Ok troops, here’s your NYC forum, anything NYC, and I do mean anything, from Steam to Electrics to Diesels and anything else with an NYC logo on it. This will be an open discussion of anything NYC so does anyone have questions, answers, or just plain old BS about the NYC to start. Have fun.
MY grandfather worked for them. He serviced engines. Actually he ordered the parts and did all the things to make sure the parts were stocked in the wharehouse and ready to be used on the locomotives.
My Uncle Juan worked was an engineer (motorman?) for the NYC in the early 60s in New York City. He operated the electric boxcab units (P motors, S motors, etc). In the mid 60s, he saw the writing on the wall as the overall atmosphere was deteriorating and the doomed Penn Central merger was upcoming. He left and went to work for the transit system driving subway trains until his retirement in the early 80s. Sadly, like many other motormen of the time, he was repeatedly exposed to the asbestos that came from the brakes. He died of cancer in the late 80s. I only got to speak to him a few times regarding his career. He really enjoyed working the rails.
I grew up near the shores of Lake Erie in western NY and I believe three rail lines ran parallel along the shore line: the NYC, PRR, and the Nickel Plate. Anyhow you could always tell a NYC when they blew for a crossing because their steam engines had air horns instead of the normal steam whistle. They had a tone all their own, nothing like the modern diesels.
I bet some of you NYC fans would be surprised to be standing in the middle of north central Illinois, near noplace in particular, with corn and cows surrounding you, and learn that you are on former New York Central right of way – it went way into the flatland corn country of the boondocks of Illinois. Track that never saw a Hudson or a Mohawk or a Niagra that is for sure.
Dave Nelson
Does anyone know how many differant Nose Heralds, teh NYC had on their diesels?
Just discovered the NYC roadbeds up here in Northern New York. Much of the Northern portion is a utility right-of-way now & open for mountain biking. Getting a work out, losing weight & exploring the railroad history of my adopted home, the Adirondack Mountains.
Wayne
Since you brought up the New York Central, I have just added a gem to the Memory pages of the Railroads of Madison County. It is the memories of a woman who used to ride the NYC passenger trains (and others) frequently in her youth. I broke it down into several pages to make it easier to read. Here is the ‘teaser’.
Karen Dinsmore’s “Memories of a NYC RR Train Girl”
“I was very fortunate to grow up at the height of rail travel, have many relatives and older siblings to visit in far off places, and have a dad who worked for the Big Four as the passes he got provided me opportunities to roam far from Wabash, Indiana and constantly travel by train. Until they took the passenger trains off of the Michigan Division of the Big Four we often took the train to Marion or Indianapolis to shop for the day. Weekends we headed to Elkhart to catch a train to Chicago…”
While you’re on the Memory page, take a look at Don Leistikow’s “The Riley doesn’t stop here (but it did”.
Visit http://madisonrails.railfan.net/memory.html and check out the various Bg Four/NYC photo albums as well.
I’m curious why there appears to be so little film from the Hudson and Mohawk valleys available. I have the Herron, Green Frog and Chickory offerings and miscellanous others. The vast majority was shot west of Buffalo. Was there a New York Sate equivalent of Emery Gulash?
I’ve probably mentioned this before, but there’s a load of interesting info on the “High Line” in New York (A freight elevated line operated by the NYC that ran through some warehouses to make deliveries easier) at www.oldnyc.com - worth a look. The only question I have about this line (which was not answered by the site) is: What kind of locos were used? One section of the site seems to imply that third-rail electric box motors were used up there, but I can’t see a third rail in the photos. Anyone have any ideas on this?
You’re lucky. Try finding film footage of the P&E in steam. HA!!
I dug this topic out of the dust bin and thought I would maybe put some life back into it. As a child our family often road the rail from upstate NY to Bellfountain Ohio via the NYC/Big four and NKP. My grandfather was an engineer at the Bellfountain yard so we got to ride in the cab around the yards when ever we went to visit. So when I decided to get into the MRR hobby several years ago of course I choose the NYC in the 50’s.
Terry
OK here’s another question for you NYC and Conrail experts:
Here on the CSX nowadays, I see many [former] Conrail hopper cars that have “NYC” reporting marks on them. This can’t possibly be New York Central - could somebody tell me what that REALLY means?
Um…it means New Your Central.
When Conrail got split between CSX and NS, the equipment was split onto three chunks (CSX, NS, and jointly owned). The stuff that CSX got was quickly relettered NYC until it could get repainted. Considering how often modern freight equipment gets repainted, you should be able to see these NYC reporting marks run until 2137.
And the locos that NS got were quickly lettered PRR on the cab.
The mention of Bellefontaine brings to mind that I have just added a Bellefontaine page to my Big Four Memories Photo Album pages of the Railroads of Madison County site.
You can go directly there with: http://madisonrails.railfan.net/bellefontaine.html
I was very happy to learn that the smooth sided, 85 foot long observation car used on the American Orient Express is an ex-New York Central car used on the 20th Century Limited! This car indeed, is a beauty!
Wonderful to see that a valued piece of history is in service[:D][8D][tup]
Hmmm…fascinating![8)]
Thanks Ray & Roger!
Well, well, well! I was wondering how long it would be until someone made another rasilroad topic! Good work!
my grandfather was a car repairman on the nyc. my father was an electric substation operator on the nyc then pc then conrail in grand central station for 44 years. my brother started on the pc as a toweman now with metro north as a rules instructor. i was the black sheep of the family working on the nyc transit as a signal maintainer for 31 years. we lived in the bronx ny near mott haven yard. got to watch a lot of switching moves there.
for antonio fp45. sorry about your uncle. but the brakes on the subway cars were steel shoes on steel wheels until the 80’s and then they went with a non asbestos composite material.the steel slivers from the brake shoes used to cause lots of signal failures when they bridged the insulated joints. he probably got the asbestos from the insulation on the trains wiring and electric heaters in the cabs and walls. that is something that i’m always am worrying about. i handeled asbestos without any protective gear and was never told it was dangerous until the 80’s. hell there is even asbestos in the concrete that the tunnels are made of.
The person(s) handling that tradeoff deal had to have been bonafide railfans…
thats actually funny…