Port Morris Powerhouse

I meant to post these photos on an earlier topic, which for some reason I can’t find it. Here is a series photos of the Port Morris powerhouse that provided power to the NYC’s electrified lines and Grand Central along with the plant at Glenwood. This photo shows it under construction.

Here was the view from the East River

Here was the view from the East River showing the switchgear structure.

Here is an aerial view taken in the late 1940’s

Excellent photos. Thanks for posting.

How much of the system did these powerhouses cover?

I believe the Port Morris power plant came on-line first in 1906, Glenwood in Yonkers second though I don't recall the date offhand. In 1906-07 Port Morris would've powered GCT to Wakefield on the Harlem Division and MO to High Bridge on the Hudson Division.

The NYC officer in charge of the electrification, William Wilgus, built a lot of redundancy into the system. I think either Port Morris or Glenwood could've carried the whole suburban electric system once it was finished. But the idea was to avoid working either plant too close to capacity.

Glenwood [came on line] in Yonkers second though I don't recall the date offhand.

According to a paper presented to the American Railway Association's Mechanical Division by NY Central Electrical Equipment Supt. J.A. Carmody in 1928, Port Morris came on line in September 1906 and Glenwood "was completed in March 1907. The building is a duplicate of the Port Morris Power Station."

Although both were built to an identical normal capacity of 20,000 KW with provisions to allow an increase to 30,000 KW generating capacity, "the load on the system has grown to such proportions [by 1928] that the Port Morris Power Station has an installed generating capacity of 70,000 kilowatts and the Yonkers Power Station 40,000 kilowatts without any extensions having been made to the original building."

The building dimensions are "237 feet long by 167 feet wide and 105 feet high."

Tom you right on the Wilgus’s request for redundancy. Here is a copy of the diagram from the Port Morris load dispatcher’s panel. SS stand for substation. In order to make this diagram and the one below legible, I left them large so you may have to copy to your desktop to read them.

Here is a diagram showing high tension circuits. Yonkers powerhouse is shown at the bottom of the diagram and Port Morris is at the top with both plants interconnected to all substations. The theory being if one powerhouse failed or caught on fire, the other one could pick up the loads. I also had read somewhere that were plans to extend electrified service beyond Croton Harmon.

I believe the Port Morris plant ceased operation in the late forties and was demolished in the early fifties.