Shays dressed to look like diesels

They were used in NYC on the surface streets of the west side of Manhattan. So many folks were hit and often killed it became known as Death Avenue. The tracks were eventually elevated and its what we know today as the High Line Park. At one time the West Side cowboys proceeded each train on a horse carrying a red flag.

And the story of the West Side Cowboys that rode horses to warm pedestrians of on coming trains. west-side-cowboys

Fascinating story.  Thanks for sharing.

I've been on the High Line trail and I'm so glad that they left a lot of the track and such in place.  My experience with rail trails is that they usually remove any sign of the railroad.  I used to live in Matawan NJ and there is a rail trail there.  A bumper was to the side of it for a siding.  One day that bumper was removed.

I moved to Edison, NJ and I used to walk the old Lehigh Valley line before they cleaned it up and made the Middlesex Greenway.  One day I was walking there and I met a gentleman who was marveling at home mother nature made the ravine.  I told him it wasn't mother nature but rather the railroad company.

It makes for interesting bar bets when non-NYC fans are asked if the NYC owned any shays. Most say "no", and then these pictures surface!

@Scotie posted:

And the story of the West Side Cowboys that rode horses to warm pedestrians of on coming trains. west-side-cowboys

I don't see the link for the rare video of the cowboys.

Now that everyone has had their say about death Ave. could we get back to my original post about the shrouds put on the Shays??

That was done in a similar manner to steam dummies in the (false) belief that it would be less frightening to the horses. Of course when this was done their were no diesels in service so they weren't copying a diesel.

In Boston there were Climax geared locomotives similarly disguised like the NYC Shays.

Stuart

@Frank Mulligan posted:

Fascinating story.  Thanks for sharing.

I've been on the High Line trail and I'm so glad that they left a lot of the track and such in place. ...snip...

I was on an S-motor fantrip that included a diesel (passenger GP9, I think it was) trip on the West Side freight line down to near the south end of the el. The diesel dropped the train, ran further south to run around the cars for the trip north.

Interesting article Bob @pennsyfan - I (Sue and myself) have ridden behind a working Shay (Roaring Camp Railroad - California) as well as walking the High Line Park on one of our visits to New York City.

I never knew the history of the Shay (and the West-side Cowboys) running on the streets below the High Line Park route.

Glad I got to do both......and I have my own little piece of history in a MTH three truck Shay that runs perfectly on my Buco O Gauge layout.

Peter.......Buco Australia.

@Buco posted:

Interesting article Bob @pennsyfan - I (Sue and myself) have ridden behind a working Shay (Roaring Camp Railroad - California) as well as walking the High Line Park on one of our visits to New York City.

I never knew the history of the Shay (and the West-side Cowboys) running on the streets below the High Line Park route.

Glad I got to do both......and I have my own little piece of history in a MTH three truck Shay that runs perfectly on my Buco O Gauge layout.

Peter.......Buco Australia.

Thanks Peter, Roaring Camp was my first encounter with a Shay when my wife and I visited it back in the early 90s. I had a business trip out there and I took Isabel along I added a few day of enjoyment to the trip.

I went poking at the NYCS Historical Society's photo archive, and have a few photos of one in action.

https://nycshs.omeka.net/items/show/174842

https://nycshs.omeka.net/items/show/130212

https://nycshs.omeka.net/items/show/115177

@naresar posted:

I went poking at the NYCS Historical Society's photo archive, and have a few photos of one in action.

https://nycshs.omeka.net/items/show/174842

https://nycshs.omeka.net/items/show/130212

https://nycshs.omeka.net/items/show/115177

Great shots, the first one shows the cowboy that was mentioned above.