Subway, Elevated, Trolley & Traction Lines photos

[Chris Webster]

So the sweeper cleared the rails and center power access, but what cleared the rails and center access for the sweeper?

The sweeper - its brushes were in front of its trucks!

[Rufus T. Firefly]

So the sweeper cleared the rails and center power access, but what cleared the rails and center access for the sweeper?

The sweeper - its brushes were in front of its trucks!

Maybe work if it got a good start moving from clean clear rail and then continued from rail it cleaned itself. Sweepers were pretty potent machinery!

[healey36]

Looks a miserable job in the "right" conditions:



NYC, January of 1910. No pole, so I presume he's sweeping the third rail.

[Rufus T. Firefly]

Looks a miserable job in the "right" conditions

Open cab and not a place to be in that storm!

NYC, January of 1910. No pole, so I presume he's sweeping the third rail.

And, hurrying back to the barn to get warmed up after making a circuit about before freezing!

[healey36]

And, hurrying back to the barn to get warmed up after making a circuit about before freezing!

I think he’s got his feet in his thermos.

[Joseph Frank1]

Regarding he snow storm with the sweeper photo -- that photo is looking north west along Park Row, lower Manhattan, to the New York city "City Hall Building" with City Hall Park around it. The sweeper is part of the Third Avenue Railway System work car fleet. To the right, but out of scene, would be the BMT's huge Park Row EL terminal spanning across Park Row, from the Brooklyn bridge, and behind and attached to it, the IRT 2nd & 3rd Ave EL's City Hall terminal Station running along Park Row (street) . I have a photo of that sweeper from the early 1940's as modified with its ends all enclosed.

Regards - Joe F

[Jim K]

Trolleys on Woodward Avenue in Detroit, sometime in the first decade of the last century:

Kinda makes me want to go out and wax the snow-shovel.

Agreed! Could someone tell me just what that tall rather thin framed tower is located to the left of the near church steeple? When I first saw it I thought of a cell tower. That can't be. I do see some guy wires from it; at least I think I do. Pretty unique.

Thanks,

Jim K

[J. S. Bach]

Agreed! Could someone tell me just what that tall rather thin framed tower is located to the left of the near church steeple? When I first saw it I thought of a cell tower. That can't be. I do see some guy wires from it; at least I think I do. Pretty unique.

Thanks,

Jim K

Possibly some kind of crane for working on the steeple?

[Rufus T. Firefly]

Agreed! Could someone tell me just what that tall rather thin framed tower is located to the left of the near church steeple? When I first saw it I thought of a cell tower. That can't be. I do see some guy wires from it; at least I think I do. Pretty unique.

Thanks,

Jim K

Possibly some kind of crane for working on the steeple?

For communicating with aliens........

[Rufus T. Firefly]

[Jim K]

Image from page 564 of "Electric railway journal" (1908):
Laying Granite Block Paving on Mortar Bed, United Railroads of San Francisco companies using granite block where vehicular traffic is heavy also use it to a limited extent in residential or light vehicular traffic sections. The usual method is to lay a header course along the flangeway and a stretcher course along the outside of the rail. The rest of the paving conforms to that specified by the city. Recent experiments with a solid concrete paving sur-face in the track allowance have been quite successful, and the cost of paving this strip has been materially reduced. This paving surface is applied at the same time that the foundation is put in place and does not require a special class of laborers to do the work. The fact that the concrete gang can complete the paving not only results in economy in material and labor but also expedites the completion of the work. Creosoted wood block is gaining in favor as a paving material in the track allowance, both for heavy and light vehicular traffic.




Image from page 948 of "Electric railway journal" (1908)
PARKED ELECTRIC AND STEAM TRAINS READY FOR THE 4 OCLOCK CROWDS passenger train service to the shipyard are located to the west of the electric railway tracks, in order to make room for the construction of this spur it was necessary to rearrange the yard tracks of the steel company and the shipbuilding corporation and to relocate the spur tracks used by the steam passenger trains. Involved in this relocation was the moving of brick sheds, approximately 1500 feet long, where furnace-lining bricks were stored. This one task itself was of no mean magnitude, particularly when performed under war conditions. The electric railway spur consists of a double track, terminating in a loop at the main entrance to the yards, with an inner loop track. The track crosses the Pennsylvania main-line track to Sparrows Point and two signals and derails, was required.


I enjoy the Electric Railway Journals!

Train and Traction ON!
Jim K

[healey36]

I agree - Electric Railway Journal is a serious rabbit hole one can get lost in for days, maybe weeks. I've read many of the issues stored over on the Hathi Trust.

Main Street, Norfolk, Virginia, 1915:



Another from the Library of Congress. Those support poles are pretty interesting.

[Rufus T. Firefly]

[healey36]

Someone needs to get in there with a scythe.

[Rufus T. Firefly]

Someone needs to get in there with a scythe.

Way too much work for this guy........