Those Great Pictures On Our Blog Header

PICTURE ABOVE: At left is KC Jones, who authors the Global Highway. In the middle is Penney Vanderbilt, World’s Greatest Blogger. At the right is the Promenade des Anglais in Nice France.

PICTURE ABOVE:At left is a great picture of the goalie for the Utica Comets, a new American Hockey League team we follow. In the middle, is a drawing of David and Goliath out of the Bible. We use this drawing to publicize Loren Data, a small EDI and Electronic Commerce company that fights the giants of the industry. At the right is Brewster, New York, besides being the birthplace of Penney Vanderbilt, it was an important station on the New York Central Railroad.

PICTURE ABOVE:At left is the “Albany Night Boat”. We also talk a lot about the Livingston Avenue Bridge in the background. In the Center is a replica of the Statue of Liberty in Nice, France. At the right is a picture of the New York Central Harmon Shops.

PICTURE ABOVE:At left is the Rutland Milk Train passing through the Troy Union Railroad‘s station in Troy, New York. Read the story to find out why it is “fabled”. In the center, is the Tramway, in Nice, France. At the right, is the railroad station in Ogdensburg, New York. Read more about the New York Central in the St. Lawrence region.

PICTURE ABOVE:At the left is a Delaware & Hudson ore train leaving Tahawus, NY many years ago. At the center is golfer Graeme McDowell. See more about golf, including the US Open. At the right is an electric locomotive used by the New York Central. See why it is now in Glenmont.

PICTURE ABOVE:This old trolley car at left is now at the Connecticut Trolley Museum. Before going to Montréal, it worked in Springfield, Mass. Number 2056 is a steel lightweight built by Wason in 1927 and acquired in 1959. In the center is a “leverman” working the switches in New York City’s Grand Central Terminal. At the right is La Canne A Sucre, our favorite restaurant. Said by many to be the “Friendliest Restaurant in Nice France.

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Abraham Lincoln and New York Railroads

Plaque in honor of President Lincoln at 414 W. 30th Street in NY City

It is at the site of the Hudson River Railroad’s New York City passenger station. Lincoln arrived here February 19, 1861 on his route to be inaugurated in Washington DC as President of the United States. After his assination Lincoln’s body went through here April 25, 1865. The Hudson River Railroad became part of the New York Central & Hudson River Railroad and moved it’s main station to what became Grand Central Terminal. The old Hudson River Railroad line in the city became the West Side Freight Line.

See more about Abraham Lincoln’s trips

Picture ABOVE is the engine that pulled the Lincoln Funeral Train

Photo courtesy of Wayne Koch

Information on Lincoln’s funeral train, including details on the route, is fully covered in Scott Trostel’s book on the subject, with maps.

See more about President Lincoln’s Funeral Train

Pictured above is the Livingston Avenue Bridge in Albany. When Lincoln’s funeral train went through New York City to Illinois in 1865, it could not cross the Hudson at Albany, because the bridge had yet to be completed (in 1866). I believe that the coffin crossed the river from East Albany (Rensselaer) to Albany on a boat, and the train went around via Troy and Green Island to Albany, from whence it continued its trip west. The Rensselaer and Saratoga Railroad (D&H) had built its first Green Island Bridge in 1835. The connection from Green Island to Albany was opened in 1853.

The Livingston Avenue Bridge stands as a working monument to steam-age rail thinking in the Empire State. The almost 150-year-old swing bridge is the sole link for Amtrak passenger trains crossing the Hudson River.

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Return of Albany’s “Night Boat”

Picture (undated, from the Library of Congress) shows the “Night Boat” from New York City docked in Albany. Everything is different in the picture except the Livingston Avenue Bridge in the background that still carries AMTRAK between New York City and Chicago.

Up until 1941, The “Night Boat” from New York City to Albany could carry 2,000 passengers. It ended an era in American history of grand boats with staterooms, ballrooms, etc running up and down the Hudson River. Passengers could be young couples on a weekend trip, couples evading detection by spouses, “ladies of the evening”, etc. There was even a Broadway farce in the 1920’s called the “Night Boat“.

