Highest Rails in New York

THE MASSIVE HELL GATE BRIDGE WAS A TOWERING STAGE FOR PENN CENTRAL AND AMTRAK ACTION IN THE 1970s

The massive Hell Gate Bridge was a towering stage for Penn Central and Amtrak action in the 1970s

New York City, where I grew up, is a city of bridges. Most of the big spans carry motor vehicles or subway trains, but there are five large railroad bridges in the city. The biggest is Gustav Lindenthal’s massive Hell Gate Bridge.

Built by the New York Connecting Railroad between 1912 and ’17 to link the Pennsylvania and New Haven railroads, the Hell Gate Bridge is actually three bridges connected by two viaducts, with long approach viaducts on each end. The entire structure is more than 3 miles long. The main span over the East River is a spandrel arch 1,017 feet long. It rises 305 feet above the river, and has clearance of 135 feet for water traffic below. It is one of the heaviest loading bridges in the world, designed to handle freight trains. It is similar in design to Australia’s famous Sydney Harbour Bridge, begun in 1923.

Completion of the Hell Gate Bridge and the New York Connecting Railroad gave the PRR access to New England. Passenger trains from Boston could enter Pennsylvania Station in Manhattan, and freight traffic moved to Bay Ridge in Brooklyn, from where carfloats took it across the harbor to PRR’s Greenville Yard in Jersey City.

I first became aware of the Hell Gate Bridge as a teenager riding the Washingtonian between Montreal and New York. This overnighter (and its northbound counterpart, the Montrealer) was operated by Canadian National,

A walkway was on top of the massive main girder, but as it flattened out near the top we were crawling on our hands and knees.

Central Vermont, Boston & Maine, New Haven, and PRR. It passed over Hell Gate in the morning on its way into Penn Station. The view of the Manhattan skyline from the bridge was spectacular. What a way to enter the greatest city in the world!

My first close-up view of the bridge was in spring 1969. I was working as a management trainee for Penn Central and was assigned to work with the maintenance-of-way department at the former New Haven Oak Point Yard in the Bronx. The NH had just been absorbed by PC a few months earlier. One morning the Bridge & Building Supervisor got a call from LaGuardia Airport that one of the warning lights atop the main arch of the bridge was out. “Hey, kid,” he said. “Want to go out on the bridge to change a light bulb?” Of course my answer was yes.

We got into an ancient New Haven truck (if I recall correctly, it had a chain drive) and drove to the base of the north tower of the main span on Wards Island. The ex-New Haven man took out a large key and opened a steel door that led to the interior of the tower, which was infested with pigeons. The steel stairways were covered in pigeon droppings. After a long climb we emerged on the main deck, went through another door, and climbed more stairs to the base of the main arch. A walkway was on top of the massive main girder, but as it flattened out near the top we were crawling on our hands and knees. The wind was blowing pretty hard.

At the top of the arch, my companion took out a screwdriver and removed the cover of the light fixture. “Hey, kid,

give me that light bulb.” He flicked the old bulb into the river 300 feet below.

Once I was familiar with the bridge, I decided it might be nice to photograph trains on it. Over the next 15 years I ventured out to the main span on several occasions. It was a long walk up the approaches from either end. On my first visit I walked up from the Bronx (north) end, but the neighborhood up there was pretty rough, and I was nervous about leaving my car parked there. On subsequent trips I parked at the Queens end, which was in a much better neighborhood. On one trip I discovered an apartment building in Astoria with a good view of the south end of the bridge. A $20 bill to the superintendent of the building gained me access to the roof.

On another occasion, I hired a helicopter to photograph an ocean liner leaving New York. There was a one-hour minimum charge, and the ship picture only took 30 minutes. The pilot asked what I wanted to do with the other 30 minutes, and I told him to hang out over Hell Gate. I got two trains.

By the time I was taking pictures, former Pennsy GG1 locomotives were operating through to New Haven. The heavy freight traffic that the NH had handled to Bay Ridge had been diverted to the ex-NYC Selkirk Yard near Albany, and the only freight moving over the bridge was interchanged to the Long Island Rail Road at Fresh Pond Junction. The daily freight was diesel-powered. In 1975, Amtrak’s new E60 electrics began to show up, followed in 1980 by AEM7s, which displaced the GG1s the following year. Today, the century-old landmark remains a vital, visible link in the Northeast Corridor.

VICTOR HAND has traveled the world in search of steam trains, photographing railroads in 53 countries on 6 continents. The Center for Railroad Photography & Art recently acquired his image collection. Classic Trains’ “Archive Treasures” series features images from the Center’s growing collection.

Having just crossed the 1,017-foot Hell Gate Bridge, Penn Central GG1 4913 begins the long descent to ground level with a Boston-bound Amtrak train in February 1973. Diesels will take over at New Haven.

In November 1972, PC 4917 and its eastbound train rumble 150 feet above the narrow strait the early Dutch settlers named Hell Gate. Before January 1, 1969, when PC took over the New Haven, NH EP5 electrics and FL9 dual-mode units prevailed here.

In another November 1972 photo, made from a daring perch atop the main cantilever truss, photographer Hand framed a New York-bound train in the arch of the bridge’s Wards Island tower.

Pairs of pylons mark the ends of the four-span bridge over Little Hell Gate, a narrow water passage that has since been filled in. GG1 4905 enters the bridge with a train to Boston in November 1972. The two tracks in the foreground are for freight.

Below: Having crossed the main bridge, an unidentified GG1 with PC markings and PRR stripes leads a train toward Penn Station.

Left: Looking like a toy on the massive bridge, PC GG1 4873 begins the 1.2percent descent from the main span with a Washington–Boston train. Amtrak is 12 days ahead. Right: A northward view shows the Hell Gate Bridge (foreground), the four-span deck-truss Little Hell Gate Bridge over filled land, and the twospan through-truss Bronx Kill Bridge.

In another photo from August 24, 1983, AEM7 913 skims across the main span with a train for Boston. Today, Amtrak ACS64 locomotives and Acela trains are the rule here, plus infrequent CSX and Providence & Worcester freights.

Amtrak’s GG1s had been retired for more than 2 years, and Hell Gate’s freight tracks had been devoid of catenary for more than 20, when AEM7 920 led Amfleet cars east on August 24, 1983.

Right: Amtrak GG1 931 (formerly PRR/PC 4931, subsequently AMTK 924) is bound for New Haven late in the afternoon of February 18, 1973.

Left: Hell Gate was a major freight route until the PC-NH merger diverted traffic, and industries relocated or switched to trucks. The outside freight track, since removed, was already out of use when Conrail GEs led westbound tonnage across in August 1983.