Lot of Trivia on New York Central Railroad History

One of the items we follow is a list of NY Central news items from Mark Tomlonson. Sometimes we comment on them.

April 17, 1826 The Mohawk & Hudson Railroad is chartered in New York State. Most historians consider this the first event leading to the New York Central System.

May 8, 1858 The New York Central provides a sleeping car on overnight trains between Albany and Buffalo NY. COMMENT: The New York Central was instrumental in early railroading in United States. Check out The Original New York Central Railroad

May 3, 1875 The New York Central & Hudson River Railroad opens the first portion of its Fourth Avenue Improvement in New York City for full revenue service. The section from 56th to 94th Street has been placed in a combination cut-and-cover and tunnel with smoke vents in center of Park Avenue. COMMENT: See Grand Central Terminal

May 7, 1921 The New York Central makes the first test of run of mail containers, from New York and Chicago. COMMENT: The Central was very important in the development of the US Post Office. Read more on Head End Equipment.

April 19, 1940 The Lake Shore Limited wrecks at Little Falls NY. Thirty-nine people are killed. The Road Foreman of Engines, who was riding in the cab and survived the wreck, reported that the engineer, approaching a curve too fast, seemed disoriented. The engineer cut the throttle instead of applying brakes, causing a severe run-in and derailment. COMMENT: See more at NY Central Wreck

May 1, 1950 The New York Central places the first Budd RDC cars (“”Beeliners” on the NYC) in revenue service between Boston and Springfield MA. COMMENT: BEELINERS

May 2, 1957 The last steam locomotive operates on the New York Central as 2-8-2 Class H-7a 1977 drops its fires at Riverside Yard in Cincinnati.

May 8, 1962 Stockholders in both the New York Central and Pennsylvania Railroads approve the Penn Central merger. COMMENT: Bad Day!!!   See What If No Penn Central

April 28, 2009 Workers replace what is believed to be the last incandescent light in Grand Central Terminal. Managers admit they may have missed an incandescent among the roughly 4,000 bulbs in the facility.

Sometimes we find interesting pictures.

At one point, Utica trolley system was owned by New York Central. It used to serve Clinton, NY

Other times we get great pictures. Especially from Wayne Koch.

September 1955

It would be the last time he would see steam on NYC trains in Chicago. Thanks for viewing!

 1955: The Last Gasp–NYC steam in Chicagoland…

 

 

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Upper East Side: A look beyond the glamour between 70-79th streets

The Upper East Side between 70th and 79th streets represents New York’s glamorous side.

Long considered a place to park old money and shop in glitzy boutiques along Madison and Park avenues, even the words Upper East Side have a connotation of wealth.

Currently change is afoot, from new developments like the Charles, 31 stories of luxury condos at 1355 First Ave. between East 72nd and 73rd streets, to the ongoing construction of the Second Avenue subway line.

The $4.5 billion first phase of the project, which will include a new train station at East 72nd Street, is slated for completion in December, according to the MTA.

After decades of downtown Manhattan being the trendy place to be, “with the Second Avenue subway coming in, everyone wants to come back uptown,” said Jessica Kaufman, a 13-year resident of the East 70th streets and a real estate broker for Citi Habitats.

Despite the glitz and glam of the area, its real estate is less expensive than one might expect, according to Alan Lightfeldt, a data scientist with the listings site StreetEasy.

“The Upper East Side has more to offer than multi-million dollar brownstones,” Lightfeldt said. “The neighborhood has a consistently high volume of co-op units priced below $1 million, making it an affordable option for a wide variety of buyers.”

The median sales price between East 70th and 79th streets in 2015 was $1,145,000 — compared to $1,175,000 for all of Manhattan — according to StreetEasy.

On the rental side, the median monthly price last year was $3,350, compared to $3,250 in Manhattan as a whole, StreetEasy found. Rents tend to be cheaper closer to the East River, Lightfeldt noted, but that’s expected to change once the new subway line opens.

Locals and tourists alike come to the neighborhood for its shops. Often referred to as the “Gold Coast of shopping,” Madison Avenue between East 70th and 79th streets is home to boutiques from some of the world’s most luxurious designers, including Tom Ford, Missoni, Ralph Lauren and Carolina Herrera.

There’s plenty to do here besides shop, however. It is home to a plethora of art spaces, including the Rosenfeld Gallery at 16 E. 79th St., the Gagosian’s galleries at 980 Madison Ave. and 821 Park Ave., and the world-famous Frick at 1 E. 70th St.

For added culture, head to literary events held by the New York Society Library at 53 E. 79th St. or check out an exhibit at the Asia Society Museum at 725 Park Ave.

