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Steam engine roundhouse in New York City

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Steam engine roundhouse in New York City
Posted by wanswheel on Saturday, December 19, 2009 1:58 AM

Long gone and no great picture of it here. 

It was to the left of this picture of the north end of the 60th Street Yard. 

Footbridge to Riverside Drive and  72nd St.

View south from the footbridge. At the right margin is a locomotive on the roundhouse track.

Too dark but I see the turntable. Hell Gate Bridge in the distance.

Mike

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Posted by henry6 on Saturday, December 19, 2009 8:04 AM

Cool A T T E N T I O N  R A I F A N S  and  R A I L  H I S T O R I A N S  and  R A I L  R E S E A R C H E R S: 8D]

NEW WEBSITE FOR ALL PICTORIAL INFORMATION!

 

MIKEGOOGLEASKMRJEVESBINGWANSWHEELETC.HOLYRAILROADSPIKEHEHASIT!   If he don't got it it don't exist!  Pick a pic, any pic!    Choose by location, choose by railroad, choose by equipment, or don't choose at all...Mike will find it and post if for you.  Guaranteed money back if he can get it to you within 2 minutes!  Faster delivery than Domino's everytime!  If you like your pictures rare, or well done, MIKEGOOGLEASKMRJEVESBINGHWANSWHEELETC.HOLYRAILROADSPIKEHEHASIT! is the only place you need to know.  Order on line or forget about it!

RIDEWITHMEHENRY is the name for our almost monthly day of riding trains and transit in either the NYCity or Philadelphia areas including all commuter lines, Amtrak, subways, light rail and trolleys, bus and ferries when warranted. No fees, just let us know you want to join the ride and pay your fares. Ask to be on our email list or find us on FB as RIDEWITHMEHENRY (all caps) to get descriptions of each outing.

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Posted by daveklepper on Sunday, December 20, 2009 10:20 AM

ThaNKS!

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Posted by wanswheel on Tuesday, December 22, 2009 4:45 PM

Henry and Dave, thanks for the favorable reviews.

Google books has scanned a 1920 publication about the railroad situation in the Port of New York. The link is set to page 105 because there's a picture (not a very good picture) of the 60th Street Yard. The roundhouse is partly visible behind the water tower. The silouette of the grain elevator is recognizable at the top. The book itself is worth at least of few minutes of exploration. I learned a lot.

http://books.google.com/books?id=GH4AAAAAYAAJ&pg=RA1-PA105#v=onepage&q=&f=true

Mike

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Posted by route_rock on Thursday, December 24, 2009 7:21 AM

  Very cool! Thanks for sharing this.

Yes we are on time but this is yesterdays train

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Posted by o&wdelhi on Thursday, December 24, 2009 8:11 AM

Any idea about the dates of these photos?

Bob

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Posted by wanswheel on Thursday, December 31, 2009 6:41 AM

1920s.  One more of the roundhouse.  We can't see it but the folks in the picture can.

The south end of the 60th Street Yard.

Mike

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Posted by trlinkcaso on Thursday, December 31, 2009 8:21 PM

I can provide this photo of the roundhouse from the New York Central Industrial Guide book

 

 For a higher resolution version:

 

 http://www.canadasouthern.com/caso/images/nyc-60th.jpg

 

Terry Link

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Posted by richhotrain on Friday, January 1, 2010 7:42 AM

henry6

Cool A T T E N T I O N  R A I F A N S  and  R A I L  H I S T O R I A N S  and  R A I L  R E S E A R C H E R S: 8D]

NEW WEBSITE FOR ALL PICTORIAL INFORMATION!

 

MIKEGOOGLEASKMRJEVESBINGWANSWHEELETC.HOLYRAILROADSPIKEHEHASIT!   If he don't got it it don't exist!  Pick a pic, any pic!    Choose by location, choose by railroad, choose by equipment, or don't choose at all...Mike will find it and post if for you.  Guaranteed money back if he can get it to you within 2 minutes!  Faster delivery than Domino's everytime!  If you like your pictures rare, or well done, MIKEGOOGLEASKMRJEVESBINGHWANSWHEELETC.HOLYRAILROADSPIKEHEHASIT! is the only place you need to know.  Order on line or forget about it!

I have seen this message before.  What does it mean?  How does one access the web site referenced in the message?  Or is the message just some form of spam?

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Posted by Great Western on Friday, January 1, 2010 7:56 AM

 Apologies if it is genuine -  but as it seemed to reek of SPAM and also seemed to be yelling at me I avoided it like the plague.

