B&O, B&OCT, CGW and Pere Marquette freight houses along the south branch

(no Satellite because these railroad facilities are long gone. These facilities were on the east side of the South Branch between Harrison and Roosevelt.)

The straightening of the river in the 1930s had a big impact on the B&O facilities in downtown Chicago.

I start with after the straightening because I have just one photo of that. And because this material was moved from the Roosevelt Road Bridge post.

I used the bridge in the background of this photo to determine where this B&OCT locomotive was running. Once I identified the bascule bridge as the Roosevelt Road Bridge, I remembered that the B&OCT was the terminal railroad for the Grand Central Station, and B&OCT had tracks on the east side of the South Branch from their bridge to the station. This freight house was built after the river was straightened and did not yet exist in the 1938 aerial photo. B&OCT had several small freight houses that fed LCL freight to B&OCT's main classification freight house. It has the classical design for a freight house --- a multi-story building with lots of windows at one end for the office workers that is attached to a one-story freight handling building. In the days of LCL freight, there were no computers, so it took a lot of office workers to help process the paper work. Each boxcar had a folder that contained the waybills of the containers that were in that boxcar. After the LCL freight was sorted in Chicago to a destination train, the conductor on that road train would get these folders along with the waybills for the carload traffic. They would have to determine from the waybills in the folders which containers were to be dropped at which depot along the route. These containers could range from a refrigerator sent by a mail-order house such as Sears to a plow. Remember, in the 1800s everything came to town on the railroad. That is why depots had a passenger weighting room on one side and a freight handling room on the other side. The depot was the life blood of the town.

Scott Griffith posted
Les Wuollett Waiting at dwarf signal for line up to GCS. Probably to pull passenger train to Lincoln St coach yard.

Now back to the early 1900s.

MWRD posted
The South Branch of the Chicago River looking north from an area near Taylor Street in Chicago, Illinois, on November 8, 1908.
MWRD posted
The South Branch of the Chicago River looking north from an area near Taylor Street on November 8, 1908.
Ralph Leoni: Polk / Dearborn station noted in background right!

This is another example of a big boat making it this far south on the branch.

Original Chicago posted
The view is from the area of Polk Street looking toward the north in 1928. A crane is dredging a new channel in the last part of a river straightening project. The white billboard is an announcement of the project. In 1928 the final major engineering project on the river system straightened the channel of the South Branch between 18th and Polk by digging a new channel 850 feet west of Clark Street and filling the old river channel. This project improved rail access to the Loop and was part of the 1909 Burnham Plan.
Paul Webb shared
Dennis DeBruler shared with the comment: "This view shows some of the freight houses that used to be between Grand Central Station (note the clock tower on the right) and the river. It also shows that some big boats came down the South Branch and the Harrison Street Bridge in the raised position because of that big boat."

Thomas Karsten: The white building behind the clock tower is 175 w. Jackson and the faint outline behind is 208 s. La Salle. Looks like it’s after this section of the river was straightened.

Dennis DeBruler commented on MWRD's first post
The building along the right was one of the B&O freight houses.
https://www.loc.gov/resource/g4104cm.g01790190601S/?sp=80

Jeff Nichols posted
Chicago River, view from Taylor, 1909. Pitt.
Victor StLawrence: Looking north. The warehouse on the left is where the newer post office is.
Marshall Field warehouse on the left.
Paul Jevert shared
[Note the trainshed and tower of Grand Central Station on the right side of this photo. And of course the freight houses along the river.]

 Note the freight house between the Grand Central Station and the river in the right background.

Raymond Kunst posted via Dennis DeBruler

Since I'm learning how to use the LoC's collection of Sanborn Maps, I checked out the map to the north, 71. The GTW freight house is along the river and Pere Marquette has one sandwiched between the GTW freight house and the train shed of Grand Central Station.

https://www.loc.gov/resource/g4104cm.g01790190601S/?sp=72

I shared the MWRD post with another group, but Facebook won't give me a link to it. :-(

North is to the right.

Alice Niu posted

History's Mirror posted
[I'm not copying the description because it is an example of AI gone wrong. Basically, if a statement is not a platitude, it is wrong. The dredge is in the old channel, not the new one. And "Polk and Taylor Streets" implies an intersection, but they are parallel streets. The photo below shows that the photo was taken from Taylor and we are looking at Polk Street Bridge.
But it is a great photo of the freight houses and Polk Street Bridge.]
Franklin Campbell shared

Dennis DeBruler: The dredge is digging in the old channel, not creating the new one. But this is a terrific photo of Polk Street Bridge.

