Elevated Railroad, New York City, 1903

[TheAlmightyBassist]

Is there a blu ray of this?

[America100000able]

This is the Ninth Avenue Elevated. I presume the suicide curve.

[gayforlife2020]

My grandfather was 15 when this was built. The New York of his day was messy, disorganized, but full of promise. The El was what allowed the city to sprawl. Few cities have such a complicated rail system: already bound by buildings, and water everywhere. I know the racket & light are a problem, but I wish they left one El trailing through Manhattan: the views from up there were spectacular.

[awaseniu]

This is a nice video. By the way, I have one on the Third Avenue Line before it was torn down over on my channel.

[JeffOrnstein01]

This film may even be earlier than 1903. The forney locomotives were pretty much reitired by then, as electrification of the elevated lines occurred around 1902.

[TheLastBrainLeft]

I had thought all the els were converted to electricity by this date.

[avcomth]

Hard to imagine how NY city had this over 100 years ago and some countries just have this kind of elevated MRT a few years ago. People elsewhere were living in jungles and huts during the same period as in this footage.

[mydadsarobot]

god ur my baby ....);

[davesgcr]

No - its the 9th avenue el or similar

[TheLastBrainLeft]

@davesgcr Definately 9th Ave, near 110 St, the infamous "suicide curve". The el moved off of 9th and onto 8th.

[sjmastropole]

This is now the highline

[macairl]

No - it's the 9th Avenue El, demolished except for a fragment near the 167th Street station on the Jerome (#4) line. The film shows a northbound train from the "Suicide Curve" (going from Columbus Avenue along 110th Street to 8th Avenue) to 116th Street Station. The 110th Street station on the Curve would not be built until the line was electrified very soon after this film was made.

[huwjead]

The Forney type lococmotives were fuelled on Welsh anthracite - almost pure carbon and totally smokeless (as clean as could be !) Here in UK - we have just built a brand new main line steam locomotive from scratch - so maybe a new Forney could be built in the USA !!!!

[intercityrailpal]

@huwjead We have Anthracite in Pennsylvania. Yes, it's a great fuel. New Yorkers used to use it for heat. But the oil companys after getting rid of the els to get the big trucks in to NY they got NY to use Oil for heat and fuel! Which bankrupted the freight railroads. So now it's trucks, for everything and everyone! Smelly air, and traffic jams. Bailouts for Detroit. They did a great job derailing america!

[dogshitlover]

i cant believe that this kin of video still exixt today, I love coz I can see the life from the past......

[freereeder]

How I wish that the Museum of the City of NY had preserved just one of these charming old locomotives! I fantasize that I may find one in a field somewhere (many, many were sold to contractors and the like...and one just might still exist somewhere). Interesting how little smoke they exhaust...wonder whether they used coke.

[cityskip]

This is the legendary Angel's Curve (which was so high that you could hear the angels sing). You are traveling on the Ninth Avenue El at 110th Street and Columbus Avenue. You can still make out traces of the curve by looking at property lines.

[bobhymes]

Notice the beginnings of the Cathedral of St. John the Divine on the left (around 00:11), with St. Luke's Hospital behind it. Then we look up Morningside Drive (00:14), the continuation of Columbus Avenue above 110th, with Morningside Park to its right (the railings and posts on the left edge of the park look exactly the same today), and then the train makes its way around the curve to the right into 110th Street. When the right turn is complete we start to see Central Park on the right.

[trainmaster500]

very impressive!