Abandon state coal trestle

[NYC_George]

After playing some golf today I took a few photos of the closed and abandon New York Harlem Valley State Hospital power house coal trestle near the golf course. Before I even snapped the first photo security drove over and asked me what I was doing and then told me to take all photos from the road. I really wanted to take a photo inside the chute (photo 4) where the coal was dropped I guess. The power house was used to create electric and also steam heat power for the 25 three story building at the location. I know that during the summer they received 4 coal cars a week because I owed the switcher job for a few months. It must have been more during the winter. We would drop the cars on the trestle spotting one of the cars over the chute but I don’t have any idea how the other cars were spotted after that?

NYC_George

 

[UP2CSX]

George, did that trestle used to go across the road at one time? It looks like I can see another trestle pier on the other side. Too bad about the security guys but such is the post 9/11 world.

 

[NYC_George]

Hydraulic jack to move cars

No Jim there is a very large building across the road that was the mental institution’s laundry. Another reason they needed all the steam. There was second ground level siding on the opposite side of the power house. Yesterday at the golf course, that was once a part of the hospital, I met a friend of mine who use to work in the power house. I asked him how they moved the cars after railroad left. He said, they used a hydraulic jack that fit behind the wheel and nudged the cars forward and said it was fairly easy to then push them once the jack got them moving. One of the employees applied the brake when a loaded car was centered over the chute. He said they burned one car a day. That must have been in the winter because in the couple of summer months I worked the switcher we delivered four cars once a week.

NYC_George

 

[UP2CSX]

George, what do they use to fuel the hospital now? Seems like, in the pre-green age, coal delivered directly to the boilers was pretty efficient way to run a steam plant. Sounds like they used some form of what we'd call a pallet jack to move the cars. I guess, once you overcome inertia, a car wouldn't be hard to move on a slight downgrade. Sure looks like the guy working the handbrake had to know what he was doing though.

 

[NYC_George]

Jim back then there were two New York State mental intuitions right next to each other. They closed Harlem Valley in 1984 and kept open Wassaic just 20 miles up the road. Wassaic is still open but I have no idea how there’re powering it now. We switched coal at both places in 1970 but I’ll be darned if I can remember the set up at Wassaic. It must been something other than a trestle or I would have remember it. Al said the trestle at Harlem Valley was slightly down grade and that’s why the cars were so easy to push but your right about the brake. It’s a steep grade from the main line to the trestle and any cars that got lose would be going over the derail and into the woods with the brake person still onboard. Our railroad club met Wednesday night and I showed them the photos. They said I should walk or drive the 60 miles to Chatham, NY because of all the old railroad photo opportunities. The track to Chatham no longer exist. I’m going to drive up to Wassaic and take some photos of the tracks and power house and hope security doesn’t kick me out.

NYC_George

 

[jbaakko]

Nice work on the photos!

 

[UP2CSX]

Cool, George, I'll look forward to the pictures. Amazing how industrial some of those operations were back then compared to the sanitized world of today.