This photo confirms that the train shed that we see in the above photo was for the Grand Central Terminal. And because it includes the Pennsy freight house, I could confirm the streets as Taylor looking at Polk.

B&O C&O Grand Central, Chicago Terminal 1890-1971. posted via Dennis DeBruler

B&O Chicago Terminal, (Grand Central Station).

Lower left, old Pennsylvania Freight House - (1918-1974). 

323 Polk Street, Chgo.

Center of photo, Grand central and Train shed - (1890-1972) 

201 W. Harrison St. Chgo.

To the right was LaSalle Street Headhouse - (1903-1981). 

414 So. LaSalle St. Chgo.

[The date was probably c1924 because the new CUS is still being built. The tall building in the northwest quadrant of Polk Street and the river was the Marshal Field River Warehouse.]

Andrew Roth shared with the comment: "Forwarding this photo of Grand Central station and LaSalle Street Station when both station had large multi- track canopy roofs."

Thomas Manz commented on Andrew's share
Rand McNally view looking W from1893

C&NW 16th Street Freight House

(See below for satellite information)

Marty Bernard posted

CB&Q NW1s

The Q had only 2 NW1s and I shot exactly half of them. The shot taken August 1, 1963 is from Union Avenue Tower at the west end of the wye south of Chicago Union Station. She was #9200, built by EMC November 1937, and traded September 1965.

Enjoy this old gal.

Marty Bernard shared

Dennis DeBruler

Admin

C&NW's name for this facility was "16th Street Freight Station" per the key on this map:

https://tedsvintageart.com/.../chicago-illinois-1902.../

CB&Q had the freight facilities that is south of their mainline.

Dennis DeBruler commented on Marty's share
I knew that the B&OCT route went through this area. That would be the tracks near the background in this photo. The photo also shows the freight operation that was north of the mainline. The freight house that would have been on the right side of this photo has obviously already been removed along with many of the freight tracks. The red rectangle highlights Union Avenue Tower.
Marty Bernard: The freight operations were CNW's as I remember.
Dennis DeBruler: I wonder what C&NW called this yard.

Dennis DeBruler commented on Marty's comment

Thanks. I'll fix my notes. I know C&NW was one of the owners of the St. Charles Air Line (25%). I wondered why CB&Q had redundant freight facilities here because the residential units between the tracks and 16th Street east of I-90 were occupied by a freight facility that included a gantry crane.

https://www.flickr.com/.../in/album-72157690635424082/

Marty Bernard: The Barriger picture looks like it's from the south edge of the Air Line looking west at the west home boards of Union Ave. Tower. The tower itself is just out of the photo to the left. In the 1960s the CB&Q yard was not there. A car washer was. Apartment buildings now occupy the space the yard was in. Mark Hinsdale lives in one.

Dennis DeBruler commented on Marty's comment
Dennis DeBruler: The 1915 Smoke Abatement Map confirms that the freight facility north of CB&Q's mainline was for C&NW. And C&NW tracks still go to the river. But the grain elevator those tracks served was gone by 1915.
Halsted Street is along the left edge of this map.

Dennis DeBruler commented on Marty's share
This is the same area today.
41°51'37.0"N 87°38'43.1"W

Dennis DeBruler commented on Marty's share
I think the buildings in the background of the photo have also been removed.
41°51'36.8"N 87°38'43.1"W

Dennis DeBruler commented on Marty's share
I believe this is the southwest corner of the tower's foundation.
41°51'36.7"N 87°38'42.9"W

Marty Bernard posted
IC SW7 1211 taken from Union Avenue Tower, Chicago on August 1, 1963. The view is looking north and a little east. The bridge is the Dan Ryan Expressway. Union Avenue Tower was at the end of west legs of the wye south of Union Station. The SW7 is pulling a transfer on tracks leading to the St. Charles Airline. The closer tracks belonged to the CB&Q as did the tower. The tracks just beyond the switcher belonged to the CNW and the tracks further north belonged to the B&OCT. The B&OCT tracks went east to Grand Central Station. The CNW tracks dead ended there not going further east. The B&OCT and the CNW tracks no longer exist. Many of Mark Hinsdale's photos are taken the other side of the Dan Ryan Expressway near his apartment. 

Comments on Marty's photo

MoPac/C&EI (C&WI) 35th (37th) Street Yard

(Satellite)

In later years, UP used this C&EI yard for storage for their intermodal service in Canalport.

