| What tour would you like to
take today?
|
| The
LIRR Rockaway Beach Branch Virtual Tour:
 Take a tour of the abandoned Long Island Rail
Road (LIRR) Rockaway Beach Branch
right-of-way, located in Queens, New York. Along
the tour, you will learn about the history of the former Rockaway Beach Branch,
and enjoy the personal stories pertaining to the branch told by several
OldNYC.com contributors.
Photo: This is the beginning of the LIRR
Rockaway Beach Branch. The line diverged off of the LIRR main-line
tracks in Rego Park, Queens.
|
| The New York Central High
Line Virtual Tour:
 In the
Manhattan's neighborhood of Chelsea, there exists an old, decrepit railroad
viaduct that refuses to let the elements of weather and politics take it
down. The railroad viaduct is known as The High Line. The High Line
was built during one of New York City's largest infrastructure projects: The
West Side Improvement project, presided over by Robert Moses. The project took place in the early 1930's
during the Great Depression. The resulting infrastructure that emerged from the
project would change the face of the West Side of New York City forever.
In Riverside Park, the railroad right-of-way was covered and the park was
expanded. In Chelsea, a viaduct was constructed that would carry freight
trains high above the surface. It is in Chelsea where we will spend most of the
virtual tour, as we look at the various buildings, spur routes, sidings, and
tunnels that were built in order to accommodate the High Line.
Photo: A
section of the High Line viaduct, as it winds its way through the neighborhood
of Chelsea in Manhattan.
|
|
The
LIRR/New York and Atlantic Railway Bay Ridge Branch Virtual Tour:
 In
the summer of June of 2000, The New York Connecting Railroad Society held the New York
Connecting Railroad/New York and Atlantic Railway tour. Tour Chairman
Bernard Ente ran the event where train enthusiasts, historians, and urban
explorers were able to ride a New York and Atlantic diesel train from Fresh Pond
Yard in Queens to the Bay Ridge Yard in Brooklyn. The LIRR abandoned passenger service on the Bay Ridge
Branch in 1925, and there
have only been a couple of times when the public has the opportunity to ride on this
branch.
Photo: Members of the New York Connecting
Railroad Society board the New York and Atlantic diesel in Queens.
|
| The Route of the Planned Cross-Brooklyn
Expressway Virtual Tour:
 The Cross-Brooklyn Expressway was a controversial highway project that was
recommended by New York City arterial coordinator Robert Moses. The Cross-Brooklyn
Expressway took on many forms in its various route designs during the planning
stages. OldNYC.com examines the routing of the Cross-Brooklyn Expressway from
the its starting point at Gowanus Expressway in Bay Ridge Brooklyn to the
interchange at the Belt Parkway by JFK Airport in Queens. This tour
attempts to trace the route of the planned Cross-Brooklyn Expressway, utilizing
planning facts gleaned from Steve Anderson's excellent nycroads.com web
site. We examine such aspects as route planning, route design, and
engineering aspects of the proposed expressway. Along our tour, we
encounter rough terrain, vestiges of an old freight railway line, and even some
wild dogs!!
A special note to railroad fans: Since the Cross-Brooklyn Expressway was to
follow much of the route of the LIRR Bay Ridge Branch right-of-way, there are
many pictures of the LIRR Bay Ridge Branch
ROW included in this tour!!
Photo: The LIRR Bay Ridge Branch
has a narrow ROW along much of it's route. Moses' engineers would have had
to come up with some very creative solutions in order to build an expressway
thru much of these areas.
|
| LIRR/NYA Bushwick
Branch Virtual Tour:
 The
Bushwick Branch was built by the South Side Railroad (SSRR) of Long Island in the late
1868 for
passenger and freight service within the surrounding communities of Brooklyn and
Queens. A subsequent buyout of the SSRR by the Flushing and North Side
railroad caused the branch to change ownership. Over time, the Long Island
Rail Road bought out many of their competitors, which resulted in the Bushwick
Branch being placed under the LIRR's control. By the early 1920's, the Long Island
Rail Road
abandoned passenger
service on the line, and instead focused on providing freight service to the
industries located along the right-of-way. As rail freight traffic
seriously declined in New York City post-World War II, the Long Island Rail Road
would slowly discontinue freight service along the Bushwick Branch, and they let
the line fall in to a state of disrepair. Although the Bushwick's mainline track
can still handle freight cars and locomotives, many of the spurs and sidings
have become unusable as they continue to be overtaken by weeds, trees, and other
plants. Even after years of decay and neglect, it really is amazing that
the Bushwick Branch's main right-of-way still is in-tact for much of the
route.