“Living in the neighborhood is like living in a resort,” said Councilman Ben Kallos, who represents the area. “You’ve got everything you’re looking for without having to leave the neighborhood: great food, great entertainment and great shopping.”

And of course, Upper East Side could not be described without its parks.

Along the East River from 76th to 78th streets is John Jay Park, which features handball and basketball courts and a public pool.

But the crown jewel for the Upper East Side, and the borough as a whole, is Central Park. With its 26,000 trees across 843 acres, the park is the ultimate escape from Manhattan’s hectic streets. The numerous monuments, ponds and fountains that are accessible from its East 72nd and 79th street entrances are only some of the wonders the sprawling greenspace has to offer.

“I use it all year round,” said Sheila Walpin, a resident of the area for 25 years, who heads to Central Park about four to five times a week.

Graham Fowler is there even more.

“I’m there every day, twice a day walking these two,” said the resident of East 75th Street and Madison, referring to his Brussels Griffons puppies.

Fowler moved from London in 1999 and settled in the area because of its easy access to the Central Park. He said he loves the “greenery in the [park], which you don’t find downtown.”

Find it:

This section of the Upper East Side goes from East 70th to East 79th streets between Fifth Avenue and the East River.

 

Melisa Stumpf Special to amNewYork

Digging at train tracks leads to historic discovery in Lantana, Florida

While preparing the tracks in Lantana for All Aboard Florida’s Brightline trains, crews happened to dig up brick pillars that local historians say are from the town’s Florida East Coast Railway station destroyed in the 1928 hurricane.

The bricks were spotted on the ground at Federal Highway and Ocean Avenue just east of the post office by Ginger Pedersen, who works with the Boynton Beach Historical Society.

“I glanced over at the right side of the road and I see the pile of brick pillars there,” Pedersen told The Palm Beach Post. “It just flashed in my mind and I said ‘I know what those are.’”

Since then, Pedersen and Janet DeVries, a member of the town’s historical society and also works with Boynton’s, have been on a journey finding pictures of the original station, comparing the bricks in the pictures to what was found, trying to determine when the station opened, and wondering what should be done with the artifacts.

The women have determined the bricks are from the loading platform.

For now, the historic pieces are with the town.

Councilman Tom Deringer requested the town obtain them, said Town Manager Deborah Manzo. But there are no plans on what to do with them.

Pedersen is looking toward a location about 45 minutes north of Lantana. In 2012, crews moved a historic FEC depot from Tequesta back to its original location of Jupiter. The depot, built in 1915, closed in 1965. Pedersen said the Lantana bricks would give the Jupiter station have a more “authentic” look after the remodeling.

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Bricks found in Lantana by Ginger Pedersen

There’s also talk of applying for a State of Florida Heritage Site Marker at the location, DeVries said.

Finding the bricks disproves the myth the building was where The Station House restaurant is, north of where the bricks were found, and was used to build the eatery.

That’s significant for researchers and historians, DeVries said.

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Bricks found in Lantana by Ginger Pedersen

Actually, Pedersen said, these bricks are the only remnants of the station.

They aren’t as sure about when it was built. They’ve been told 1925, but they’ve found newspaper articles about the station dating back to 1916. Pedersen plans to visit an FEC historian who believes the station was built in the 1900s, she said.

The train depot was also a freight station where oysters, fish and crops such as pineapples and tomatoes were loaded.

After the hurricane destroyed it, crews probably just buried the leftover bricks, Pedersen said.

“Some people might not think of this as an exciting discovery, but to historians, preservationists, and archaeologists, it is discovering and documenting long-forgotten, buried relics of the railroad and station that brought travelers and mail communication to the tiny east coast communities,” DeVries said.

 

Alexandra Seltzer – Palm Beach Post Staff Writer

Ofer Ganor & Amos Hoffman: The Nearness of You

Jazz You Too

One of my favourite jazz standards, The Nearness Of You, here by two guitar players, Ofer Ganor and Amos Hoffman, delivering  a very emotional and soft reading of the ballad.

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Leaked TTIP Documents Cast Doubt on EU-US Trade Deal

Protesters wear masks of Barack Obama and Angela Merkel as they demonstrate against TTIP free trade agreement. (photo: Wolfgang Rattay/Reuters)

Greenpeace says internal documents show US attempts to lower or circumvent EU protection for environment and public health

 

alks for a free trade deal between Europe and the US face a serious impasse with “irreconcilable” differences in some areas, according to leaked negotiating texts.

The two sides are also at odds over US demands that would require the EU to break promises it has made on environmental protection.

President Obama said last week he was confident a deal could be reached. But the leaked negotiating drafts and internal positions, which were obtained by Greenpeace and seen by the Guardian, paint a very different picture.

