Passenger Trains > # 280 Stuck at Harlem River Bridge?

Friend on board s/b # 280 saying the bridge, which rarely opens, had to open for a tourist boat, but now they can't close it...

SFSC Wrote:
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> Friend on board s/b # 280 saying the bridge, which
> rarely opens, had to open for a tourist boat, but
> now they can't close it...


Rarely opens? Doesn't that bridge open regularly for the Circle Line, which makes multiple circuits around Manhattan during the tourist season (reduced ops in winter)?

toledopatch Wrote:
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> Rarely opens? Doesn't that bridge open regularly
> for the Circle Line, which makes multiple circuits
> around Manhattan during the tourist season
> (reduced ops in winter)?

Don't know. Only reporting/inquiring...

I don't know anything specific about train #280, but I've since seen both northbound and southbound trains pass my window on the Upper West Side, so the bridge must be operational again.

EmpireWatcher Wrote:
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> but I've since seen both northbound and southbound
> trains pass my window on the Upper West Side, so
> the bridge must be operational again.

I'm not a New Yorker, but can you see that bridge from your location? We are talking the Harlem River...Is it the bridge that comes into Park Ave. in Manhattan (just up river from the 3rd Ave bridge)? Or is Harlem River rail bridge up at the northern tip of Manhattan, on the west side?

> I'm not a New Yorker, but can you see that bridge
> from your location? We are talking the Harlem
> River...Is it the bridge that comes into Park Ave.
> in Manhattan (just up river from the 3rd Ave
> bridge)? Or is Harlem River rail bridge up at the
> northern tip of Manhattan, on the west side?

The bridge that comes into Park Avenue is Metro-North, and leads to Grand Central.

Amtrak uses the bridge on the northwest tip of Manhattan, the Spuyten Duyvil bridge. Interesting info at www.washington-heights.us/history/archives/spuyten_duyvil_swing_bridge_30.html.

toledopatch Wrote:
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> SFSC Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > Friend on board s/b # 280 saying the bridge,
> which
> > rarely opens, had to open for a tourist boat,
> but
> > now they can't close it...
>
>
> Rarely opens? Doesn't that bridge open regularly
> for the Circle Line, which makes multiple circuits
> around Manhattan during the tourist season
> (reduced ops in winter)?

IIRC, the Circle Line boats have a low profile that allow them to sail under all of the Manhattan bridges without requiring them to open. It's been a couple of years since I took the full Manhattan circle trip so things may have change since then, but I don't remember any drawbridges having to open for us.

MarinCommuter Wrote:

>
> IIRC, the Circle Line boats have a low profile
> that allow them to sail under all of the Manhattan
> bridges without requiring them to open. It's been
> a couple of years since I took the full Manhattan
> circle trip so things may have change since then,
> but I don't remember any drawbridges having to
> open for us.

That is true for all bridges other than the Amtrak Spuyten Duyvil bridge. The Amtrak (former NYC) bridge only has about five feet of clearance above mean high water.

prr60 Wrote:
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> MarinCommuter Wrote:
>
> >
> > IIRC, the Circle Line boats have a low profile
> > that allow them to sail under all of the
> Manhattan
> > bridges without requiring them to open. It's
> been
> > a couple of years since I took the full
> Manhattan
> > circle trip so things may have change since
> then,
> > but I don't remember any drawbridges having to
> > open for us.
>
> That is true for all bridges other than the Amtrak
> Spuyten Duyvil bridge. The Amtrak (former NYC)
> bridge only has about five feet of clearance above
> mean high water.


I took the Circle line cruise last year, and the Spuyten Duyvil bridge was already open for us, and stayed open after we passed through it.

The Spuyten Duyvil bridge opens for much smaller boats than the Circle Line.

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