William Brown posted
From the J Quinn Collection, an Missouri Pacific Transfer with C&EI 213 is retrieving it's Caboose at the CB&Q's Cicero Yard in May of 1967. The C&EI merged with the MP in May of 1967. The 213 is a GP7 built in March 1950. It was renumbered MP 78. It was then transferred to the L&N as their 396. It was later renumbered to L&N 2220. Finally renumbered SCL 628.
Bob Lalich: I believe that whomever labeled the photo was unfamiliar with the area, or simply got confused. I am certain that the location of the photo was the C&WI at 33rd St. The view is to the NW. At the time of the photo, the C&EI/MP leased 37th St Yard from the C&WI. Among other traffic, the yard handled TOFC. The GP was likely tacking the caboose on the end of the train in preparation for departure to the south.
Additional clues are seen too. The signal bridge was located just north of 33rd St. The gap in the tracks is the result of removal of track #5 between 21st St and 40th St, which happened in the late 1950s. The four stacks in the distance are Commonwealth Edison's Fisk Station. Aerial photos from the 1960s show the stacks in that arrangement.
Brandon McShane: Technically, C&EI wasn't merged into MP till 1976, though MP bought control in 1967 (subject to sale of Woodland Jct-Evansville to L&N).

Dennis DeBruler shared

Per the comments, this caboose is in its home yard of 37th Street Yard rather than being retrieved from CB&Q's Cicero Yard.

This yard not only still exists, it still has most of its tracks:

https://www.google.com/.../@41.8302245,-87.../data=!3m1!1e3

Dennis DeBruler commented on William's post

Wow, that UP yard still has most of its tracks.

https://www.google.com/.../@41.8299487,-87.../data=!3m1!1e3

C&EIRHS posted
Photo 5036-H from the C&EI Historical Society archives showing the piggyback ramp at Chicago c1956.
Eric Sibul shared
[C&EI converted flatcars to piggyback cars in their Oaklawn Shops.]

Dennis DeBruler commented on Eric's share
According to the comments by Rick La Fever in the base post, it was in the yellow rectangle. I noticed that the topo map accurately records that there was space between each pair of tracks.
1953 Englewood Quad @ 24,000

Dennis DeBruler commented on Eric's share
I noticed in a satellite image that the embankment for the lead down into the side yard still exists. You can see it in this Oct 2011 street view.
https://www.google.com/.../data=!3m7!1e1!3m5...

Dennis DeBruler commented on Eric's share
Before it was a piggyback yard, it looks like it was a freight house. A 1938 aerial photo
https://clearinghouse.isgs.illinois.edu/webdocs/ilhap/county/data/cook/flight12/0bwq08056.jpg

Dennis DeBruler commented on Eric's share
Rick La Fever After rereading your comments, I have to ask: or was it here in the C&WI team tracks that the owners shared?
https://www.google.com/maps/@41.8437041,-87.638145,895m/data=!3m1!1e3

Bob Lalich commented on Eric's share
I think the photo was taken at 33rd St looking SSE. The map shows three tracks grouped together and a concrete ramp. Seems to fit.

1883 Brooklyn Bridge over East River between Manhattan and Brooklyn

(Bridge Hunter; Historic Bridges; HAER; Dave Frieder Photos; 3D Satellite)

(Update: RoadTraffic-Technology article)

Lots of photos concerning the Brooklyn Bridge by Carol Highsmith

HAER has 85 photos for this bridge.

HAER NY,31-NEYO,90--79 (CT)

79. View looking north with former Brooklyn ferry slip in foreground - Brooklyn Bridge, Spanning East River between Park Row, Manhattan and Sands Street, Brooklyn, New York County, NY

HAER NY,31-NEYO,90--75 (CT)

75. View looking east towards Brooklyn

I read The Great Bridge by David McCullough when I was a kid. One thing I remember is that this bridge, and the Eads Bridge, pioneered using pressurized caissons to dig the holes needed for the pier foundations. Consequently, they "discovered" what we now call the bends. In fact, Washington Roebling, the son of the suspension bridge pioneer John Roebling, became bedridden early in the construction of the bridge by the bends after an inspection trip of a pier's construction. He was in a bedroom where he could see the construction from a window with a telescope and his wife, Emily, relayed his instructions to the workers. I've recently discovered the 1866 bridge at Cincinnati that was built by John Roebling.