“Discussions on cosmetics remain very difficult and the scope of common objectives fairly limited,” says one internal note by EU trade negotiators. Because of a European ban on animal testing, “the EU and US approaches remain irreconcilable and EU market access problems will therefore remain,” the note says.

Talks on engineering were also “characterised by continuous reluctance on the part of the US to engage in this sector,” the confidential briefing says.

These problems are not mentioned in a separate report on the state of the talks, also leaked, which the European commission has prepared for scrutiny by the European parliament.

These outline the positions exchanged between EU and US negotiators between the 12th and the 13th round of TTIP talks, which took place in New York last week.

The public document offers a robust defence of the EU’s right to regulate and create a court-like system for disputes, unlike the internal note, which does not mention them.

Jorgo Riss, the director of Greenpeace EU, said: “These leaked documents give us an unparalleled look at the scope of US demands to lower or circumvent EU protections for environment and public health as part of TTIP. The EU position is very bad, and the US position is terrible. The prospect of a TTIP compromising within that range is an awful one. The way is being cleared for a race to the bottom in environmental, consumer protection and public health standards.”

US proposals include an obligation on the EU to inform its industries of any planned regulations in advance, and to allow them the same input into EU regulatory processes as European firms.

American firms could influence the content of EU laws at several points along the regulatory line, including through a plethora of proposed technical working groups and committees.

“Before the EU could even pass a regulation, it would have to go through a gruelling impact assessment process in which the bloc would have to show interested US parties that no voluntary measures, or less exacting regulatory ones, were possible,” Riss said.

The US is also proposing new articles on “science and risk” to give firms greater regulatory say. Disputes over pesticides residues and food safety would be dealt with by the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation’s Codex Alimentarius system.

Environmentalists say the body has loose rules on corporate influence, allowing employees of companies such as BASF, Nestle and Coca Cola to sit on – and sometimes lead – national delegations. Some 44% of its decisions on pesticides residues have been less stringent than EU ones, with 40% of rough equivalence and 16% being more demanding, according to Greenpeace.

GM foods could also find a widening window into Europe, with the US pushing for a working group to adopt a “low level presence initiative”. This would allow the import of cargo containing traces of unauthorised GM strains. The EU currently blocks these because of food safety and cross-pollination concerns.

The EU has not yet accepted the US demands, but they are uncontested in the negotiators’ note, and no counter-proposals have been made in these areas.

In January, the EU trade commissioner Cecilia Malmström said [pdf] the precautionary principle, obliging regulatory caution where there is scientific doubt, was a core and non-negotiable EU principle. She said: “We will defend the precautionary approach to regulation in Europe, in TTIP and in all our other agreements.” But the principle is not mentioned in the 248 pages of TTIP negotiating texts.

The European commission has also promised to safeguard environmental laws, defend international standards and protect the EU’s right to set high green benchmarks in future.

But the new leak will not placate critics of the deal, who have pointed to attempts by fossil fuel firms and others to influence its outcome, as a sign of things to come.

The EU negotiators internal note says “the US expressed that it would have to consult with its chemical industry on how to position itself” on issues of market access for non-agricultural goods.

Where industry lobbying in regulatory processes is concerned, the US also “insisted” that the EU be “required” to involve US experts in its development of electrotechnical standards.

Arthur Neslen, Guardian UK

OnProcess Technology Named to “Winner’s Circle” in HfS Supply Chain Management As-a-Service 2016 Blueprint

Recognized for redefining the delivery of post-sale services, innovating advanced control tower technology and using actionable analytics to boost client outcomes

–OnProcess Technology, a global pioneer in service supply chain management and optimization, today announced it has been named to the “Winner’s Circle” in HfS Research’s 2016 Supply Chain Management As-a-Service Blueprint Report. Noting that OnProcess is “redefining the delivery of aftermarket services,” HfS recognized the company for innovating OPTvision, a control tower solution that uniquely combines real-time, end-to-end visibility with advanced micro-analytics-driven alerts, and for leveraging data-based insights to drive improvements in clients’ post-sale revenue and cost savings.

@OnProcess makes #HfSBlueprint Winner’s Circle for redefining post-sale #supplychain delivery

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“The post-sale supply chain plays a major role in business’ profitability and customer satisfaction. However, because it’s so complex and nuanced, many companies aren’t able to achieve the strong outcomes needed to thrive in competitive industries,” said Mike Wooden, CEO, OnProcess Technology. “OnProcess’ entire business is built around helping clients overcome their aftermarket’s inherent challenges and achieve superior outcomes. Our advancement from “High Performer” in HfS’ 2014 Blueprint to “Winner’s Circle” today, is testament to our continued innovation and to the significant value our post-sale expertise, technology and analytics-driven practices deliver to clients.”