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Posted by henry6 on Friday, January 1, 2010 8:38 AM

I thought I understood a lot of the people here until these last two posts!  I certainly overestimated them.

RIDEWITHMEHENRY is the name for our almost monthly day of riding trains and transit in either the NYCity or Philadelphia areas including all commuter lines, Amtrak, subways, light rail and trolleys, bus and ferries when warranted. No fees, just let us know you want to join the ride and pay your fares. Ask to be on our email list or find us on FB as RIDEWITHMEHENRY (all caps) to get descriptions of each outing.

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Posted by richhotrain on Friday, January 1, 2010 8:57 AM

henry6

I thought I understood a lot of the people here until these last two posts!  I certainly overestimated them.

Suffice it to say that this message is as incomprehensible as the first one that I referred to in my earlier post.

Alton Junction

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Posted by selector on Friday, January 1, 2010 9:06 AM

henry6
...I certainly overestimated them.

If true, Henry, whose responsibility is it to ensure that he is understood if he proffers a communication?  If you get little feedback, or mostly questioning feedback, shouldn't you reflect, as the creative personality you appear to be, on what you have done and why it hasn't been positively received?

Instead of slamming those who ask for clarification, or who admit that they looked askance at the post, why not make yourself plainly understood, be more patient, and accept that your attempt at creativity has fallen short?  Even if it could be agreed that you are more intelligent than they, as your quote above suggests strongly that you have concluded, it is highly confrontational to state it outright, and I would characterize it as highly egoistic.  In that respect, it could be that people have judged your communication on its face value, which would be the general protocol on forums.  The civil thing to do is to acknowledge that you have not made yourself understood, that yours is the responsibility to do so if you are going to communicate here, and to offer to adjust your expression.

Or to refrain from such interactions entirely if it is not your style to attempt to explain yourself.  You may find that those looking on will be forced to conclude about you the same way as your statement above.

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Posted by henry6 on Friday, January 1, 2010 9:11 AM

It was a compliment to Wanswheel's ability to come up with great, fantastic, pertinent pictures as needed on any subject that is presented here!  He deserves recognition and compliments.  And I shouldn't have to explain myself!   It has nothing to do with me being superior in anyway, I don't consider myself above average but.average intellegence should be able to figure out what I said and did.   If people are too stupid and ignorant to understand that then I am correct in my last post! 

RIDEWITHMEHENRY is the name for our almost monthly day of riding trains and transit in either the NYCity or Philadelphia areas including all commuter lines, Amtrak, subways, light rail and trolleys, bus and ferries when warranted. No fees, just let us know you want to join the ride and pay your fares. Ask to be on our email list or find us on FB as RIDEWITHMEHENRY (all caps) to get descriptions of each outing.

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Posted by selector on Friday, January 1, 2010 9:32 AM

Well done, Henry.  You open yourself to a lot of judgement by this last statement.

Have a good day.  Or, try to....

-Crandell

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Posted by richhotrain on Friday, January 1, 2010 9:33 AM

The two recent posts by wanswheel on the New York city roundhouse, and the photos and drawings, are extremely interesting and, as such, are very constructive posts for all of us as model railroaders.

It is too bad that these posts have to be trivialized by juvenile comments and rude responses.

At a minimum, this sure seems to be a violation of the forum rules which we have all agreed to abide by.

Alton Junction

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Posted by henry6 on Friday, January 1, 2010 10:35 AM
selector

Well done, Henry.  You open yourself to a lot of judgement by this last statement.

Have a good day.  Or, try to....

-Crandell

 

You may note that Wanswheel and others got what I said and did.  Sorry about those who didn't. If you or they want to judge me, then go right ahead.  HAPPY NEW YEAR anyway!

RIDEWITHMEHENRY is the name for our almost monthly day of riding trains and transit in either the NYCity or Philadelphia areas including all commuter lines, Amtrak, subways, light rail and trolleys, bus and ferries when warranted. No fees, just let us know you want to join the ride and pay your fares. Ask to be on our email list or find us on FB as RIDEWITHMEHENRY (all caps) to get descriptions of each outing.

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Posted by blownout cylinder on Friday, January 1, 2010 11:44 AM

henry6

I thought I understood a lot of the people here until these last two posts!  I certainly overestimated them.

Henry6: The only problem I had with that is the ran together bit but if they only would read it a little closer they would have got it!! LOL!! Bow

That batch of pix are really good for the scans. Smile,Wink, & Grin Thanks for sharing Wanswheel

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I just started my blog site...more stuff to come...