John Roebling presented plans for the bridge in April, 1869. But Washington Roebling wrote a June 12, 1870 report because his father had died. [ReportOfChiefEngineer via Historic Bridges]

At the time of its opening on May 24, 1883, the Brooklyn Bridge was the longest spanning bridge in the world. It represents the culmination of nearly a lifetime's experience designing and building suspension structures and incorporates the pinnacle of development of design features conceived by John A. Roebling during this period. The Roebling system of suspension bridge construction became the standard for suspension bridges throughout the world. These features included the anchoring system composed of a cast-iron plate buried under masonry to which anchorage chain eyebar links were attached and rose in the curve of a quadrant, the upper ends to which were pinned the looped ends of wire cables; the method of constructing the cables where individual parallel wires were "air spun," consolidated, and wrapped with wire into a solid, cylindrical mass; the diagonal stay cables, radiating from the tower tops down to the deck, a secondary structural feature that gave partial support to the deck and also stabilized the superstructure and cable system against vertical movement in severe winds. The cables were also innovative because it was the first time that steel-wire (galvanized to protect against corrosion) was used in a bridge, and the second time that rolled-steel structural sections were used in a bridge superstructure. [HAER-data]

 

Runt of the Web posted
In 1869, the designer of the Brooklyn Bridge, John Roebling, died after a construction site accident. His son, Washington Roebling, took over as the chief engineer of the project, but his luck was no better. Washington soon developed decompression sickness from diving into the East River to inspect the underwater caissons and was left bedridden. Instead of handing his role to someone else, however, Washington began passing instructions through his wife, Emily. For the next decade, Emily visited the site almost daily, supervising the construction, answering questions, attending board meetings, and managing the project. And when the bridge was completed in 1883, Emily was the first to ride across it. Go inside the inspiring story of Emily Roebling and her role in the construction of the Brooklyn Bridge: https://inter.st/4tk2 [Too many ads, I didn't read it. This is just one example I have seen that Facebook quit enforcing no self-promotion.]

New York City - Just the best posted
Lower Manhattan - 1978.

 

Uncover This posted
When the chief engineer for the Brooklyn Bridge fell gravely ill, the project was in jeopardy. His wife, Emily Warren Roebling, stepped up and saw the iconic project through to its completion.

In the late 1800s, construction of the Brooklyn Bridge was one of the most ambitious engineering projects in the world.

It was led by chief engineer Washington Roebling. However, he soon developed caisson disease, a debilitating illness from working in the compressed air environments used to build the bridge's foundations, leaving him bedridden.

With the project leader incapacitated, the future of the bridge was uncertain.

This is when his wife, Emily Warren Roebling, took on the immense responsibility. She had studied engineering topics alongside her husband and was prepared for the challenge.

For more than a decade, she served as the field engineer, relaying her husband's instructions and making her own critical decisions on-site. She managed day-to-day operations, negotiated materials, and handled politicians and rival engineers.

Many were unaware that a woman was effectively running the massive project.

On May 24, 1883, when the bridge finally opened, Emily Warren Roebling was the very first person to cross it in a carriage. As a symbol of victory, she carried a rooster with her.

Her contribution was a quiet but powerful statement in an era when women were rarely seen in such roles.

Fred Baldwin: This story begins with the father, George who was the chief engineer, got his leg caught between a ship and a dock and his broken leg developed gangrene and he died.

David Michael Chatterton: Sadly, the main cables were constructed with a high proportion of brittle cables that had escaped proper quality control. Fortunately, the design margins for the cables were sufficiently generous to be able to tolerate the weakness caused to the cables while still remaining strong enough to support the weight of the bridge.

It is interesting to compare the Manhattan skyline. This is a reminder that the bridge was built long before the famous buildings such as the Empire State Building.

New York Memories posted
Brooklyn Bridge in 1925

Andrew Findlay: Looking at the Cityscape I would say it is AI. [I would say he just can't imagine what the island looked like before the building boom in the late 1920s. (For example, Chrysler Building in 1930 and Empire State Building in 1931.)]

1 of several photos of the new span for the Willis Avenue Bridge being moved to the bridge site

New York New York USA posted
The Brooklyn Bridge, New York City

 

John Powers posted
Brooklyn Bridge, NY

Jim Douthart: With maintenance staging

Bridges Now and Then posted
Brooklyn Bridge, New York, c. 1897. (The Print Collector/Getty Images)

Old New York City posted
Brooklyn Bridge 1907

 

Lens of Discovery posted
A Glimpse into 1904: The Brooklyn side of the iconic Brooklyn Bridge. 📸 Stereograph by Darius Kinsey. To the left, the Fulton Street Elevated Railway heads toward the Ferry Terminal — a vital link in old New York City’s daily rhythm.
Dave Pember shared
NYC/Brooklyn bridge/rails/streets/neighborhood

Grady Smith: Had no idea that Kinsey took photos in the east!

