Where's this? (Aerial-- says 1923)

Im going to say that is maybe Edgewater,NJ with the old NYSW edgewater yard just below the blimp.

Steve, you may be right but I think it's a few miles south, looks more like the West Shore coal piers... looks like River Road is making the bend up to become 60th St at Boulevard East... although I think the streets had different numbers in West New York in those days.

1. nice blimp photo
2. I'm pretty sure that's Edgewater. I remember the factory at the bottom right was still there 20 years ago, and the sharp curvature of the road, as it wiggles over the tunnel's portal, was still intact before the megamalls came in. I also remember biking up the road that winds up the cliff, just south of the portal around 1990. that was a little risky.
3. the yard size appears too small for it to be the NYC yards in Weehawken, and I don't recall the distance between the cliffs and the water getting that narrow between Weehawken and Hoboken. But who knows for sure? They could have filled in part of the river since the photo was taken.

I remember the tunnel clearance was very low, and was carved right through the rock. A plate B car would just go through it. And by 1990 the tunnel had about a foot of water in it, near the portal.

there were still 2 customers around 1990 that I saw...one to that factory that got a tank car, and another got a plate-B covered hopper. I think it was all abandoned shortly thereafter.

ccutler wrote:1. nice blimp photo

The Shenandaoh was not a blimp, she was a zeppelin. Blimps have no airframe, the control gondola hangs from the gas envelope and are small compared to a zeppelin.Zeppelins are rigid frame airships with internal gas bags.

You can see the rigid Duralum airframe under construction in the photo taken inside Hangar 1 at Lakehurst,NJ in 1921. The covering over the frame was a cotton sheeting painted with silver aircraft dope. She was 690 ft long and 80 ft. in diameter and was the sister to Navy Zeppelins USS Los Angels,USS Macon and USS Akron

ccutler and Steve: That's where I was confused, is that the Alcoa building or not? I don't recall the structures to the north of the building (bauxite storage?) but it may have been a basic aluminum plant in those days.

But what would appear to be mising then is the Ford plant, which would be under the Shenandoah but some part would be visible... unless it wasn't there in 1923.

Rich

Steve F45 wrote:Im going to say that is maybe Edgewater,NJ with the old NYSW edgewater yard just below the blimp.

I would have to agree.

timz wrote:http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2619/388 ... 6386_o.jpg

Looks like Edgewater. Old River Road is just below the blimp.

If it is Edgewater, which I assume it is, then the Ford plant would have to be the thing sticking into the river immediately left of the dirigible's ventral fin.

Amongst all the pollution, water and air, etc (and how beautiful that coast is now in comparison), there sure were a lot of productive JOBS and money-making going on then, as well as railway working. Just a 'Depression' thought. Sam

According to Metal Industry, a trade publication,ALCOA opened thier Duralmin rolling plant in Edgewater, NJ in 1921.
So I would imagine this is most likely a PR photo of the Shenanadoah over the plant where some of the materials were made to build her.
Her parts were fabricated before hand at the Naval Aircraft Factory in Philadelphia,then assembled in Lakehurst.

OK, I'll concede. After taking another look, yes, that looks like the facade of the Alcoa building, it's just dwarfed by the structure next to it... I guess Alcoa really did reduce aluminum there 90 years ago.

And yes, the tunnel tracks must have originally run directly to the coal loading pier, and the yard must have been added to the south later.

And the Shenandoah crashed in the midwest in 1925. I thought the Akron and Macon were sisters, but Shanandoah and Los Angeles were slightly different... but I'll concede again to anyone's better knowledge, Steam man.

RichM wrote:
..... I thought the Akron and Macon were sisters, but Shanandoah and Los Angeles were slightly different....

I don't want to run this thread too far off topic,but you are correct. The Akron and Macon were close,nearly twin sisters. I was refering to the fact that they were all
from the family of U.S. Navy dirigables. Sorry for the misunderstanding.