coast to the next.  Soon replaced by locomotive drawn train.  Eventually the line reached the Polo Grounds, first home of the New York Mets.

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Posted by henry6 on Sunday, June 14, 2009 9:26 PM

Ya done dood it agin, Mike!

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Posted by tomikawaTT on Sunday, June 14, 2009 10:10 PM

Just one little nit to pick...

The Polo Grounds was the home field of the New York Giants, until they ran off to San Francisco.

By the time the Mets appeared at the Polo Grounds, elevated railways in Manhattan were history.

Chuck (native New Yorker)

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Posted by AgentKid on Sunday, June 14, 2009 10:20 PM

Excellent job Mike. Chuck, I was going to say the same thing, and I am from Calgary.Approve What years are we talking about Mike?

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Posted by daveklepper on Monday, June 15, 2009 3:03 AM

Apparenly, you didn't note that I had answered the question before your posting.   The Polo Grounds was the not permanent northern end of the line.   After the IRT bought Manhattan Elevated Railroad, and construction of the Lexington Avenue subway started, the IRT bought the Putnam Bridge from the New York Central.   The steam trains of the Putnam line were moved back from the joint 155th Street El Terminal to the Sedgewick Avenue Station in The Bronx and the 9th Avenue elevated was extended over this swing brige across the Harlem River, to two tunnels (unfortunately side clearances were insufficient for subway third rail shoes, stopping the idea of converting what became the "Polo Gounds Shuttle" remenent of the 9th Avenue El that operated into the 1950's for extension of the Lenox Ave "3" line to the Bronx and sharing the Jerome Avnue el with the "4") to a juction with the "4" Lexington Avenue - Jerome  Ave at the elevated 167th Street station.   At one time before this change one could board a train to Boston at the 155th Street elevated station, when the Put was an independent railroad.

 

And am still lookiing for your comment on my dual answer, stationwise, GCT if you count the subways, Charing Cross, London,  if you don't.   GCT handles about 2000 subway trains a day, and about 400 Metro North trains.  Waterloo handles about 300 a day, and all stop at Charing Cross in addition, which is a terminal for about 200 a day.   These are all rough estimates. 

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Posted by wanswheel on Monday, June 15, 2009 7:32 AM

Dave, when Mark posted what I believe to be the correct answer to the first question, I in haste set aside the second question specifically asked of you, without thinking whether that was stunningly inconsiderate, which of course it was. In other words I made a mistake, compounded by starting this thread on the very subject of the question you rightly answered. I'm awful sorry. This link is to an old NY Times article about Charing Cross Station vs. Grand Central Terminal.

http://query.nytimes.com/mem/archive-free/pdf?res=9B0CE4DE153DE733A25750C1A9629C946596D6CF

As for the Polo Grounds...

http://66.230.220.70/images/post/ny/71.jpg

there I put the horse before the cart. The El arrived at 155th St. years before the Giants.  This link about the Long Island Rail Road also has some pictures of the Polo Grounds.

http://www.trainsarefun.com/lirr/odds_ends.htm

Willie Mays & Don Mueller at Penn Station

http://pro.corbis.com/images/U1068248.jpg?size=67&uid={d4097881-4e01-4021-b8e3-523b53492ee0}

Mike

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Posted by daveklepper on Tuesday, June 16, 2009 3:42 AM

No harm done, and I got to ask my PCC question on the other thread.

 

Anyway, the photos of Charles Harvey's elevated are great.   They are available to me in the HU library locally, but it is great seeing them posted.

 

 

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Posted by wjstix on Wednesday, June 17, 2009 3:56 PM

Just to confuse things, the New York Metropolitans ("Mets") were actually the first NY major league baseball team back in the 19th century. The Giants came a little later. They played their first game at the Polo Grounds on May 1 1883...although that was in a different location than the "Coogan's Bluff" Polo Grounds, where they moved in 1889. There were several "Polo Grounds" after that but all were in the same general area. 

Stix
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Posted by daveklepper on Thursday, August 11, 2022 2:37 AM

Didn't realize, but a 9th Avenue Elevated thread already existed!

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Posted by daveklepper on Wednesday, August 17, 2022 8:01 PM

Note some same pictures, but different soutce, other thread. 9th and 6th Avenue Elevateds/

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