Yup, the NH/NYC Flyover is at Woodlawn. NY. The NH tracks are at the right in the photo, where the catenary begins/ends shown by the poles. The inbound (to GCT) NH train is shutting down its diesel and transferring to NYC third rail power. FL-9s don't have pantographs. The NYC Harlem Division was (may still be) four tracks going bottom to top. NYC track one with the inbound MU set is at the left. The NH outbound track bears off to the right.
That'd be a great place back then to watch some serious action! Is it still active today at this spot?
Yes. This webpage has numerous more recent photos taken at Woodlawn: https://prr4ever.blogspot.com/2012/02/12-02-17-photos-woodlawn.html
The first batch of FL-9 locos were equipped with a small pantograph used to bridge the gaps in the third rail across the switches/turnouts in the throat of GCT. It wasn't intended for use out on the road, however. You can see the pantograph, just ahead of the steam generator, in this photo:
Absolutely. That's MTA Metro-North trackage now. The Harlem and New Haven lines shown here. Probably has the same commuter traffic density as when I was a kid 70+ years ago. Sadly, none of the varnish I used to see and ride.
Right you are. I didn't know about F-9s. However, all S-Class motors had them. I remember Mott Haven yard at night, first seeing the arc as the third rail contact was lost, then the arc when the temporary cat contact was lost. Mott Haven was a busy place during the 1940's and -50's. Who needed fireworks when you had Mott Haven at every night.
CPKC 261 crossing over the highway SW of Washington, IA. Trestle dates back to the Milwaukee Road days. May 24, 2023 Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Lionel included these on their 251E. This was my Dad's. The first time I saw the pantographs on it, I thought it was a result of Lionel's tendency to sometimes ignore or stylize prototype details that were fragile or hard to produce. Only years later did I discover that Lionel got it right.
Those FL9s were quite snazzy with the vivid McGinnis color scheme. Oh yeah! With a nice little 302 under the hood...
Texas: The Best Land for the Emigrant that was published in 1880 by the Houston and Texas Central Railway Co. It became part of the Southern Pacific Lines in 1927. The purpose of the book was to encourage folks to move to Texas, and so some "artistic license" was allowed the writers. Indeed, were one to read the entire book one would conclude that he'd be a fool to live anywhere other than Texas. Whereas anyone who has ever visited here for a while or lived here knows better. Here is just a sample dealing with the healthy enviroment. "The uniformity of our climate is exceedingly favorable to health, other things being equal. While in the North thousands perish by sun-stroke every summer, there is, perhaps, not a well-authenticated instance of sunstroke in Texas. The delightful gulf winds from the south prevail in the summer, and extend one or two hundred miles into the interior, greatly mitigating the heat of all the lower half of the State. The prevailing diseases of the North, such as consumption and other diseases arising from the severe winters, are almost unknown in Texas, except as they are developed in the systems of persons in whom the germ of the disease has been neglected elsewhere. It might be supposed that Texas is subject to miasmatic diseases, such as are generated by low and marshy lands exposed to the heat of the sun. But though these diseases prevail in certain localities, it is nevertheless certain that they prevail here to a much less extent than in any other southern state of the union. This is no doubt owing to the fact that in Texas there are far less swamps or marshy and overflowed lands than in any other southern state in proportion to its extent. Nearly all our rivers run in deep channels, with banks fifteen to twenty feet high in ordinary stages of the water, and effectually drain nearly all the low or bottom lands in the vicinity. These rivers, it is true, occasionally overflow their banks, but the overflows are always of very short duration, and in two or three days all the water retires within the banks. It is rarely that these overflows do any serious damage to crops, though such damage has been done twice within the last three or four years on some of our western rivers, the water rising to a height never before known. Whilst destructive overflows occur almost annually elsewhere, they are here of rare occurrence, on account of the rapid currents and high banks. Chills and fever, it is true, are not uncommon in the vicinity of river bottoms, but this disease is confined to comparatively narrow limits and is never fatal. We venture to say that there is not on the face of the globe a country of greater salubrity than Texas, considering its vast extent. In fact, all the western portion of the State, extending from the San Antonio to the Rio Grande, may be considered entirely exempt from climatic diseases. There are many native Mexicans now living in that region, who have never known what sickness is, and some of them are now considerably over one hundred years of age.The same has been the experience of the oldest American inhabitants. It is well known that many persons suffering from pulmonary complaints come to the more mild and salubrious climate of Texas to improve their health, and we have known many such who have obtained permanent or at least temporary relief."
No doubt then that the climate is salubrious and promotes salubrity and salubriousness for salubriously-minded emigrants.
This weekend we spent a day down in Hakone which is a resort town near a lake at the foot of Mt. Fuji. We drove this time, but on the way back to Tokyo I did some railfanning at Odawara Station. First-a few from the overpass near the station. Overhead shots of a stationary commuter train outside of the station as well as a few of the Odakyu 60000 series MSE-“Romancecar” (green/blue shots at an angle) which is a luxury tourist train serving the resort towns near Fuji. Sorry about the angle-I had started walking away and I had to angle my phone through the side of the fence to get the shots. After I headed into the station to the Shinkansen platform. These are all Nozomi 700As. The first shot is the lead car entering the station. Next is a shot of the same train picking up speed and departing-this is the tail and you can sort of see the white glove of the conductor in the window as he keeps his head outside while they clear the platforms. A couple of shots of one on the far tracks it was overcast so I couldn’t get a good shot of the wheels. Odawara isn’t a major stop-only some Shinkansen stop there. Many, like this one just blow through the center tracks going pretty fast-pretty cool to see, hear, and even feel the air displacement. Since I usually get on and off at Tokyo Station (all trains stop there) I hadn’t been this close to one moving until today. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Today we honor those who paid the ultimate sacrifice for freedom (at least in America). Here's a couple views of the Amtrak Veterans unit in Minot, ND in 2020.