Queensborough Bridge Railway (New York)

This is testing my memory but, if I am correct, there was a short piece of track on the south side of the
bridge approach, about where the portal for the loops was but, to the south. It used to be an outside connection. That is where the cars were unloaded due to clearance limitiations on the rest of the line.
Note that there is no wire and, the man on the roof is affixing a "Bug" to move the car over to the running track.

July, 1967 "Traction & Models" magazine Vol. 3, No. 5 has a photo on p. 30 of car 601 in this same spot loaded on a trailer in 1957 for the museum. The connecting track is still in the roadway.

Leo Sullivan wrote:This is testing my memory but, if I am correct, there was a short piece of track on the south side of the
bridge approach, about where the portal for the loops was but, to the south. It used to be an outside connection. That is where the cars were unloaded due to clearance limitiations on the rest of the line.
Note that there is no wire and, the man on the roof is affixing a "Bug" to move the car over to the running track.

Thank you. So it sounds like the precise location of the photo would be the south side of the bridge, on 59th Street, a distance east of 2nd Avenue, on a non-powered track that connects to the eastbound "main" on the eastbound ramp up to the bridge.

I also found this photo of an older car being trucked to or from the line, on the eastbound ramp up to the bridge.

http://www.davesrailpix.com/nyc/htm/qb11.htm

I assume the track that curves downgrade towards the photographer must be part of the track from the previous photo.

Electromobile Car 601 as well as the other 600 Series Electromobiles were indeed purchased from the Union Street Railway of New Bedford, MA after it abandoned streetcar service in 1947. When I saw car 601 at the trolley museum in Kingston, NY my heart sank as it was stored outside, uncovered and exposed to the elements. It was in horrific condition and that was some 10 years ago.

They recently scrapped 601, and whatever parts could be saved went to Scranton where they're trying to restore Scranton 505. I'm working on an N scale Electromobile model but won't be building a Queensboro Bridge to run it on.

jhdeasy wrote:I also found this photo of an older car being trucked to or from the line, on the eastbound ramp up to the bridge.

http://www.davesrailpix.com/nyc/htm/qb11.htm

I assume the track that curves downgrade towards the photographer must be part of the track from the previous photo.

New address:http://www.newdavesrailpix.com/nyc/htm/qb11.htm
also:
http://www.newdavesrailpix.com/nyc/htm/qb10.htm
http://www.newdavesrailpix.com/nyc/htm/qb33.htm
http://www.newdavesrailpix.com/nyc/htm/qb28.htm

To my surprise, I recently learned that my late grandfather worked for some period of time as a streetcar motorman on the Queensborough Bridge line. It would have to be prior to 1923, when he became a New York City fireman (FDNY). I also learned that he was a passenger on the Queensborough Bridge streetcar line after he retired from FDNY in 1948, and was working for some period of time at one of the hospitals (probably Byrd S. Coler Hospital) on Welfare Island. He would ride the Third Avenue el from 149th Street in The Bronx to 59th Street in Manhattan, walk a block to the underground streetcar terminal at 59th Street and 2nd Avenue, ride the streetcar over the bridge to the Welfare Island stop, take the elevator down to street level and walk to the hospital.

My father also said it was a common practice for streetcar motormen of Irish or Italian heritage on the Third Avenue Railway system to place their hand over the farebox when a nun/sister boarded the car, giving them the unofficial courtesy of a free ride. Apparently the streetcar motormen did not extend the same courtesy to priests.