Whenever we discuss conflicts between the railroads and external entities (Covington KY, Mayo/Rochester, Abo canyon, etc) the common sentiment always seems to be " [censored][censored][censored] the Nimbys, they have no right/authority to tell railroads how to conduct their affairs!!" etc etc etc with some variant of the explanation that The Railroads are under Federal jurisdiction, so the locals have no say in the matter, and such… But that isn’t always the case.
In 1923 the State of New York successfully banned the use of steam locomotives within the City limits of New York City and surrounding areas, and the Railroads had no choice but to comply. Resulting in mass electrification at considerable expense, and to a lesser degree the early adoption of diesel power for the routes where electrification could not be justified.
How is it, in your estimation, that the State of New York managed to succeed in forcing it’s hand, where so many others have failed?
That constant smoke downtown was highly offensive to the proboscises of the financially and politically influential aristocrats living on Park Avenue – and in the days of pre-air conditioning made housekeepers and laundries rich.
It wasn’t strictly politics. Smoke in the Park Avenue tunnel was usually so thick that signals were obscured and a couple of rear-end collisions of suburban trains which included multiple fatalities of passengers helped force the issue.
Notwitstanding all that, still you have a local authority dictating policy, and the Railroads (the most powerful of the day, in fact) jumping through hoops to comply. Seems out of character.
Could it possibly be due, in part, to a concern that continuing fatalities would snowball into wrongful death litigation?
Something twisted the arms of the railroads pretty convincingly
Steam in the Park Avenue tunnel and cut had been banned earlier, by act in 1902 or 1904, I believe, with a few years for comliance, and that led to the initial electrification of both the NYC, Grand Central Station to HIgh Bridge and Wakefield-Mount Vernon (West) and the New Haven to New Rochelle. This included electrification of old tracks in Grand Central Station before the New Grand Central Terminal was opened, meaning that most reconstruction took place after and not before electrification! But steam did remain on the West Side freight line, including street operation, and in Manhattan yards operated by other railroads reached by car ferry. These operations were converted to diesel or oil or gasoline or battery mostly before 1923. Also, the 1923 law affected only Manhattan. B&O steam continued on Staten Island, Long Island Railroad steam in Brooklyn and Queens, the Eastern Brooklyn District Railroad, New York Central Putnam Division in the Bronx, and the New Haven shop switchers in the Bronx, until after WWII. The New Haven shop switchers were the last steam locomotives operating on the NYNH&H and almost the last steam in New York City, Eastern Brooklyn being the last with their tank engines.
RRs will pick their battles and will often voluntarily comply with local ordinances rather than fight them. The NYC probably gained considerable political capital and good will from doing electrification. Probably had a reasonable hard dollar ROI, too!
You’re a bit off on your dates and the motivations. The act that banned steam locomotives south of the Harlem River took effect 1 July 1910, not 1923. And it was enacted out of a genuine concern for safety. Early on, there were instances of crew passing out from fumes in the Park Avenue tunnel. On 8 January 1902, because of smoke in the Park Avenue tunnel, a NY Central train ran a red signal and crashed into a standing New Haven train, killing 15 passengers. This was before the present GCT was erected (completed 1913). It’s likely that the NY legislature would have also banned wood cars in tunnels at some point, except that subway cars in New York City were already required to use steel cars. Following this lead, the Pennsylvania Railroad, which was building the tunnels under the Hudson River, decided to standardize on steel cars. Many people at that time looked at wood cars as death traps, with good reason. Because it was the Pennsy, Pullman got religion and soon switched completely to building steel cars, thus imposing a de facto standard on the entire railroad industry. It’s likely that the Pennsy, NY Central, and the New Haven looked upon these projects as enhancements to safety and thus long-term company value, rather than as expensive nuisances.
Nimbyism OTOH arises from objections to projects for esthetic or ideological reasons, such as visual or noise pollution
I won’t argue that there were efforts prior to the Kaufman act, but from this source I reproduce the following :
Government vs. the Steam Locomotive: The state of New York enacted legislation in 1903, prohibiting the operation of steam locomotives on Manhattan Island in New York City south of the Harlem River after June 30th, 1908. The state intended to force the railroads to electrify their lines. The legislation was in response to a 1902 wreck. Smoke obscured the view of an engineer operating in the Park Avenue tunnels; he over-ran another train and 15 commuters were killed. In 1923, this legislation was supplemented by the Kaufman Act, requiring that no railroad or part thereof operating within the limits of the city of New York or within the limits of an adjoining city shall on or after January 1, 1926, use any motive power in its operation within these cities except electricity, to be generated, transmitted and used in said operation in a manner to be approved by the Public Service Commission. The Kaufman Act was amended in 1926 to extend the deadline five more years. Partially because the emerging diesel locomotives were deemed to be in compliance with the intent of the legislation. New York was not alone, in 1912 , Chicago passed legislation that required electrified operation of all trains that operated
Apparently, the New York State Public Service Commission must have granted waivers for the steam operations within the City of New York that I mentioned earlier and that continued until after WWII. I suspect no waivers were granted for any Manhattan operations, and diesels or oil-electrics did replace West Side line operations that were not electrified, as well as the Manhattan frieght terminals of the railroads terminating in New Jersey and reaching Manhattan by car float. If I remember correctly, the Central of New Jersey’s first diesel was a box-cab used in its Manhattan yard.