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Posted by Neon Man on Saturday, January 2, 2010 10:51 AM

Yes indeed!    

Even more and better photos!  Thumbs Up

 

I especially liked the third one from the top (the loco on the right margin on the roundhouse track) but all the photos make superb inspiration for modeling purposes! 

I'm a newbie here, and will have some questions as I go along.  (I just subscribed to "Model Railroader" magazine, and of course, these Forums). 

For Wanswheel:  are these photos the sort of thing that "Classic Trains" magazine publishes, and/or they from your own private collection?  They really are great to view, and thanks again for sharing them with us.  Smile

   

All best,

Joe

 

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Posted by yellowducky on Wednesday, January 6, 2010 7:55 PM

That's okay everybody, I can't find Mike Whan's site either!

FDM TRAIN up a child in the way he should go...Proverbs22:6 Garrett, home of The Garrett Railroaders, and other crazy people. The 5 basic food groups are: candy, poptarts, chocolate, pie, and filled donuts !
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Posted by NY&N on Wednesday, January 6, 2010 9:52 PM

This is my first visit to this site.  My grandfather was a conductor on the Harlem and Put Divisions and they have always facinated me and are a basis for my model RR.  So these wonderful pictures and the research effort are exciting and very much appreciated.  We might note in passing for those not too familiar with the railroads within the city limits that the NYC also had a small roundhouse and turntable in Yonkers at the foot of the Put Division, where it met the Hudson Div. main.

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Posted by wanswheel on Saturday, January 9, 2010 9:43 AM

trlinkcaso

I can provide this photo of the roundhouse from the New York Central Industrial Guide book

 For a higher resolution version:

 http://www.canadasouthern.com/caso/images/nyc-60th.jpg

Thank you!  Your website is magnificent.

http://www.canadasouthern.com/caso/home.htm

The roundhouse and the 12-story apartment building that is also in the first picture on page 1.

Same apartment building at 72nd St. and some refrigerator cars.  An elevated highway has been built through the yard, which required demolition of the roundhouse. The river is to the right.  Robert Moses, the city parks commisioner, will build the Henry Hudson Parkway over the tracks north of the yard.

Grain elevator built in 1877. Water tower on the roof.

http://i43.photobucket.com/albums/e390/MikeMacDonald/GrainElevator.jpg

Elevated highway ascends north past the grain elevator.

Grain elevator in the distance. Parkway construction at site of former 79th St. grade crossing.

There are two grain elevators, the one on the right is in Weehawken.

The elevated highway meets the parkway.

The trains go under a girder under a pedestrian tunnel under the south end of the parkway.

New York Central tracks encased under the parkway. Amtrak trains go here since 1991.

This view of the elevated highway is probably from the grain elevator.

Automobiles approach the vicinity of the erstwhile roundhouse.  The grain elevator is gone. The float bridge gantry on the right still exists.

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3362/3424715185_b9612acdf4_o.jpg

Amtrak tracks in the former 60th Street Yard.  Both new buildings are in the gantry picture.

http://wirednewyork.com/trump_place/images/trump_place_140_riverside_trump_oct27.jpg

http://www.wirednewyork.com/trump_place/images/trump_place_140riverside_amtrak_24march03.jpg

7 of the new buildings in the old railyard from 72nd St. on the left to 65th St. on the right.

http://www.pbase.com/steve_jump/image/33828447/large

Mike

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Posted by NY&N on Saturday, January 9, 2010 3:21 PM

 

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Posted by NY&N on Saturday, January 9, 2010 3:55 PM

Hi Wanswheel--

Thanks for your research and wonderful photos.  They provide many answers and more questions.  The arial view of the roundhouse catches the eye with details such as it looks like the table and stalls may only be long enough for switchers, several of which are in immediate vicinity for comparison.  But other photos clearly show road engines on the main tracks, not a surprise.. hum....  But the main question I have for you is the broadside photo showing portions of several milk trains.  The Rutland Milk off their corkscrew div. came down the NYC Harlam Div from Chatam and past my grandparents home in Brewster, NY, scaring the crap out of the family when I frequently disappeared @ train time because they knew right where I and my dog were going.  I was very young and they ended up tieing me to a tree at train time.  That facination continues today with a NYC bound milk train on my HO layout. 

Over the years I've caught glimpses in photos and assumed that the train went down the West Side intact.  I've always wondered what happened then, how far down did the go and did they remain intact?  Registering off the Grain Elevator and the Elevated Hiway, it looks like during the era of the photo they terminated on the east edge of the team yard just to the north of the large freight house.  Do you have any more West Side milk train pics or references to some?