Bridges Now and Then posted
"Newspaper photo (digitally altered slightly to fix corners) Original caption: To the best of our knowledge this is the first photo be published of an airplane flying underneath Brooklyn Bridge. This remarkable and hazardous feat was accomplished one day last week by one of the army's giant Caproni planes from Mineola. Treacherous air currents and the fact that the Caproni is not designed to land on water made this thrilling stunt daring in the extreme." New York Tribune, November 23, 1919. (Library of Congress)

Visit New York posted
Brooklyn Bridge, New York
📸: [instagram.com/mingomatic]

Raphael Priou commented on the above post

 

Old New York City posted
Brooklyn Bridge 1962

Welcome to New York posted
Brooklyn Bridge, New York 
 📸: [instagram.com/bklyn2nyc]

 

Jocelyne Baudouz commented on the above post
We Was there

 

Susan Bell commented on the above post
My special photo live on the Brooklyn Bridge with an iPhone.

Susan Bell commented on the above post

Dave Frieder commented on the above post
One of my Thousands of image of Brooklyn Bridge. From Main Cable "A" while lying down on the Cable.

Bridges Now and Then posted
A view under the promenade of the Brooklyn Bridge, 1982. (Circle Graphics)
Dave Frieder: You can see the Original Cable Bands like the one I have. But at this location are Solid Rod suspenders. Not Suspender ropes.

 

New York Top Photo posted
Most beautiful bridge in the world!
Photo by Mingomatic
Joe F. Guerra: The Brooklyn Bridge going east, as it empties onto Brooklyn from Manhattan...

Social Park USA posted
A fantastic aerial view of Downtown Manhattan and the Financial District, taken from an helicopter in July 2001. The East River with the iconic Brooklyn Bridge (1883, right) can be seen in the foreground...

 

𝗥𝗲𝗺𝗲𝗺𝗯𝗲𝗿 𝗪𝗵𝗲𝗻: 𝗡𝗲𝘄 𝗝𝗲𝗿𝘀𝗲𝘆 & 𝗡𝗲𝘄 𝗬𝗼𝗿𝗸 posted
Brooklyn Bridge circa 1880s!

Bridges Now and Then posted
On the Brooklyn Bridge, early 1880s. (University of Notre Dame)

Dave Frieder: LAST time a single Footbridge was used for Main Cable construction.

Fred Hadley posted four images with the comment:

Making the cables on the new East River bridge in 1902

We have described from time to time, in the col­umns of the SCIENTlFIC AMERICAN, the four great cables which will support the massive 188-foot road­way of the new East River Bridge, and in a recent article we gave photographs showing the temporary footbridges which have been used in stringing the cables. The last of the strands has now been completed, and the four cables hung in the positions which they will permanently occupy. 

It would be well, therefore, before describing in detail the method of building to recapitulate some of the dimensions of these, the largest suspension cables in the world. Each cable is 18 inches in diameter and 2,985 feet in length from anchorage to anchorage. 

When the weight of the floor system is upon them, the cables will extend in a fairly straight line from anchorage to saddles at the top of the steel towers, where the center of the cables is 333 feet above mean high water mark in the East River, while the horizontal distance from saddle to saddle across the main span is 1600 feet. 

The breaking strength of each cable is 25,000 tons and their combined weight is 5,000 tons. The actual dead load which they will carry when the bridge is completed is 8,000 tons, and they are cal­culated to carry a maximum moving load of 4,500 tons. Each of the four cables contains 10,397 No. 8 steel wires. 

The specifications called for a strength of 200,000 pounds per square inch, but the actual break­ing strength of the wire as determined on test, shows that the cables have an average breaking strength of 225,000 pounds per square inch; a truly marvelous result, and one which places these cables far ahead in point of tensile strength of any other structural material yet used in bridge building.

One of the best features of the new cables is the very excellent system of protection against weather which has been adopted. In the first place the wire is thoroughly coated at the mills with a heavy mixture of graphite and oil, and although its greasy condition rendered it extremely disagreeable to handle, the bene­fit will be found in the practically indestructible nature of the work.

In putting up the strands, the apportionment of labor was as follows: There were three men on each anchorage to look after the reels, put the bights on and off the carrier-wheel, splice the wires, etc. There were three men to handle the wires at the top of the tower until the strand was ready for lowering into the saddle whose duty it also was to see that the wires were hung exactly in the curve of the guide-wire al­ready referred to. 

There were also three men placed between the anchorage and the top of the tower, who, as soon as the tension was adjusted, clamped the wire to the strand. The adjustment of the wire between the towers was done by seven men, and the adjustment of the wire between the other tower and the anchorage was accomplished in a similar manner to that described already. 