“HfS recognized OnProcess in our As-a-Service Winner’s Circle in the new Supply Chain Management As-a-Service Blueprint in part because of the vision for operational delivery and value creation for clients that was shared with us by the whole OnProcess team,” says Charles Sutherland, Chief Research Officer of HfS Research and author of the Blueprint report. “OnProcess understands the value that their control tower platform, OPTvision, can bring to aftermarket supply chain operations by allowing not just visibility into the supply chain but the ability to effectively intervene when there are problems in the process. When coupled with its depth of aftermarket and industry domain expertise, OnProcess has a solution that is highly rated by clients and that puts analytics and operational insights into ongoing delivery, which is where Supply Chain As-a-Service is headed.”

OnProcess is the only vendor focused on post-sale supply chain services to be awarded the Winner’s Circle designation. HfS noted the following strengths, which landed OnProcess in the Winner’s Circle:

• Control Tower Advancements: More end-to-end integration across client supply chains, more accessible dashboards and reports and a strong process intervention or control capability.
• Accessible and Actionable Data Insights: Clients see direct benefits from OnProcess’ investments in people, process and technology to drive analytics-based insights, both in specific projects and day-to-day delivery.
• Industry-Specific Expertise: OnProcess has been building out domain expertise to go beyond broadband, technology and medical equipment to support logistics and manufacturing clients. Clients highlighted OnProcess’ deep domain knowledge and understanding of their particular business issues.
• Vision for Aftermarket Services: HfS noted it was impressed by the OnProcess team’s ambition and commitment to build a next-generation aftermarket service provider.

The Supply Chain Management (SCM) As-a-Service HfS Blueprint Report looks at the adoption of the Eight Ideals of As-a-Service delivery in this fast-moving and critical business function. The “As-a-Service Winner’s Circle” distinction is reserved for providers whose excellence in both execution and innovation is recognized by clients. Designees must have demonstrated collaborative relationships with clients and executed services with a combination of talent and technology. They also articulate a new way of thinking, have recognizable investments in future capabilities, and drive new insights and models.

5 Surprisingly Effective Strategies for Dealing With Really Negative People

Most of us understand how toxic it can be to interact with negative people. Their dreary outlook on life can drag us down. And their pessimistic attitudes can, too often, discourage us from giving our best or taking the necessary steps to improve our future success.

Negative people can pull us into their toxic cycle of pessimistic existence by disrupting our lives and creating negative thoughts within us. Read on for five ways to deal with the negative people in your life and prevent their habits from bleeding into your own.

1. Define boundaries.

Perhaps one of the most useful things you can do is to define your space and how much you are going to allow others to influence you. Often, negative people find it easy to encroach on other people by joining in on conversations–whether in person or even through social media–when they aren’t welcome. The most effective way to eliminate as much pessimism as possible is by simply limiting the parts of your life to which negative people have access. Keep your sanity and create boundaries to protect yourself.

2. Pick your battles carefully.

While it’s important, and human, to spend some of your time helping others with their problems, it’s impossible to help them win every battle. Choose whether it’s more important to help your friend figure out why they are so dissatisfied with their current job, or to help him get through his latest breakup. You’ll exhaust yourself trying to fix all of your friend’s problems or daily issues. And it is possible that placing the negative complaints on pause for a few hours–or a couple days–can bring about a resolution without your involvement at all.

3. Surround yourself with warmth.

Find people who make you happy, who infuse your life with positivity–make these positive friends a much bigger part of your life than your negative friends. Being bombarded by a constant stream of negativity can take a toll on even the most easygoing person, so protect yourself from that potential burnout by adding quality time with those who uplift your spirits and encourage you to do great things.

4. Be a catalyst for positivity.

Most negative people don’t even realize how they are coming across. I am sure they often wonder why friends don’t stick around or why success eludes them–which, of course, gives them more to whine about. Create a positive spin on things for your negative friend. Once they have completed their latest complaint session, ask them to share something positive that happened to them that day or week. Or perhaps share some things that you are feeling happy about–even sharing something as small as the pride you feel from arriving to work on time everyday this week. Sharing something positive can help your negative friend open their eyes to their own negativity and, hopefully, help them focus more on the positives in their lives.

5. Find positivity within yourself.

Finally, the most successful tactic of all may be finding positivity within yourself. As hard as it may be, don’t let the negative words or actions of others get to you. Maintain positive energy regardless of what happens–smile in the face of adversity–by replacing negative thoughts with positive ones. Overcome the negativity from those who try to bring you down by tapping into your very own internal happiness, giving you one more thing to be happy about and thankful for.