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Wikipedia logo This page uses content from Wikipedia. The original article was at New York and Harlem Railroad. The list of authors can be seen in the page history. As with Metro Wiki, the text of Wikipedia is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike License 3.0 (Unported) (CC-BY-SA).

The New York and Harlem Railroad (now the Metro-North Railroad Harlem Line) was one of the first railroads in the United States, and possibly the first street railway, running north from Lower Manhattan to and beyond Harlem. The line was later truncated at Grand Central Terminal, with the rest becoming part of the Fourth Avenue Horse Car Line. The line became part of the New York Central Railroad system, with trackage rights granted to the New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad into Manhattan. It is now part of the Metro-North Railroad system, and the only Manhattan trackage of that system.

History[]

The company was incorporated on April 25, 1831 as the New York and Haerlem Railroad Company, to link New York City with Harlem (specifically, the "power to construct a single or double railroad or way from any point on the northern boundaries of Twenty-third Street to any point on the Harlem River by the power and force of steam or of any mechanical or other power or any combination of them." The first section, along The Bowery from Prince Street north to 14th Street, opened on November 26, 1832. After that, the following sections opened:

A branch was built to Port Morris for freight.

Horses were used at first, but this was changed to steam north of 23rd Street. It was soon bought by Cornelius Vanderbilt.

The New York City Common Council passed an ordinance on December 27, 1854, to take effect in 18 months, barring the NY&H from using steam power south of 42nd Street, due to complains by abutters. Before that, the steam locomotives had run to 32nd Street. When the ordinance took effect, the NY&H had not done anything. After much debate, including an injunction issued preventing the city from enforcing the ordinance, the courts struck down the injunction on July 30, 1858.

Between 1847 and 1856, a track was built in Grand Street between Centre Street and The Bowery (along with one block on The Bowery) for northbound trains. Southbound trains continued to use the old route.

Grand Central Depot opened just north of 42nd Street in October 1871, and intercity passenger trains from the north were ended there. (Ironically, by this point, the first of the Manhattan els had opened on Ninth Avenue.) Freight trains continued to operate along the tracks south of Grand Central, as did streetcars (still turning off at 42nd). On April 1, 1873, the NY&H leased its freight lines to the New York Central and Hudson River Railroad, but the horse car line south of Grand Central remained separate. This eventually became the New York Central Railroad and then part of Penn Central and Conrail. Metro-North Railroad took over the line in 1983.

The streetcar line[]

In 1864 or 1865, a branch was added for trains between downtown and the 34th Street Ferry, running along 32nd Street, Lexington Avenue and 34th Street. This was the start of separate horse car service, running between Astor House and the ferry.

On July 2, 1870, horse cars started to run not only to the 34th Street Ferry but to 73rd Street via Madison Avenue. These trains ran through the Murray Hill Tunnel and turned west on 42nd before going north on Madison (northbound cars used Vanderbilt Avenue to 44th Street). The line was soon extended to 86th Street and then to Harlem.

The first electric streetcar open to passengers in New York City, a Julien electric traction car, was run on September 17, 1888 on the line to 86th Street. The line went back to using horses for a time, but switched to an underground third rail in 1897.

On July 1, 1896, the Metropolitan Street Railway leased the streetcar lines. The New York City Railway, which leased the Metropolitan, went bankrupt in 1908 (?), and was sold to receivers, who gave the Fourth Avenue line back to the Metropolitan Street Railway for operation on July 31, 1908. The lease was terminated on January 31, 1920, and operation was returned to the NY&H. On October 10, 1932, it was leased again, this time to the New York Railways Corporation, with the right to bustitute the lines. The stockholders voted to do this on February 19, 1934. An approximation of the route is now traveled by MTA New York City Transit's M1 bus. The Murray Hill Tunnel now carries two lanes of roadway, but not the buses.

External links[]

References[]

  • Railroad History Database
  • Steam Below Forty-second-street, New York Times July 2, 1856 page 8
  • Railroad is King, New York Times, September 24, 1856 page 2
  • The Harlem Railroad Company vs. The City and Police Commissioners, New York Times July 31, 1858 page 4
  • General News, New York Times December 15, 1863 page 4
  • Our City Railroads, New York Times December 26, 1865 page 8
  • Madison Avenue Railway, New York Times July 3, 1870 page 5
  • Local News in Brief, New York Times November 1, 1871 page 8
  • New York's First Electric Car, New York Times September 18, 1888 page 8
  • Quicker Surface Transit, New York Times December 6, 1896 page 16
  • New York & Harlem Intact for Century, New York Times May 25, 1930 page 39


Defunct New York City Transit Operators
Steam railroads later converted to rapid transit systems Brooklyn and Brighton Beach Railroad • Brooklyn, Bath and Coney Island Rail Road • Brooklyn, Bath and Coney Island Railroad • Brooklyn, Bath and West End Railroad • Brooklyn, Flatbush and Coney Island Railway • Coney Island Elevated Railway • Greenwood and Coney Island Railroad • Marine Railway • New York and Coney Island Railroad • New York and Manhattan Beach Railway • New York and Sea Beach Railroad • New York and Sea Beach Railway • New York, Brooklyn and Manhattan Beach Railroad • Prospect Park and Coney Island Railroad • Sea Beach Railway • Sea View Railroad
Rapid transit systems Brooklyn-Manhattan Transit Corporation • Brooklyn Rapid Transit Company • Brooklyn Union Elevated Railroad • Interborough Rapid Transit Company • Kings County Elevated Railway
Streetcar systems