Care was taken in placing the bights of the wire around the strand-shoes to lay them in regular courses on the shoe, so that they would correspond with the position of the wires at the other end of the strand on the opposite anchorage.

As each strand was completed, its end shoe was turned from the horizontal to a vertical position ami allowed to slide forward toward the tower, thereby lowering the strand to the final position of the finished cable; the shoe being finally placed in position between the anchor chain eye-bars and held in place by its end pin. The thirty-seven strands in each cable are arranged in a hexagonal cross sectional form, five strands lying on each side of the hexagon.

To complete the cables it will next be necessary to place around them the clamping bands, which will form also the saddles in which the suspender cables will rest. Then the cables will be covered with pro­tecting shields which will consist of half-round troughs of sheet steel, semi-circular in cross-section, one half of which will lie below, and the other half above the cables. Between them and the cables will be run in a hot mixture of cable preservative similar to that in which the individual wires were soaked as they were Manufactured.

Scientific American, June 26, 1902

1

2

3

4

 

Bridges Now and Then posted
Brooklyn Bridge, c. 1880. (See Old NYC)
Dave Frieder: LAST time a Single footbridge was used for Main Cable construction.
Bill Campbell: The towers were nearly the tallest structures in North America.

 

Olden Heritage posted
[The description sounds like AI generated platitudes.]

Kathleen Palka Nemeth: John Roebling got “the Bends” after inspecting a Cassion deep in the water & coming up too fast. He watched the completion from his window in his house on Bklyn Heights.

HIS WIFE TOOK OVER THE PROJECT & she learned as she WENT. She & her son are responsible for the completion of the Bridge!

Al Hom: Kathleen Palka Nemeth John Roebling accidentally had his foot caught between the pier and a ferry. Gangrene led to his death. His son, Washington, suffered from the bends as his wife communicated his directions to the workers on site.

Dave Frieder commented on the above post
Maine Granite above the waterline. New York Limestone below the waterline.

Bridges Now and Then posted
Brooklyn Bridge, mid construction. (History101NYC)

New York Memories posted
The Brooklyn Bridge under construction in the early 1880s

Bridges Now and Then posted
"July 7, 1981: Ironworkers on the Brooklyn Bridge attended to cables that had snapped, closing down the pedestrian walkway from June 28 — when the cables broke — until early August. “Akira Aimi, the 32-year-old Japanese freelance photographer who was critically injured when he was hit by one of the snapped cables, died yesterday at St. Vincent’s Hospital,” reported The Times. Have no fear, however, said a representative of the Transportation Department. “When the retainers are installed, it will be equally safe for pedestrians and bicycles. I would walk across it then with my wife and family anytime,” he said." (Fred Conrad/NY Times)

Heavy Metal posted
USS Arizona BB 39 passes under the Brooklyn Bridge during WW1.
[It is probably headed to the Brooklyn Navy Yard.]

Postcards from old New York posted
Brooklyn Bridge ca.1908

Postcards from old New York posted
Brooklyn Bridge ca.1908

History, p30 via Historic Bridges

The curved tie-bars is one of the concepts that John developed during the design of his previous suspension bridges.

History, p46 via Historic Bridges

Making the cables by spinning many wires across the bridge and then wrapping them so that they functioned as one cable was also a significant development. Suspension bridges were originally built with tie bars and their weakness of a single-point-of-failure did cause some bridge collapses.

History, p59 via Historic Bridges

Before cars and trucks and after the development of electric motors, streetcars were a very important mode of transportation in a city.

History, p67 via Historic Bridges

Fred Hadley posted

Proposed endless-train loop and rotating station for an almost overloaded and “antiquated” Brooklyn Bridge in 1905

The city bridge department, knowing the bridge is loaded to near the maximum load it was designed to carry, as a cautionary measure, to prevent overloading, has made rules as to loading. At least 102 feet of empty track space must exist between every two trolley cars on the bridge, and but one elevated train on each track is permitted upon the center span at the same time. These rules are necessary, as the load on the bridge during periods of heaviest traffic is within 125 tons of the maximum load the bridge was in­tended to carry.

A single elevated train or a few street cars would exceed this margin of weight, and if through carelessness they should move onto the span before the train ahead has left the span, the bridge would be overloaded. If it were thus overloaded, it would not, however, be in danger of failure, because it was built with a large factor of safety. But that was twenty-two years ago. What is its factor of safety now?

