Harlem Division Lake Mahopac Branch Line Pics?

Does anyone know where I could find a link to some old pics of the Harlem branch line that used to run from Golden's Bridge to Lake Mahopac? My various searches have turned up nothing. Thanks.

Try to locate a copy of The Coming of the New York & Harlem by Lou Grogan, which contains several photos of this branch

In "New York Central in the Hudson Valley" by George H. Drury, there is one photograph of a steam-pulled train on the truss bridge between Golden's Bridge and Lincolndale.

I walked this line about 15 years ago and the bridge was still there.

I've tried on-line searches for photos of this branch and have come up cold too. I remember about a year ago, photos of the Put from the museum in Yorktown, NY were available online, but they got pulled. I'm not sure if there were pictures of this branch, but the museum may be another resource, if you're in the area.

Sorry, this is off topic, but I've got to ask - Bill, does the "8106" in your screen name reflect a fondness for the NYC RS-1 by that number? I grew up watching 8106 and sisters on the branch nearby. I was too late to see steam, but those old Alco's were neat in their own right.

BR&P,

You are too cool to figure that out!

Yes, it is hommage to the specific locomotive, and all the RS-1s (and -2s and -3s) on the NYC.

This is the story...In December 1991, I started a new job where my employee # was 8106, and we were known more by our employee #s than names (in a good way, it wasn't dehumanizing). In the back of my head I knew I had the # of a NYC RS-1, but didn't think much of it. If it was 1806, I'd be an F-7.

But here's the kicker.....I received Sweetland's first Lighning Stripes book a few weeks later as a Xmas present, and it has a great picture of RS-1 8106, still in LS in 1964, the year I was born. It was "love" at first sight.

And that's how it came to be that I call myself Bill8106.

I have two semi-decorated N-scale RS-1s in my basement, waiting for the finishing touches. The better of the two will be 8106.

Thank you for noticing and for asking. What years and on what branch did you get to see 8106 and her siblings? What type of duty were they in?

Rochester in the 1960's. I'll contact you directly on it, in interest of keeping this thread on topic.

FYI, the truss bridge just west of Goldens Bridge is indeed still there today. While we're on this, the Lincolndale station is also. I haven't checked but I would guess most if not all of the ROW is intact.

Bridge L-158 on the Lake Mahopac Branch is a Phoenix Truss, a truly unique design from Phoenix Iron Works of Phoenixville, PA. It uses tubular iron compression members (end posts, top chord and intermediate posts). They fit over cast iron lugs at the panel points.

The bridge was originally built as the main span of a double-track bridge for the New York, West Shore and Buffalo, over Rondout Creek at Wilbur (Kingston) New York about 1883. The New York Central moved it to Lincolndale in the 1900's, (the present West Shore bridge is dated 1905) and "narrowed" the trusses to a single-track bridge by shortening the floor beams and lateral systems.

I haven't seen a rating on the bridge, but considering that it was designed for loads on two tracks, and it only carried one track, it probably was not the load-limiting bridge on the branch. The F-12's on the Put carried old Class C tenders to limit their total weight, and I think that was for the bridge over Croton Reservoir. I also think I have seen a photo of an F-12 with its original heavy tender in service on a Harlem train that ran from Brewster via the branch and Golden's Bridge to North White Plains, but I wouldn't swear to that.

I know of one Phoenix truss remaining in railroad service, on an industrial side track on the Paducah and Louisville near Elizabethville, Kentucky.

Conrail had one on the former Reading RR Schuylkill and Lehigh Branch in Reading, PA, but it was neatly dispatched one day in 1976 by a 17 foot 3 inch high car of auto frames that tried to fit through its 15 foot 8 inch high portal. The frame car wound up draped over the center pier in the middle of the Schuylkill River. Those bridges are/were built of wrought iron, which is unpredictable as a structural material but very durable against corrosion.

ChiefTroll, thanks for the info!

Lincolndale station still exists- a stone structure. So does Lake Mahopac station on the Put (today a VFW), and the Harlem Division freight house at Lake Mahopac (a hair salon).

-otto-

does anyone know anything else about this

davkan: Ask a question and we'll try to answer for you...