Nostalgia & History > A shoo Fly on the Water Level Route in the Hudson Valley

New York Central's tunnels on the water level route in the Bear Mountain area along New York's Hudson river were always a headache for the railroad. Because of its curvy nature and tunnels, this section of the Water Level Route remained always double track, from Peekskill NY to Garrison NY, not the fancy four track route to Chicago. The three short tunnels were cut out from solid rock and did not have any liners. As a result, there was always water leaking, and in winter icicles formed and piles of ice grew on the rails, necessitating constant removal. This area was also prone to rock fall and originally, the railroad placed a watchman's shanty along the ROW, with a watchman patrolling the area. When I took my first pictures in the mid-seventies, the watchman was long gone, but the shack remained. There was also other evidence left by humans walking along the rails, an abundance of peach trees! Apparently some watchmen liked to eat peaches while on patrol and dropped the pits.

Well, the problem with the ice build up still persisted, and in 1989 MetroNorth decided to alleviate the problem by lining the tunnels with bentonite. To facilitate the repair, a shoo fly was laid around the middle tunnel. This was possible, because there was what looked like an old ROW around the tunnel, actually wide enough for double track, but with tight radii, akin to a Lionel layout! In our case only the riverside track was on the shoe fly. This is a very isolated area with with access only by rail or on foot. To be able to bring in supplies, the original riverside track was stub ended on the north side and connected with a switch on the south side. Commuting on the other side of the Hudson, I had occasionally observed a train to snake around the tunnel on the shoe fly, so a closer look needed to be taken. On July 4th 1989, on a 3H day (hot hazy, humid) I paid a visit, quite fun to watch the trains, including a decent sized Lake Shore limited wind themselves through the shoe fly, here a potpourri of actors:

Picture 1: Amtrak Turboliner 153 enters the tunnel north bound in February 1978, well before the repair, a work crew was busy chopping off ice from the ceiling and the rails.
Picture 2: View from the north with a north bound Turboliner exiting the tunnel, October 1976, the flat area where the shoo fly was laid is to the right of the tunnel.
Picture 3: East (south) bound Lake Shore limited with an Amtrak FL9 in charge uses the shoo fly. The American flag is flying on the Bear Mountain bridge in the back, its July 4, 1989.

Thomas Eckhardt
Hurricane UT



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 08/09/18 08:59 by Krokodil.

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Picture 4: Amtrak Turboliner 154 south bound, July 4, 1989
Picture 5: MetroNorth FL9 2003 in New Haven scheme going straight through the tunnel towards Poughkeepsie NY, July 4 1989
Picture 6: MetroNorth FL9 2032 south bound on the shoo fly, July 4th, 1989
 



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 08/09/18 09:00 by Krokodil.

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Picture 7: MetrNorth GP9 750 heading north , July 4, 1989

Unfortunately, the bentonite tratement killed the great looks of the untrated tunnel opening, so here two pictures from earlier times:

Picture 8: Amtrak E8 10 heading north with an Albany bound train, Feb 1978
Picture 9: A month later Conrail U35B (exPC) emerges with a north bound freight, March 1978

Thomas Eckhardt
Hurricane UT 



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 08/10/18 19:27 by Krokodil.

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Very informative narrative and absolutely excellent photos with comprehensive narratives.
Thanks for this very informative post.
ALLEN 
 

First-rate presentation.
Photos three and five certainly show how tight the curves were.
Bob

Shoo-fly

Thanks, corrected.

Thomas

Thanks, very interesting and some great pictures.

Great post - thanks!

Ray