The bridge department should be the best au­thority. During several administrations it has enforced precautionary rules. The chief engineer stated before the State Railroad Commission : "The Brooklyn Bridge is an antiquated structure, unfitted for the demands made upon it and should be rebuilt after the completion of the Manhattan Bridge within the next five years." The problem involves a combination of difficulties. The solution is to transport the people over the bridge as fast as they arrive.

The factors in the problem are: 1. Safety of passengers. 2. Weight of load on the bridge. 3. Number of persons to be transported. 4. Number of cars required. 5. Speed of cars necessary. 6. Time required for loading and unloading cars. 7. How to make the change without interrupting transportation. 8. Cost of the new system. 9. Time required to put a new system in operation. 10. A proper ter­minal station. Lack of cars moving over the bridge, and not lack of loading facilities, is the cause of the congestion. More cars and lighter cars is the only remedy. This forces us to a plan for special bridge cars without heavy machinery.

The system of transportation illustrated on the front page of this issue is designed to meet all the above­ named conditions. An endless train of cars is operated across the bridge with a circular loop at each terminus, cable traction is used, and the motors, brakes, third­ rails, trolley-wire supporters, wires, etc., are dispensed with.

Light trucks with small wheels are substituted for the heavy ones now used, and more than double the number of cars can be operated, without increasing the weight; and by operating them on one set of tracks we have an endless train of cars, and may increase the speed with no danger of collision. But this requires that the train shall not stop, and we are forced to use a slowly-rotating loading platform with access to it by stairways located at the center, where motion is slow.

Two cables would be used, driven by electric motors, the motors and cable in duplicate to be used on alternate days. This would reduce the danger of a "tie-up" to a minimum. The electric current could be independently generated, or purchased from power companies. This plan includes no untried feature, unless it be in the combination.

Moving sidewalks were tested at the Chicago in Paris expositions, with a difference in speed between adjoining platforms of 3 miles an hour. These cars are enclosed, and the difference in rotary speed of stairways is reduced to 1/2 mile an hour. cars without heavy machinery.

These stairways also serve as exits for arriving passengers. The loops in the end­less train of cars are arranged so as to encircle about three fourths of the platforms, the cars locking with the platform edge, and rotating the platforms at the same speed as the moving train. People will then be able to step from one to the other with as much ease and safety as they now step from the parlor car to the dining car of a moving express train.

The stairways, which are attached to the platforms near the center and extend downward to near the ground, rotate with the platforms, but the motion is so slight as to be scarcely noticeable. If the platforms are made 400 feet in diameter, at twenty-miles-an-hour speed of the cars, the stairways would have a rotary speed of one mile an hour.

Beneath each stairway, and leading to it, would be an intermediate circular platform, twen­ty feet in diameter, on a level with the ground. It would rotate in the same direction, with a speed one­ half that of the stairways, or one-half mile an hour. An automatic fence prevents a person falling off the platform.

If a person failed to step off the car, moving at ten miles an hour, he would be carried over the bridge again, and back, and would lose twelve min­utes; but if he did not step on the car during the first revolution of platform, he would lose but fourteen sec­onds, when he would begin his second revolution. He would have sixty-four seconds to step on or off the car as against twenty-eight at present. The proposed plan would reduce the load on the bridge and distribute the load more uniformly.

Roebling's report says: "I propose a speed of 20 miles an hour, as being perhaps the one most likely preferred. But this may be increased to 30 or 40 miles per hour, with absolute safety."

To render the above plan most effective, the Man­hattan loop should extend over Park Row, where a curvature with a radius of 125 feet to 200 feet could be obtaIned. The Brooklyn loop could be built near Til­lary Street, between Fulton and Washington Streets. This would practically connect City Hall with Borough Hall.

Scientific American excerpt, March 18, 1905

Highway Engineering Discoveries posted
Brooklyn Bridge, USA

 

Olden Heritage posted

In 1945, the trolley turnaround at the Brooklyn Bridge on the Manhattan side was a hub of local transportation, serving as a vital connection point for the residents of New York. This area, which had seen the demolition of the Park Row Elevated station a few years earlier, was emblematic of a city in transition, slowly moving away from its reliance on elevated railways and trolleys toward buses and subways. The Park Row station, once a bustling terminal for the elevated lines, had been closed and dismantled, leaving the trolley turnaround as a key part of local transportation in the area.

The turnaround had been operational since 1908, providing essential service across the Brooklyn Bridge. It was one of many trolley routes that connected the boroughs, offering a reliable mode of transportation for the people of Manhattan and Brooklyn. At its height, the trolley lines were a central part of daily life, allowing workers and residents to commute quickly between boroughs. The system had been designed for efficiency, looping around the terminus to allow for quick returns to Brooklyn.