Thanks again for your generosity and these exciting pics-- Wayne (aka NY&N: New York and Northern). 

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Posted by wanswheel on Monday, January 11, 2010 1:52 PM

Milk trains stopped north of 60th St. because the Hudson River Railroad put stations in established neighborhoods, particularly Manhattanville (West Harlem), founded by the Dutch in 1639. Before milk tank cars, many milk trains went to the old 30th St. station, where Abraham Lincoln had arrived enroute to his inauguration.

http://i43.photobucket.com/albums/e390/MikeMacDonald/HRR4.jpg

With its demolition in 1931, a new facility for receiving milk was built at the 60th St. yard with 10 tracks and capacity for 87 cars. In 1934, the new St. Johns Park Freight Terminal opened and Borden's milk went there. In 1937, as the old tracks on 11th Ave. were replaced by new tracks in a mid-block cut, Sheffield Farms built a huge milk processing plant on W. 57th St. with sidings in the basement.

Mike

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Posted by narig01 on Sunday, January 31, 2010 2:59 AM

 I think one of the pictures shown is in correct. the pic showing tracks in a tunnel.  Please note the under running 3rd rail. the West Side line was not electrified. And most of the trackage in the overbuild was only a 2 track line. The only exception was were the line came back out into daylite at 72nd st.

      I'll admit I may be wrong on some of this as my memory of the west side line is from the 60's & later.

Rgds IGN

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Posted by daveklepper on Sunday, January 31, 2010 4:01 AM

1.  I visited and toured the milk facility with the tracks in the basement as a youngster with a grade-school class, but I remember it as a Bordens facility and not Sheffield.   But I could be wrong because the family had Bordens and not Sheffield milk delivered to our home on W. 85th Street.

2.   At one time the West Side Line was electrified as far south as the 60th Street yard.   I am certain on this fact/   With the usual underruning NYC third rail.  But not farther south.

3.   The foot of the Putnam Line was not in Yonkers, but in The Bronx, where the Metro North Hudson line turns from north to west, following the east bank of the Harlem River, heading to the junction with the Hudson Line at Spuyten Dyvel.  I think some track north of the junction may still be in place, for whatever purpose.   Another junction farther north was in the middle of Van Courtland Park, which the Putnam line neatly split in half.   Appropriately, it was called Van Courtland Junction, and the Gettys Square Branch ran west to an embankment, semi-elevated terminal at the southwest corner of Gettys Square, Yonkers, until abandoned about 1937 or 1928.   Part of the Putnam had actually been electrified, from Gettys Square south to the Sedgewick Avenue - Manhattan Elelvated Bronx temrinal.   And this was all double track, too!   Two and three-car mu trains, about hourly weekday service.  NYC competeing with its own Hudson Div.   Before the emu's there were Forny Tank locomotives, like those once used on the Manhattan and Brooklyn and Chicago elevateds.

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Posted by narig01 on Sunday, January 31, 2010 7:48 PM

 Mr Klepper, Question for you was any of the trackage in the overbuild(north of 72nd st to 125th st) 4 track? 

thx IGN

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Posted by daveklepper on Monday, February 1, 2010 2:14 AM

There may have been a short stretch of four tracks just north of 72nd Street as a throat to the yard, but from there north I remember it as nothing but two tracks.   There may have been some sidings and some customers in the 125th Street area at one time.

Correction, I think at one time there was a small yard, or perhaps just four tracks, for some distance south of the Spuyten Dyvel bridge.

 

Also, I do not remember any roundhouse or turntable at the point where the Putnam left the Harlem.   There may have been such at one time.   The yard for the Putnam, with turntable and roundhouse, was near the current location of the High Bridge Station, which was a station for both Harlem and Putnam trains, the usual change point for Putnam ridiers wishing to go to Grand Central Terminal.   The coach yard there was electrified for use by the Gettys Square mu cars.   Other Putnam coaches were stored midday there, and so was the equipment on the west side local train.   All this area and the right of way of the Putnam next to the Harlem all the way down to the 155th Street McCombs Dam bridge was usurped by the construction of the Major Deegan Expressway.

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Posted by wanswheel on Monday, February 1, 2010 4:23 AM

Tracks go under the Henry Hudson Parkway at about 123rd St.

The tracks from 72nd St. to Spuyten Duyvil were electrified when the George was new in 1931.

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