Days gone by Classic scene.
Competing forms of transportation.
I think the locomotive is a Mikado. Not 100% sure.
Nice scene though. Call it ’ Mike’s Photo of the Day’
https://cdm16694.contentdm.oclc.org/digital/collection/srr_ecm/id/6/rec/51
I clicked on the link Mike provided, went to the site, and managed to blow the photo WAY up. Engine number’s 2725, and it looks like an L1 Mohawk.
Nich shot though. You suppose there’s a railfan taking pictures in that car on the side of the road?
Thanks Wayne. I thought it might be an early version Mohawk, just can’t make out the wheel arraignment and the number with any accuracy. After all the NYC did have 600 Mohawks!
You have better eyes than me. I came up with at least 3 different numbers all starting with 21xx.
Yeah probably the fella in the parked sedan was waiting to capture a train and a barge at the same time.
Its a very calming scene though, things are happening without being frantic.
No. He’s on the hillside taking pictures. And I suspect more than a little that his name may be Ed May.
Well of course, the implication is the car parked there is the fella who took the picture. I did not make a connection to Ed May though.
Fortunate the car was captured in the photo as it gives us a range for a time period.
From the description in the link:
The 5-window coupe automobile model suggests the time period of 1935-1945, while the parallel alignment of the railroad and canal suggests a location between Buffalo and New York City.
I found a good roster: https://www.railarchive.net/nyccollection/nyc_roster_1944/l-m-ne-nu-s-u.html
| Number | Class | Builder | Date | Cylinders | Drivers | Weight | Road |
|---|
| 2701-2799 | L-2a | Schenectady | 1926 | 27x30 | 69 | 364,000 | NYC |
|---|
Thanks Penny. Glad you folks can make out the number. I’m really having trouble with my eyes.
Overmod-- Yeah I see I said ‘the fella in the car’ … poor wording, I meant ‘with the car’ but even that is not good. How about the car parked there probably belongs to the fella up on the hill taking the picture. Geez. Too much stress lately.
And the automobile being ‘parked’ half or more on the roadway indicates not much automotive traffic on the road.
The photo was almost certainly taken along New York route 5, which hugs the former NYC (and the river) for a long way. I’m pretty sure if you looked south across the river today, you would see the New York Thruway. That long straight line that runs above the tug is likely the West Shore. Note the four tracks in the photo. Train is on track 1, the westward “express” track, with local track 3 (also westward) between the train and the road, and eastward tracks 2 and 4 closer to the river (the canal operated in the Mohawk for part of its length).
Thank you for that great information rcdrye. That really puts things in a proper setting. I can see the 4 tracks. It appears that Track 1 is at a greater elevation than the others but perhaps not.
So that’s the famous West Shore that streaks along the top on the opposite side.
The amazing action we would see if we could just go there for a few hours alongside the photographer.
I blew that photo WAAAAY up again, and for what it’s worth that car is a two-door coupe, I can’t tell the make and model, but the license plate number is 457. I can’t read what state it’s from, it’s too blurry on the max enlargement.
Anybody know what Lucius Beebe drove?
A very nice photograph! What impressed me was the amount of smoke from the tug versus the clean stack on NYC 2725.
I’d be fairly sure that this was taken with a view camera as the center of the picture is below the camera, but the image doesn’t like as if the camera was pointed down. A view camera allows the lens to be shifted up/down with respect to the film, thus allowing both to be vertical while centering the picture higher/lower than the level of the camera.
Concerning the West Shore Line 'cross the river…
I’m sure many of you know, but for those who don’t it’s now the CSX River Subdivision, running from Jersey City-North Bergen-Little Ferry NJ to Selkirk NY. A pretty interesting 'road for railfanning especially in this day and age of run-through power. While CSX locomotives predominate you just might see anything, locomotives from Union Pacific, Canadian Pacific, BNSF and others have shown up from time to time. A very active stretch of railroad.
So what of the four track mainline? … I’m sure it’s not 4 tracks any longer.
The four track main that rcdrye refers to in the foreground is the old NYC mainline, obviously. Whether or not it’s still four track at that location I don’t know, but I think four tracks on the old east side of the Hudson NYC main south of Poughkeepsie still predominate, but I could be wrong on that. At any rate it’s now owned by Metro-North transit rail, but also used by Amtrak and CSX.
The West Shore on the other side of the river was never four tracked at that location, however it was down in the New Jersey commuter zone from North Bergen to Dumont. The two center tracks were removed in 1958.
North of Dumont the tracks dropped to two.
The former NYC mainline thru NY was reduced from 4 track to 2 track about 50 years or more ago. Its only 4 track in the electric suburban district as far as Croton-Harmon, 33 miles from GCT.
From 4 to 2, that’s what I thought bur wasn’t sure. Thanks Midland Mike.
Also great info Flintlock. Sounds like the area is stil quite busy.
The West Shore (if that’s what it is) in the photo has long since been abandoned west of Rotterdam Junction, though bits and pieces remained in use into the Conrail era. Despite being very much a secondary line even under NYC ownership, it was mostly double track all the way to Buffalo. What remains of its path is shown on Google Maps as the “Canalway Trail” or “Erie Canal Trail” generally running next to NY 5S.
Vince, the present-day West Shore is very busy indeed, so much so that a third track has been added in the lower section in New Jersey, and additional passing tracks have been added in areas on the way to Selkirk. There’s been talk of double-tracking it again. There’s also been some proposals to run commuter trains on it again, but that’s not very likely to happen.
Wayne
Thanks to Wayne and rcdrye but each one of you ‘seem’ to have conflicting data. perhaps it’s just about location areas.
Great articles and pictures from Mike
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CcYxy1GO4G0
http://piercehaviland.com/rail/photo33.htm
