{"id":2732,"date":"2013-06-09T07:00:06","date_gmt":"2013-06-09T11:00:06","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/briansolomon.com\/trackingthelight\/?p=2732"},"modified":"2013-06-09T09:56:41","modified_gmt":"2013-06-09T13:56:41","slug":"pelham-bay-park-part-2-january-1984","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/briansolomon.com\/trackingthelight\/pelham-bay-park-part-2-january-1984\/","title":{"rendered":"Pelham Bay Park Part 2, January 1984."},"content":{"rendered":"

 <\/p>\n

A View From Grandma\u2019s Terrace.<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

In yesterday\u2019s post<\/a>, I explained that my grandparents had a Coop City<\/a> apartment in The Bronx<\/a>. It was on the 19th<\/sup> floor of a 1970s-era tower block located at the periphery of New York City and the edge of Pelham Bay Park<\/a>. Looking East, it offered a view of the Hutchinson River<\/a> (with Goose Island<\/a> in the middle) and of Amtrak<\/a>\u2019s former New Haven line to Penn-Station<\/a> on the far shore.<\/p>\n

The best part of the apartment was the terrace, which faced the river and the tracks. As young kids, my brother, Sean, and I would spend hours sending paper airplanes and bubbles, (and sometime heavier items) off the terrace to see how far they\u2019d go. But for me the highlight of the apartment (apart from grandma and grandpa) was the regular passage of trains.<\/p>\n

By age 10, I\u2019d learned to calculate running times. Eastbound (northbound) trains running toward Boston would pass 17-20 minutes after leaving Penn-Station, while Westbound (Southbound) trains were less predictable, and sometimes wouldn\u2019t show up until after they were scheduled to depart Penn-Station.<\/p>\n

Until 1981, Amtrak would occasionally operate its elderly GG1 Electrics, and I\u2019d keep my Leica handy for just such an event. On rare occasions, two trains would pass in front of the apartment.<\/p>\n

I vividly recall a frenzied moment, when Sean shouted, \u201cthere\u2019s two trains!\u201d I panicked and in the 10-15 seconds I had to act, I failed to locate the camera. \u201cYou missed it! I can\u2019t believe you missed it!\u201d Eventually, the situation repeated itself, and a photograph resulted.<\/p>\n

By 1984, freight had been diverted off the line, while most Amtrak trains to New Haven consisted of eight to ten Amfleet cars hauled by AEM-7 electrics. The one elusive train was Amtrak\u2019s Night Owl<\/i> that passed in the wee hours (as owls do) and this train carried sleeping cars. Even at night these cars looked different than the others.<\/p>\n

In the relative silence of early morning, trains would make an audible clatter crossing the bascule drawbridge that was just out of sight from the terrace. We were visiting for New Year\u2019s at the end of 1983. One night during that visit, my sixth sense for trains alerted me in my sleep that the southward Night Owl<\/i> hadn\u2019t gone by at its usual time (about 3 am).<\/p>\n

By daybreak, the Night Owl<\/i> still hadn\u2019t gone by. So, I readied my old Leica 3A, and waited. Shortly after sunrise it rolled by, and I exposed several Ektachrome slides. These might have been better if I\u2019d used a longer lens, yet, had I done that, then the photos wouldn\u2019t have shown all the heritage equipment, including the train’s sleeping cars, that distinguished it from ordinary North East Corridor trains. While not my greatest effort, it’s not too bad considering I was half asleep and not yet skilled with the camera.<\/p>\n

\"Amtrak<\/a>
Night Owl at Pelham Bay Park January 1984.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

I found this slide last month mixed in with some \u20183rds\u2019 (my old term for slides that were not bad enough to throw away, yet neither good enough to give away\u2014what I called 2nds, nor acceptable for slide shows\u20141sts). Time has move it up a couple of degrees. I\u2019m not giving it away.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

See: Pelham Bay Park Part I<\/a>, andKid with a Camera Framingham, Massachusetts, 1982<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Related articles<\/h6>\n