However, by 1945, the city was already preparing for a new era of transportation. As buses and subways became more prominent, trolleys, once the lifeblood of public transit, began to fade. The service at the Brooklyn Bridge trolley turnaround would continue for a few more years until it finally ended in 1950, marking the end of an era. The dismantling of these trolleys mirrored the broader transformation of New York’s transit system and the modernization of the city as it moved toward a more car-centric future.

Peter Acosta: It's a shame the trolley system disappeared, as it did in many other American cities. European cities still widely use trolleys. For us in the USA, having trolleys again would reduce automobile traffic dramatically, and it would make getting around a city less expensive and more environmentally responsible.

Sam Benson: Peter Acosta They didn't simply disappear.

General Motors allegedly conspired with a number of other companies (oil, tires, other car/truck manufacturers) to buy-up trolley companies in order to close them down thus creating a market for cars.

[I've heard that about Los Angeles. I'm not surprised it was done to other cities.]

 

History's Mirror posted
In 1898, the Brooklyn Bridge Terminal was one of New York City's most vital transit hubs, serving as the main connection between Manhattan and Brooklyn. Located at the foot of the Brooklyn Bridge, it was a bustling center of activity where elevated trains, streetcars, and horse-drawn carriages converged. The Brooklyn Bridge, completed in 1883, had already transformed transportation in the city, but by the late 1890s, its terminal had become even more essential as the population and transit demands grew. The Brooklyn Rapid Transit (BRT) system played a crucial role in moving thousands of passengers daily, with elevated trains running across the bridge and streetcars connecting various Brooklyn neighborhoods. The Manhattan side of the terminal linked to the city’s expanding transit network, offering commuters access to downtown and beyond. The scene at the terminal was a snapshot of New York’s industrial-era growth, with iron structures, wooden platforms, and a constant flow of people. As a key component of the city's infrastructure, the Brooklyn Bridge Terminal in 1898 symbolized the rapid modernization of urban transportation, helping shape the city into the metropolis it would soon become.

 

The Old New York Page posted

Great Blizzard of 1888 (Brooklyn Bridge) 

Photo:  Wallace G. Levison

Dave Pember shared

Andrew Henderson posted
"Roadway and cars on the Brooklyn Bridge", New York, 1896. Photograph by Alfred S. Campbell inc. Enhanced from LOC source.

New York Transit Museum posted

Between 1944 and 1954, the Brooklyn Bridge underwent extensive reconstruction to increase its capacity for vehicular traffic. Previously a major transit artery, the bridge had carried several modes of rapid transit since it opened in 1883, including cable cars, elevated rail lines, and trolleys. Trolleys were the last to go in 1950.

This #NYTMCollection photograph from 1951 shows the bridge during reconstruction. This work included the removal of all elevated rails, trolley tracks, and trusses separating the inner elevated tracks from roads. As a result, the roadways were widened from two to three lanes.

🚲 No further reconfigurations of the bridge occurred until 2021, when a protected bike lane was constructed, on the Manhattan bound side of the bridge. The bike lane replaced one lane of traffic, returning that side of the bridge to two car lanes for the first time in 68 years.

[Note the Manhattan Bridge in the left background.]

Dave Frieder commented on the above post
One of my views of all six Vehicular lanes and the pedestrian walkway. From Main Cable A.

Antonio Medina posted
Random Thursday post shows Brooklyn Bridge with Pennsylvania Railroad shed 1938.

I presume this freight house was on the Brooklyn side because I could not find any surface railroads on the Manhattan side.

1956 Brooklyn and 1955 Jersey City Quads @ 24,000

Focal Points posted
New York circa 1901. "South Street and Brooklyn Bridge."

Bridges Now and Then posted
Dumping garbage into a barge at the Brooklyn Bridge, 1949. (NY Times)

Dave Frieder: The land mass or platform around the Manhattan Tower is long gone.

Jeffrey Stoveken: Then that barge would be towed either offshore and the load dumped or to Fresh Kills on Staten Island.

 

New York History posted

Aerial View of the Brooklyn Bridge Overpass, New York (1883)

[The rest sounds like AI generated platitudes. You can click the link if you enjoy reading platitudes.]

Thecra Zyitalian Brain: Is it still there?

Dennis DeBruler commented on Thecra's comment
Buried amongst the ramps, evidently. https://maps.app.goo.gl/8tCjmTDE67NuhkDo8

Michael Quartarraro posted
View from a building in the DUMBO section of Brooklyn 1988. The WTC with the Brooklyn Bridge and lower Manhattan.

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