But by 1941, everybody was in a hurry. You could make the trip by car, train or even airplane. Saratoga horse racing and gambling was slowing down as more options opened up near NY City. So when it went down the tubes, few cared about the “Night Boat”.

The first “crack” in the monopoly of the Hudson River steam boats was in the 1860’s when Cornelius Vanderbilt’s Hudson River Railroad (part of the great New York Central Railroad) started running trains, first only in the Winter. At their beginning, trains stopped at Rensselaer with passengers walking across a foot bridge. A NY Central subsidiary, “The Hudson River Bridge Company at Albany” solved that problem with the Maiden Lane Bridge into downtown Albany (now gone) and the Livingston Avenue Bridge (originally a freight bypass).

Now, New York State is considering changes to gambling laws, and guess what? A “gambling” boat between NY City and Albany might become legal.

Not going to get into the topic of Saratoga and gambling (other than horses), but it could help Rensselaer too. Imagine a “class” hotel there!

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Railroad Tunnels and Bridges

Pictured above are the Central New England bridge at Poughkeepsie, the Livingston Avenue bridge in Albany, and the Maiden Lane bridge in Albany.

Our feature articles are about New York City subway tunnels and railroad tunnels under water .

We cover some specific bridges and tunnels, such as New Haven Railroad bridges along the Shore Line , the the Great Railroad Bridge at Poughkeepsie , the historic Old Colony railroad tunnel, The Hudson River Bridge Company at Albany was a part of the New York Central Railroad , and Montreal’s Mount Royal Tunnel .

Included are stories on Staten Island Bridge .

Delaware & Hudson Railroad bridge removals

abandoned tunnels in New York State , and the Hudson Tubes .

See our story on the New York State Thruway bridge collapse .

We have some interesting material on bridge tolls .

Lot’s of good pictures, like a wooden trestle near Millbrook, New York .

Be sure to see our bridge and tunnel reference section .

Livingston Avenue Bridge (picture at middle) (sometimes referred to as the freight bridge or North Bridge) was built by The New York Central Railroad to carry freight trains over the Hudson. Passenger trains came across to the station on the Maiden Lane Bridge (South Bridge) (picture at bottom) .
This bridge is gone and Amtrak uses the Livingston Avenue bridge now.

These two bridges were owned by a separate corporation:
HUDSON RIVER BRIDGE COMPANY AT ALBANY (THE)
The two railroad bridges crossing the Hudson River between Rensselaer and Albany were owned nominally by a separate organization called The Hudson River Bridge Company at Albany, incorporated April 9, 1856. This ownership was vested in The New York Central and Hudson River Railroad Company, three-fourths, and the Boston and Albany Railroad Company, one-fourth. Except for foot passengers, the bridges were used exclusively for railroad purposes. The north bridge was opened in 1866, and the south bridge in 1872.

Back in the early 1900s, the Central found that traffic was growing beyond the capacity of West Albany Yard (which was geographically constrained from expanding), and that West Albany Hill had a tremendous detrimental effect on freight movements. With trains growing in length and weight, many needed helpers or even doubling to get up the grade. The result was the Castleton Cutoff (and the newest of the Hudson River bridges in the Albany Area)

Construction of the Livingston Avenue Bridge over the Hudson River, which today connects Amtrak’s New York City trains with western New York,

began when Abraham Lincoln was president.

The Livingston Avenue Bridge stands as a working monument to steam-age rail thinking in the Empire State. The 144-year-old swing bridge is the sole link for Amtrak passenger trains crossing the Hudson River. Between trains, a 230-foot draw section still pivots open and closed on a turntable mechanism some 100 or more times each year so big boats can cruise through. As passenger rail advocates push for development of modern high-speed tracks and trains that would move at speeds of 110 mph or more, the daily reliance on this relic of 19th-century technology carries great irony. If the bridge were to be out of commission for an extended period, Amtrak’s alternate route across the Hudson for trains traveling out of New York City would be another CSX bridge across the Castleton viaduct. This route would miss stops at Rensselaer and Schenectady. Rensselaer Rail Station was Amtrak’s 10th-busiest in the country last year, with nearly 724,000 boardings and arrivals.

http://www.ominousweather.com/EDI/images/MaidenLaneLivingston.jpg