NH & NYC Electric Action July 1961

Great Stuff !!! Thank You !

Thank you for that intriguing footage!

Outstanding!   I mean Washboards, Jets, and the '48 Century !  

The 1950's New Haven is the home road for me. It was the first railroad I ever saw, rode and railfaned. This is the way I will choose to remember it. 

Thanks for this.. I was 8 in 61 going to softball games with my Dad. The field in Bridgeport was (still is!)  next to the Elevated NH line. I spent more time watching the trains than watching the games,counting freight cars. Guess I was a railfan before I knew what it was.

Another thought.. with the autos and trains I thought of Alan the Adman's layout coming to life.

Thank you, Thank you, Thank you! It was as if I were looking through my own eyes as a 6 year old. I lived next to that very bridge the opening minutes of the film was shot from. That bridge was on 98th street and Park Ave. The opening seconds were shot from the top of the north stairs. That meant you were facing uptown. The other angle facing the tunnel, you are looking south or downtown. The mouth of the tunnel is exactly under the 97th street bridge. By the time of the filming the tunnel was extended from 96th Street to 97th so the bridge no longer looked like a bridge as the tunnel roof was attached to the south side of it. As you look uptown away from the tunnel, I lived to the left of the camera at 71 East 98th Street. It was the third tenement house from the corner. To put it in perspective, the front steps to the building, my stoop, was 100 feet from the camera. I spent so much time on that bridge as a kid on the edge of Harlem. The bridge had stairs on the camera side and to the right of the camera it was level with the street. This was a signal bridge with a wooden plank walkway on it. I moved away in 1969 and sometime after that the bridge was closed to foot traffic. Today as you pass 98th street all that is left of the bridge are the remains of what used to be the stairs. Unbelievable film find! I never thought anyone ever thought the Park Ave activity was important enough to film. Thank you so much! 

bigo426

It is my pleasure to oblige. 

It was for someone like you at OGR that i posted this.

While I do not live as close as you did I do live in Manhattan about 15 blocks away from 97th and Park. (About a mile away for you folks from out of town.) This is the closest mainline track for us Uptown fans. (BTW, part of the Park Avenue tunnel is the oldest operating tunnel in the United States.)

The following shots I took show you what things look like today.

The first shot shows the west abutment of the 98th St Bridge. The second, from 97th overpass shows the west and east side remains of the bridge and the third was taken from the base of the remaining stairway.

Unfortunately the links are broken and I can't view the photos. Would be nice to see them as the only time I see it is when I take the train in to the city. Can't see much that way.

Towards the end of the film I can identify the location where the New Haven Electrics are going through a railroad cut. The location is where the NH goes through the downtown section of Mount Vernon,  New York. Years back when the New Haven was electrified this cut was created to bring the trains below grade level. I grew up in this town and watched trains running there and also along the NYC Harlem Division every chance I could get.

Saw many S1, T3, and P2 NYC electrics running by.   

bigo426

I am sorry you are not seeing the shots; they look fine here.

I will admit I find the image posing here a challenge.

Here they are again.