Nostalgia & History > 1991 - Conrail along the Hudson River

As part of a trip to New York City, my wife and I took a side trip up the Hudson River about 50 miles to the Bear Mountain Bridge. On Sept. 11, 1991, we arrived and hung out for about an hour near Iona Island, where I got this going-away shot of a Conrail freight (first photo). On September 12, I spent about 3 hours on the Bear Mountain Bridge near Bear Mountain State Park on the west side of the Hudson River. The Bear Mountain Bridge has pedestrian walkways on both sides and offers great views of the Hudson River with (at the time) Conrail on both sides of the river. We rented a cabin near the west end of the bridge, and while my wife slept in, I went out onto the bridge to take train pictures.
- Eric Blasko

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Soon after I arrived on the bridge, I was delighted to see this northbound freight.
- E.B.

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Across the river on the east side, are the Amtrak and commuter trains. A southbound turbo train glides along the river.

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Another northbound freight followed later.

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An hour or so later, a southbound stack train came cruising downriver, enabling me to copy a photo that I had seen on the cover of Railpace magazine (the last photo). Thanks to Railpace for the article that made me aware of this great photo location!
- Eric Blasko



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 04/23/17 10:28 by AlcoRSD15.

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Fantastic shots!! Thanks for sharing them.

Eric, thanks for sharing some great shots from some pretty cool vantage points. Looks like a beautiful area.

Kent in Carmel Valley

Beautiful shots.
What a scenic area.
Gary

Nice shots of Camels in their natural environment.

Great stuff! love that Conrail blue.

Great photos.

Eric:

Thanks for some great memories! I hired out on the "West Shore" many years ago. With my seniority, most of the work was at night so I didn't realize how beautiful the Hudson narrow were for many years!! I was working in Philadelphia at the time you took these photos and the Riverline was part of my territory. I will never forget when Public Affairs called one day and asked if I could help a free-lance photographer with train information in the Bear Mountain area, as he was under contract with TTX and looking for some shots for their annual report. She put him on the phone and he said " Good morning, Chip, my name is Dick Stienheimer.." I could barely talk. My childhood idle was introducing himself to me..I still haven't recovered from that moment! Thanks for posting Eric!!

Thanks, Chip. It must have been great to be cruising along the Hudson River, even if it was at night.
- Eric B.

Eric;

It was after seeing your slides of this trip that I made it a point to go to Bear Mountain Bridge when I was in that area.

Mike

Posted from iPhone

I'm getting old. I remember when the "new" bridge in the first photo was put into service. Have photos either my dad or I took of trains on the old bridge. Can't believe that was before 1991!

Thanks for sharing these photos.