Photo: A view of the
Bushwick Branch right-of-way, just southwest of Flushing Avenue and 56th
Street. This little-used railroad line once provided passenger service
for the LIRR, but is now used for freight operations by the NYA.
|
| New York Cross Harbor
Railroad Virtual Tour:
 On a
blustery afternoon in December 2001, OldNYC.com visited Sunset Park Brooklyn in order
to tour the New York Cross Harbor Railroad. Harry Hassler, Chief of Police
for the New York Cross Harbor Railroad, provided your webmaster and several
other tour participants a unique opportunity to explore the Cross Harbor
Railroad yard, right-of-way, and surrounding facilities. The Cross Harbor
Railroad is an active freight railroad, and the railroad is unique in that it is
one of the few railroads that continues to operate on New York City's surface
streets. At one time in New York City's transportation history, small freight railroad companies
such as the Cross Harbor helped to provide local businesses with rail freight
services for transporting their products. Although the glory days of
freight train transportation in New York City are long gone, the Cross Harbor
still provides rail freight service for their customers.
 OldNYC.com
also examines sections of the South Brooklyn Railway in the neighborhood of Sunset Park, Brooklyn. The South Brooklyn Railway's rail
infrastructure is still being used today by the New York City Metropolitan
Transportation Authority, as we will see on the tour.
Photos: Top Left: A New York
Cross Harbor locomotive passes through a factory on 2nd Avenue in Sunset
Park, Brooklyn circa 1990 [Photo courtesy of Bernard Ente].
Bottom Right: The right-of-way of the South Brooklyn Railway runs parallel to
the Gowanus Expressway's 39th Street exit ramp.
|
| Jay
Street Connecting Railroad/BQE in DUMBO and Brooklyn Heights Virtual Tour:
 In
late September 2001, Bernard Ente hosted the Jay Street Connecting Railroad
(JSCRR)
tour in Brooklyn, New York City. The tour offered participants a chance to
walk the streets of DUMBO (Down Under the Manhattan Bridge Overpass)
neighborhood of Brooklyn, and see relics of the long-gone Jay Street Connecting
Railroad. As you will see when you
take the virtual tour, there are many instances of old and decaying tracks,
switches, and other pieces of train infrastructure. The Jay Street
Connecting Railroad once served various forms of commercial industry along its
right-of-way. The growing use of trucks for shipping helped to kill small
freight railroads such as the JSCRR. Little freight railroad companies
such as the JSCRR added to New York City's vast
transportation network.
As an added bonus, OldNYC.com examines sections of the
Brooklyn-Queens Expressway (BQE) in the neighborhoods of DUMBO and Brooklyn
Heights. Like many of Robert Moses' New York City expressways, the BQE had
to slice its way through densely populated areas. The engineering feats
that made this all possible are incredible in their own right, and the resulting
characteristics of the BQE's infrastructure makes this expressway one of the
most unique highways in the country.
Photos: Top Left: Former railroad tracks of the Jay Street Connecting Railroad still
grace the cobblestone streets of DUMBO, Brooklyn. Bottom Right: The
cantilevered section of the Brooklyn-Queens Expressway (I-278) in Brooklyn
Heights, Brooklyn.
|
| The Route of the Planned Lower Manhattan Expressway
(LOMEX) Virtual Tour:
 In the late 1950's to early 1960's, highway construction was all the rage.
