New book about a long since forgotten railway: Frank K. Hain and the Manhattan Railway Company; The Elevated Railway (1875-1903), published by McFarland & Co., April 2011. Available from Amazon and all major online booksellers.
Thanks for the heads up on this book. I lived there for years but never knew it to be anything but an abandoned rail line in the City Before my time; it's now a renouned City Park that is quite beautiful wuth some of the rails still present. I have a link that shows it today but can't seem to find it. But I will post back with that info for your viewing
Here's a nice shot of a crossing on the elevated line in the new park they created on it: You can find more pics on this site.
The pieces of elevated railway in Manhattan which have been turned into a City park are remnants of a New York Central freight line which went along the western edge of Manhattan. Large sections of the structure remain. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/High_Line_(New_York_City) The book cited by the O.P. is about some elevated railway which used to be used for mass transit in Manhattan. I believe that most if not all structures which were part of this, at least in Manhattan, have been gone for a long time.
You're right, Carl. And I was thinking about that after posting the photo and link. Thanks for the clarification.
You may be interested that the Manhattan Railway carried about 2.5 billion passengers from 1880-1895. Col. Frank Hain was VP & Genl Mgr for 16 years, i.e., during most of the el's existence. During its heyday the road carried well over 500,000 passengers per day and had a surplus of over $5 million on its balance sheet. The el began conversion to electric in 1902 and, in 1903, was taken over by the Interborough Rapid Transit Co. (IRT), which constructed and began operation of NYC's first subway in 1904. You'll find a brief run down on the book at the publisher's website (McFarland & Co. Publishers - Transportation Locomotive). Also, you find some early reviews by going to LibraryThing.
