Somewhere in time on the New York Central

[gmpullman]

More on Collinwood —

wjstix

Ed - I believe Collinwood is part of Cleveland now?

Yes, it is the "Collinwood Neighborhood" of Cleveland annexed in 1910. Nearby East Cleveland is still a separate city.

Collinwood_3-11-51 by Edmund, on Flickr

In 1908 Collinwood was the location of a tragic school fire. A temporary morgue was set up in part of the LS & MS shops afterward. 

NYC_backshop by Edmund, on Flickr

NYC_1820-1824_Collinwood_6-4-1960 by Edmund, on Flickr

In the above shot, looking west, you can see remaining catenary supports on the left. The 22 P-1a electric locomotives were rebuilt for third rail pickup at GE's Erie plant before being sent to the Electrified district between Harmon and Grand Central Terminal in New York.

In 1929 construction was begun on repair facilities on the south side of the yard for servicing the electrics. This facility became known as the P-1a shed and retained that moniker for its remaining years.

CUT_P1a_shed by Edmund, on Flickr

P1A_shed by Edmund, on Flickr

The films this fellow has posted really deserve to be "remastered" using a frame-by-frame restoration.

 Regards, Ed

 

[tstage]

Collinwood resides in Euclid, which is one of the eastern suburbs of Cleveland.

I presume the photo was taken atop the monstrous concrete coaling tower located on the west side of the E.152^nd bridge.  It was still standing proudly in Collinwood before finally being razed in 2017.  A sad day for NYC fans...

Tom

[wjstix]

Today, the NYC System Historical Society's online store is called "The Collinwood Shop", an indication of the important role Collinwood held in NYC / LS&MS history.

Ed - I believe Collinwood is part of Cleveland now? 

 

[crossthedog]

Holy Moley! Thanks Bear. Thanks Ed. Although I hoped it, I didn't really expect such success. I can't wait until my brother sees this. I'm especially glad we were able to uncork the little vignette about the engineer hollering down to the eight-year-old Ed. What a treat!

We should have a Monthly Puzzler post, just a shot of some yard or industry spur or stretch of mainline or a coaling station or interlocking tower somewhere, and throw it out unlabeled for members to identify.

-Matt

[gmpullman]

crossthedog

What can we know of this image?

Well. Matt — You've landed right smack dab in my childhood back yard. I grew up just about a mile from here. (See my location in my avatar) My dad would bring me here several days a week during nice weather and we would stand for hours on a wooden stairway on the far side of the bridge (East 152^nd St.) and that's where, at about age eight, one of the engineers of a switcher hollered to me "Hey kid, you wanna ride a train?"  I was down those stairs and on that engine in a flash (it was an ex-NY,O & W NW2 #9512) he let me "run" the engine from one end of the yard to the other.

This is the view from the landing of those wooden steps:

Collinwood_shop by Edmund, on Flickr

In the top-right distance of your photo is the old crew YMCA that I've walked past many times:

getimage by Edmund, on Flickr

After the Penn-Central built a new crew dormitory in 1970 the old wooden YMCA mysteriously burned to the ground  You'll also notice in the upper-right there are several catenary supports visible.. This was the east end of the Cleveland Union Terminal electric operation that ran until 1953 or so.

CUT_Collinwood_209 by Edmund, on Flickr

In the above photo you can see that crew YMCA in the background again.

Collinwood_looking east by Edmund, on Flickr

Not much left there today. Sign of progress? I remember wandering through the backshops there. It was a beehive of activity and dozens of locomotives were shopped there each month. The M-490 jet powered Budd car was built there.

NYC_Headlight_2 by Edmund, on Flickr

Collinwood_1a by Edmund, on Flickr

NYC_1650-1836_P1a by Edmund, on Flickr

Thanks for finding a reason to stroll down memory lane.

Cheers, Ed

["JaBear"]

http://towns-and-nature.blogspot.com/2018/04/collinwood-oh-nycls-coaling-tower-and.html

EDIT.

Collinwood is gmpullman Eds neck of the wood, though it would appear that very little if anything remains of the infrastructure in the photo.

 

If the diesel switcher has the road number 834, it is a NYC Class DES-8, Alco/GE 660 hp S1, built 1943, originally #715 but renumbered 6/48.

 

IF the cab locomotive next to the switcher has the road # 1634 then it is an EMD F3, NYC Class EF15, built 1947.

 

A real stab in the dark is 74?4 (??). Is it a NYC Class U2(?), 0-8-0 switcher?? I gather some of them lasted until 1957, though I think, for no good reason, that there are too many steam locomotives in the photo for it to be taken at that late a date.

¼ Cheers, the Bear. 

[crossthedog]

My brother often digs around on the interwebs to find pictures of trains to send me. This is a way we have managed to stay close over many kinds of distance, since we have had railfanning and model railroading in common since we were kids (that's us in my avatar photo, though you can hardly make us out). Often he doesn't have time or remember to remark where he found a photo or the details about it. Today he sent me this photo, which I absolutely love:

It has everything I love in it. Big steam. F-units. Even what looks like an ALCO switcher. We started musing over where and when this might be. It's obviously a New York Central operation.

I know there are several NYC modelers here on the forum, and I wonder what any of you might tell us about this photo. I'm guessing late '40s. But there's only one diesel switcher in this whole yard. Is the NYC using some of their steamers for yard duty at this time? Does anyone know where this was taken? Is it a famous photo that I could find in higher res and make a print out of?

What can we know of this image?

Thanks.

-Matt

 

P.S. Here's me 'n the kid brother. I call him Youngblood.