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