Wheel Spur Yard

BMC, thanks for the kind words.
I don't think I deserve such praise, but I'll never turn it away.

Mike, steam was gone by the time I hired on in 1957.
I think steam was banned from all yard jobs, that is, in NY City, shortly after WW2.
There was one PRR M-1, converted to oil, across from the hump, at Sunnyside.
That was there to make steam for the coaches.
DD-1s still clanked around the yard and were used for wire trains in the tunnels.
I don't remember when these all left.

Thanks for the replies guys. I envy that week "long" thing, my insurance company's generic Viagra is duct tape & tongue depressors....

JJ,

You were right on the money with PRR cars in the Wheelspur yard. I saw an old LIRR company map from 1952. It had a bunch of notes including one that stated Although the PRR has both diesel and electric in LIC, LIRR diesels switch PRR cars in both the Wheelspur yard and in LIC station. Also one of the other notes stated "AS per the rule No MU's to be laid up in LIC."

I know this is an old discussion, but the Spring 2014 newsletter of NY&A's parent, Anacostia Rail Holdings, has this story: http://www.anacostia.com/sites/www.anac ... pr2014.pdf" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

"Work is underway to prepare NY&A’s Wheel Spur Yard near Long Island City for three customers to transload vegetable oil, food products and construction material. A new structure is being built and an existing warehouse will be upgraded. NY&A is building a new siding along the Newtown Creek draw, which initially will be used to transload lumber. Plans call for discharging construction material for the new Kosciuszko Bridge from rail cars, barges and ocean-going vessels." A caption on a photo of the site says that the new yard will allow the NY&A to handle 286,000 lb cars, though it is not clear to me what the relationship is.

The article is from NYA's parent company newsletter, Anacostia Rail Holdings. The article just touched on the new yard, as well as the fact that NYA has recently been cleared to move 286,000 pound cars. (Previously it was 263,000 pounds).

The new Wheelspur Yard is on the south side of the C Secondary. The old Wheelspur Yard was on the north side (although there may have been tracks on the south side as well which were considered part of the yard at one time.)

If my mind still works correctly, that pic in the newsletter is the location of the former Blissville Yard, south of the End of Block/ C Secondary and West of Bliss Tower. The property there was in derelict condition during my tenure of 31 years. I'm glad to see it rejuvenated to be used as a yard again instead of just decaying. I found a few pics on Arrts Arrchives of that location used during WW2 as a motive power yard. There are pics of two PRR steamers on a side track in the old Wheelspur Yard providing steam to the coaches. Credit for the pics to Art Huneke, LIRR Train Director/Photographer/Historian.

Hey 452...Blissville was rejuvenated a few years ago. At the time, I think there was talk of a biodiesel/ethanol customer going in there, but that never materialized. It has been used mostly that I know for car storage.

The new Wheel Spur Yard in question is on the west side of Dutch Kills Drawbridge, on the south side of the C Secondary track. The old Wheel Spur Yard was on the north side, the only part of that remaining was the switching lead which Case Paper was once a customer on.

As long as this post has been resurrected, a question about Wheelspur:

As I understand the yard layout, the permanently-stationed locomotives were at the east end of the yard, which was otherwise stub tracks on which the passenger equipment was stored; the drill end of the yard was pointed into the LIRR LIC yard; so, the only way to get the PRR equipment from Wheelspur into Sunyside was to back into LIC and then push the equipment into Sunnyside. Does that sound right?

http://www.trainsarefun.com/lirr/licity/licity47-54.jpg
LI City detail of Hunter's Point and Newton Creek area. Circa 1946-1954 as the Pulaski Bridge is under construction on this map.


Wheelspur Yard -1904 Collection: Art Huneke


Montauk cutoff drawbridge at “M” cabin, looking west. Photo: Art Huneke 1955

The yard was torn up in 1959.

The color of that water always made me want to jump in if I needed to swim in a cesspool. Never had the chance. I'm sure if it was tested by an environmental agency it would come up as a biohazard site.
Ah yes, the west side of Dutchkills DB, it languished for years as a "who knows what" location. The north side had a metallurgy factory for years, and the south side was just an unused piece of waterfront. DUH!

Even in steam days the water looked pristine!!!!! LOL hahaha. Set up a beach chair nearby and a cooler and enjoy!!!!

Probably the only waterway more toxic looking than Dutch Kills was English Kills. This is the waterway the Bushwick Branch crosses. No wonder since the whole Newtown Creek area is the victim of one of the largest oil spills ever - over 30 million gallons of oil (to put it in perspective - the much publicized Exxon Valdez spill in Alaska was only about 11 million gallons). In addition to that you have raw sewage draining into it, and allegedly a 15 foot layer of sludge laying on the bottom.

Yummy!

Jay sorry I forgot about English Kills.. Went down there before NYA took over .. white green water. Now that is a place to put a cooler and a beach chair and call it Bahama island..

freightguy wrote:JJ, You were right on the money with PRR cars in the Wheelspur yard. I saw an old LIRR company map from 1952. It had a bunch of notes including one that stated Although the PRR has both diesel and electric in LIC, LIRR diesels switch PRR cars in both the Wheelspur yard and in LIC station. Also one of the other notes stated "AS per the rule No MU's to be laid up in LIC."

Too large to post, see: http://www.trainsarefun.com/lirr/licity ... C-1950.jpg
PRR hopper car in photo center with two Pennsy H9s locomotives laying up (there were usually a total of 3, one is behind the engine at the right and not visible) to supply the yard with steam heat. Headlights have been removed. In the center of the view are the coaling gondola and derrick to feed the tenders. In 1950 the H9’s were replaced by three Pennsy L1s (2-8-2) locomotives, so this shot precedes 1950. The yard was torn up in 1959. Info: Dave Keller

Wheelspur was originally on both sides of the secondary, as seen in those track map blueprints. Does anyone know when Case paper was built on the north side of the secondary? How often did they get cars?


According to Arrt’s Archive [ http://arrts-arrchives.com/LIC3.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; ], Wheelspur yard was in use from the 1800s until around 1930. it was reopened from 1939-1940 for storing trains for the World’s Fair. After this it was used by the Pennsylvania Rail Road (PRR) (which owned the LIRR at the time) to store their passenger trains – until around 1958.

Correct?

Source: http://ltvsquad.com/2013/03/11/lics-whe ... nt-future/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

If I recall right, both Gowanus and Newtown creeks are superfund sites now. The water down in english kill doesn't quite have that green and white shine like it used to though.