RJR posted:Don, thanks. Outstanding collection. A few items I remember, like the USS Prairie State and the NYNH&H grain elevator. Interesting to see how many tracks the current Amtrak line under the GW Bridge to Spuyten Duyvil used to have.
Yes, those pictures were very sharp. Everything from "dummy" steam locomotives, West Side Cowboys, loads of crossing shanties, (regular) steam locomotives doing some street running, vintage advertising and cars/trucks...it doesn't get much better.
You mentioned Spuyten Duyvil. DV tower controlled movements for the West Side back in New York Central days. On May 22, 1967 there was a collision between two NYC freight trains resulting in 6 railroad personnel being killed.
http://www.ntsb.gov/investigat.../Pages/RAR1967A.aspx
One of the outcomes of the investigation was that the Central appointed Loyal "Buddy" Reynolds as a safety supervisor. Buddy was a longtime conductor on the Central and his service lasted into the Metro-North years. As a conductor, his usual territory was the Upper Hudson, serving on Budd cars, gaining the nickname "Buddy of the Budd cars." I was fortunate to know his wife and she gave me several of the original documents/reports from the investigation. One of the contributing factors was that there were apparently two many employees in DV Tower which distracted the operator.
Tom
