I've been in the basement building a three foot long model of a NYC Elevated Train Station circa 1900. Why you ask? Because I was fascinated at the amount of steel railroads in the US use.
The elevated subway structure was most famously featured in the movie The French Connection.
What remains of the EL is part of the subway system but before the subways were built steam trains were built on steel elevated structures that ran up Manhattan Avenues.
I saw a model of that in The Museum of The City of New York back in 1974 and have wanted to build it ever since.
Terranova47
USA
I like that!
ReplyDeleteThats brilliant. I'm fascinated with bridges and elevated railways, growing up near the Docks in Liverpool, there was a complex system of freight railways and the Overhead Railway - which was smilar in function to the El, locally known as the 'Dockers Umbrella'. It was dismantled in 1957, but parts of it were still visible when I was a kid in the sixties. Great model work!
ReplyDeleteYes, really good stuff- when I saw pictures, I was also impressed by the elevated railway.
ReplyDeleteLovely model Terranova and not one you see very often.
ReplyDeleteI've been to New York in recent years and went for a beautiful garden walk on the 'High Line', which was part of the Elevated Train System wasnt it ?
Mish.
Actually no. The High Line was a freight only line that went down the west side of Manhattan to West 34th Street when it went up onto a steel structure and passed through buildings so freight cars could be loaded and unloaded. It ran for just over a mile. When industry left Manhattan the line fell into disuse. Before it was built the railway ran down the street past the piers which became chaos when motor traffic grew. The railroad that ended up owning the High Line was CONRAIL who were delighted to sell the structure for a token amount rather that bear the cost of demolishing it. It has become a park and walkway destroying the low rent district that was small businesses and creating tall residential buildings that dwarf the highline structure.
DeleteAs a Federal Railroad Right of Way a creative city administration could have used it for light rail as the track connects to Penn Station. Light Rail (Trams) could have run down it with little additional work it could have bridged the Westside Highway and run down the waterfront for miles to Battery Park City. There is no subway that far west and bus service is spotty. But then NYC doesn't plan public transport well.
What elevated track remains in NYC was built by the subway system, the original EL having been sold for scrap and replaced by trains underground.
Sounds like you're not a lover of the High Line Terra. I guesse it 'gentrified' the area, putting properties there out of reach of the ordinary New Yorker. Is that so ?
ReplyDeleteMish.
Back in the early 80's I had a studio at a printers over there. Then I worked over there at The New York Daily News for 8 years. The neighbourhood was small machine shops, taxi garages, artist studios, warehouses and storage for the food carts that went to feed office workers in midtown. Because of low rents, lack of public transportation and public housing it was a quiet backwater. It slowly attracted art galleries as SOHO was too expensive.
DeleteThe idea of making this a public park was the brainstorm of real estate developers who wanted to attract people to gentrify the area.
When it opened you could look down on New York, now it's being closely surrounded by tall buildings. It's an interesting place to visit but it would have been more use as light rail.
The art galleries that moved there before the High Line Park, the local Diners that had real character have been driven out of business by high rents and land development.
I feel the only redeeming feature of the park is at the southern end where a new building, the new location of the Whitney Museum of American Art gives it a purpose. Though the Whitney does not always display it's most interesting pieces.
A beautiful model, full action in a very limited space. What is the scale, HO ?
ReplyDeleteScale is HO or 1/87 in terms of track, train and streetcar though a little fuzzy when the British made BENBROS MIGHTY MIDGETS diecast cars are concerned.
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