While researching rail-marine operations in the New York/New Jersey area, I came across a track plan for the old Harlem Transfer Company…published, in its entirety I’m told, on the company’s letterhead! The entire yard, and the entire line, could be modeled “full scale” in HO in an area of about 8 x 8 feet!
If you know of this line, which went out of business in the mid-70s, you know that the freight house building(s) had a distinctive round or oval shape. Can anyone point me to a source of photos of the freight house, yard, or float bridges of this company?
Thanks in advance for any info, and Happy Holidays to all!
Bruce,
I assume you’ve already looked through all the references that show when you do a Google search on the Harlem Transfer Railroad, including those at: http://www2pb.ip-soft.net/railinfo/car-floats/harlem-transfer.html.
On page 37 of Michael Krieger’s “Where Rails Meet the Sea,” 1998, Metro Books/Friedman/Fairfax Publishers, there is an aerial shot of the CRNJ’s Bronx Freight House, as of 1944. According to the caption, the “… two-hundred foot (60.8m) diameter structure was copied from the design of a Harlem Transfer RR freight house built upriver in 1898.” The track layout looks similar. If you are near a good public library, you might be able to access the book through Inter Library Loan.The photo credit is from the South Street Seaport Museum, so if you live near the Big Apple, you might be able to do some research there.
Bob
I think I saw a picture in one of my books, but so far haven’t found it.
Page 52 of “New York Harbor Railroads Vol 1” published by Morning Sun Books has a map showing the Harlem Transfer at what is probably a latter date. The loop tracks do not go all the way around the freight house and there hre a couple spurs crossing 135th Street.
The Lehigh Valley Terminal on the same map is similar to but not as tight as the Harlem Transfer.
“Freight Terminals and Trains” published by the National Model Railroad Association has a map of the Harlem Transfer with some dimensions.
The inside loop was an oval with 90’ radius curves and 30’ straights. The outside loop had 104’ radius curves and 30’ straights. The building was 35’ wide and had a 4’ platform around the outside making the overall long dimension 196’ (4’ + 35’ + 118’ + 35’ +4’) . The radius of the courtyard wall 44’ , the radius of the outer wall 79’ (44’ + 35’)
The distance along 135th Street between the Mott Haven Canal and Railroad Avenue scales to approximately 350’ (just over 4’ in HO scale)
JRB: Thanks for the lead on the CNJ. I’ll give Santa’s helper (my wife) a hint that the book ‘Where The Rails Meet The Sea’ would make a great Christmas gift!
DS: Thanks for the page no. reference in ‘NY Harbor Railroads, Vol. 1’. I just bought the 2-volume set on eBay last week and received the books just days ago! Great photos and maps!
I didn’t realize that there were several operations with similar designs along the rivers around NYC. The HT Co., the CNJ, and Lehigh Valley all had similar operations with the float bridge, the yard, and the loop around a circular or oval freight house. This seems like a great modeling opportunity that could be operated in a reasonably small space…not even a full room!
Certainly someone must have modeled one or more of these lines. Have any layouts based on these facilities appeared in modelling magazines?
There’s a load of information about NY area RR operations at www.oldnyc.com, not sure if this covers the precise are you’re interested in but there’s loads of interesting info on the site.
Here is “Netscape- Search Engine” link look of Harlem Transfer RR.
The link with you a link to the article regard the Harlem Transfer… With photo of the
map of the dock.
If you are at all interested in Rail-Marine activity, NY Harbor in particular, I have a Yahoo group at - http://groups.yahoo.com/group/railmarineops/ that focuses heavily on NY operations that you might want to check out. I myself wrote an article on the history of the LV in the Bronx with Dave Pearce in last years issue of Transfer, newsletter of the RMIG.
Dave Pearce (who wrote the “bridging a carfloat” byline) also did a two-part article in Railpace back in 1985 covering the CNJ, LV, HT and Erie operations in the Bronx.
“Had I not seed it wi’ me own two eyes, I wouldna’ hae believed it!”
Here a whole bunch of folks posted about the Harlem Transfer, and no one has yet mentioned that it appears in a six-page article in Kalpubco’s Model Railroad Planning 2007! One of the photos is an overview, including a distant view of the original (blue-walled) freight house. The later concrete block freight house appears in two other photos, as does a view of the end of the float bridge.
A small map shows both the Harlem Transfer and the CNJ Bronx Terminal (they were only a block apart.) The similarity of the two track layouts is astounding!
If the Old Dog remembers correctly, either MR or MRC published a track plan (modified to use sectional track) years ago.
The terminal is also shown in Yards and Terminals by J.A. Droege published in 1906 on page 230 and as stated above in MR’s latest Track Planing booklet.