Avenue C Railroad Company • Belt Line Railway • Bleecker Street and Fulton Ferry Railroad • Broadway and Seventh Avenue Railroad • Broadway Surface Railroad • Broadway Railway Company • Brooklyn and North River Railroad • Brooklyn & Queens Transit Corporation • Brooklyn Central and Jamaica Railroad • Brooklyn City Rail Road • Brooklyn Crosstown Railroad • Brooklyn, Queens County and Suburban Railroad • Bush Terminal Railroad • Bushwick Railroad • Calvary Cemetery, Greenpoint and Brooklyn Railroad • Central Crosstown Railroad Company • Central Park, North and East River Railroad • Chambers Street and Grand Street Ferry Railroad • Christopher and Tenth Street Railroad Company • Columbus and Ninth Avenue Railroad • Coney Island and Brooklyn Rail Road • Coney Island, Fort Hamilton and Brooklyn Railroad • Dry Dock, East Broadway and Battery Railroad • Eighth Avenue Railroad Company • Flushing and College Point Electric Railway • Fort George and Eleventh Avenue Railroad • Forty-Second Street and Grand Street Ferry Railroad Company • Fourth Avenue Street Railway • Fulton Street Railroad • Grand Street and Newtown Rail Road • Greenpoint and Lorimer Street Railroad • Houston, West Street and Pavonia Ferry Railroad • Interurban Street Railway • Jamaica Central Railways Company • Kings County Electric Railway • Lexington Avenue and Pavonia Ferry Railroad • Long Island City and Calvary Cemetery Railroad • Long Island City and Maspeth Railroad • Long Island City and Newtown Railway • Long Island Electric Railway • Manhattan and Queens Traction Company • Manhattan Bridge Three Cent Line • Marine Railway • Maspeth Avenue and Toll Bridge Company • Maspeth Railroad and Bridge Company • Metropolitan Crosstown Railway • Metropolitan Street Railroad • Metropolitan Street Railway • Nassau Electric Railroad • Newtown Railway • New York City Department of Plant and Structures • New Williamsburgh and Flatbush Railroad • New York and Harlem Railroad Company • New York and North Shore Traction Company • New York and Queens County Railway Company • New York and Queens Transit Corporation • New York City Railway Company • New York Railways Company • Ninth Avenue Railroad Company • Park Avenue Railroad • Port Richmond & Prohibition Park Electric Railroad • Queensboro Bridge Railway Company • Richmond County Railroad • Richmond Light & Railroad Company • Richmond Railways • Rikers Avenue and Sanford Point Railroad • Second Avenue Railroad • Sixth Avenue Railroad Company • South Brooklyn Street Railroad • South Ferry Railroad Company • Staten Island Electric Railroad • Staten Island Midland Railroad • Staten Island Midland Railway • Staten Island Traction Company • Steinway and Hunters Point Railroad • Steinway Railway Corporation • Third Avenue Railroad • Third Avenue Railway • Third Avenue Transit Corporation • Thirty-fourth Street Crosstown Railway • Twenty-eighth and Twenty-ninth Streets Crosstown Railroad • Twenty-Third Street Railroad Company • Union Railroad (Brooklyn) • Union Railway Company of New York City • Van Brunt Street and Erie Basin Rail Road

Bus systems Affiliated Bus Transit Corporation • Argus Line Transportation Corporation • Avenue B & East Broadway Transit Company • B&L Transportation • Bilow Bus Line • Brooklyn Bus Corporation • Command Bus Company • Comprehensive Omnibus Corporation • Concourse Bus Lines • Courier Bus Company • Eastern Parkway, Brownsville and East New York Transit Relief Association • East Side Omnibus Corporation • Fifth Avenue Coach Company • Fifth Avenue Coach Lines, Incorporated • Flushing Heights Bus Company • General Omnibus Corporation • Greater Cities Bus Lines • Green Bus Lines • Hamilton Bus Company • Independent Buses • Isle Transportation Co. • Jamaica Bus Line • Jamaica Buses • Kings Coach Company • Liberty Bus Transportation • Liberty Lines Express • Long Island Coach Company • Madison Avenue Coach Company, Incorporated • Manhattan & Queens Bus Corporation • Midland Coach Corporation‎ • Municipal Motorbus Company • National City Bus Lines • New York Bus Service • New York City Department of Plant and Structures • New York City Omnibus Corporation • North Shore Bus Company • Pioneer Bus Company • Plum Beach Auto Stage • Queens Auto Traction • Queens Bus Corporation • Queens Bus Lines • Queens-Nassau Transit Lines • Queens Surface Corporation • Queens Transit Corporation • Rauchwerger Bus Company • Richmond Hill Bus Line • Ruoff Brothers • S&C Buses • S&F Transportation • Staten Island Coach Company • Steinway Omnibus Corporation • Steinway Transit Corporation • Surface Transit, Incorporated • Surface Transportation Corporation of New York • Tompkins Bus Company • Triangle Bus Company • Triboro Coach Corporation • Woodside-Astoria Transportation Company • Z&M Coach Company
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