During this time,
New York City's powerful arterial coordinator Robert Moses was in the mist of
completing several highway projects, and he had several highway projects on the
drawing board. One of the projects on the drawing board was the Lower
Manhattan Expressway, nicknamed LOMEX. The LOMEX was also part of the grand
vision of "I-78 Through New York", a plan to provide a highway route
from Manhattan to JFK Airport in Queens. Unfortunately for Moses, the
time that LOMEX was going to move from the planning stages to the construction
stages was during the mid-1960's. It was a time when the political, environmental,
and community-based groups turned against the construction of new urban
highways. The Lower Manhattan Expressway, as well as several other New
York City interstate highways, were officially killed in the early
1970's.
OldNYC.com attempts to trace the route of the planned Lower Manhattan Expressway, utilizing
planning facts gleaned from Steve Anderson's nycroads.com web
site. We examine such aspects as route planning, route design, and
engineering aspects of the proposed expressway. We will also review some
of the political and community issues that the LOMEX had brought forth.
Along our tour, we encounter many historical buildings as we pass through some
of Manhattan's most famous neighborhoods including SoHo, Little Italy,
Chinatown, and the Lower East Side. Photo:
Several buildings line the north side of Broome Street. The LOMEX's
planned alignment was to be situated on the north side of Broome Street,
which would have resulted in the razing of many of these historically
significant buildings in order to make way for the LOMEX's right-of-way.
|
| Manhattan's Hudson River
Piers Virtual Tour:
 In
June 2001, Bernard Ente hosted The New York Harbor Railroads Cruise
aboard the M/Y Jacana. The cruise offered participants a chance to view
the Port of New York from a unique vantage point. As you will see when you
take the virtual tour, there are many instances of old and decaying piers,
docks, railroad lighterage piers, float bridges that helped define the Port of
New York's transportation infrastructure. The Port of New York was once
home to several forms of commercial industry ranging from ferries, tugboats,
barges, railroad carfloats, and steamships. The Port of New York was once
the busiest port in America. The growing use of large container ship
technology has moved much of the port traffic from New York City to other cities
in America, but the infrastructure remnants that line the banks of the Hudson
River help to illustrate that New York City's ports once constituted a vast
transportation network.
Photo: Once part of the
facilities of New York Central Railroad's 60th Street Freight Yard, the
mangled steel skeleton of a lighterage pier continues to decay in the
Hudson River.
|
| Newtown
Creek Virtual Tour:
 OldNYC.com explores
Newtown Creek, a waterway that once provided industry a vital transportation
link for industry that was operating along its banks. During the creek's
heyday, large boats brought in raw materials and fuel and took out finished
products such as glue, oil, fat, varnish, chemicals and metals. Much like
the freight railroad system that once served New York City, the ship industry
experienced a massive decline after the Interstate Highway system was built, as
industry utilized trucks to transport their goods and raw materials.
 The Newton Creek virtual
tour also explores the Long Island Rail Road Montauk Branch and train yard in
Long Island City and looks at remnants of the Brooklyn Eastern
District Terminal railroad. Bridges such as the Pulaski Bridge, Greenpoint
Avenue Bridge, and the Kosciosko Bridge are also examined.
Photos:
Top Left: A view of Newtown Creek looking west from atop the Pulaski
Bridge. Bottom Right: A section of The Long Island Rail Road's Montauk
Branch.
|
| The
B&O Railroad West 26th Street Yards Virtual Tour:
 Like many railroad companies in the 1900's, the Baltimore and Ohio
(B&O) Railroad once served the Port of New York with a diverse freight
transportation network and infrastructure. As businesses and industrial
concerns in Manhattan turned to utilize trucks as their primary method of moving
freight, railroad freight operations slowly slipped in to oblivion on the
island. However, there are some remnants of this once great infrastructure
that can still be found in Manhattan. OldNYC.com examines one such piece of
infrastructure - the B&O Railroad's former West 26th Street Yards. We
will examine some of the remnants of this once great freight system, and we look
at the area as it exists today.
Photo: A view of an old
float bridge that once allowed freight trains to be transferred from the
carfloats to the railroad yards.
|
|
Links to
other Transportation Web Pages:
If you enjoyed your stay at OldNYC.com, you
may want to check out some of these other transportation and NYC-focused websites!
|
