Central Headlight - 3Q 2010

The latest issue of the Central Headlight is in the mail and on its way to current NYCSHS members!

We know that the New York Central System was a huge railroad operation, but just how large compared to the other major carriers? Former New York Central marketing manager and NYCSHS Sustaining Member Carl Liba tells us the results of his extensive research. You'll also read about a 1946 fan trip over the Tonawanda Branch (the "Peanut" line), a fast 80-mph cab ride in an aging J-1 Hudson, an interesting meeting between an F-7 and a truckload of applesauce, and a followup to a report in the 2Q 2008 edition regarding a 1954 collision of an L-3a Mohawk. This, and other great stories, information and photographs await the reader in the next Central Headlight!

NYCSHS members get the current issue mailed to them each quarter! Not a member? Join today! Not sure if you want to become a member? Members and non-members can purchase back issues of the Central Headlight here.

Photos from Dearborn 2010

These photos from our successful Annual Meeting in Dearborn, Michigan come to us from NYCSHS Director and former President Thomas Gerbracht. A great time was had by all, thanks to Convention Director Richard Croy and all of his "behind the scenes" assistants. See you in Albany in 2011!

Forlorn Michigan Central Station in Detroit, abandoned since Amtrak vacated in 1988.

Convention Director Richard Croy put on a fine show...

NYCSHS President Darwin Simonaitis addressing the convention attendees.

Ralph Schiring, keynote speaker Jim McClellan, and NYCSHS Director and former President Tom Gerbracht at the Annual Meeting banquet

At the Annual Meeting banquet

NYCSHS Vice President Bill Strassner, with Directors Howard Fine and Charles Beargie

NYCSHS member Mike Hill with his "Mercury" poster and passenger car plaque

C&O "Allegheny" 1601 ensconced in the Henry Ford Museum.

NYCSHS member Mike Hill with fellow member Jeremy Taylor in the cab of C&O 1601.

Right alongside the C&O Allegheny is the DeWitt Clinton, one of the earliest passenger trains operated in the 1830s by New York Central ancestor Mohawk & Hudson Railroad.

A side-by-side comparison of the DeWitt Clinton to the Allegheny.

Central Headlight editor Rich Stoving

NYCSHS President Darwin Simonaitis

NYCSHS Director Paul Carver

NYCSHS Treasurer Sheldon Lustig

Central Headlight - 2Q 2010

The latest issue of the Central Headlight is in the mail and on its way to current NYCSHS members!

The cover photo was taken at the Root Street Commissary, in Chicago, in 1951. An appropriate image, since the lead story is on NYC postwar dining service, authored by Geoff Dought. Secondary article is a piece by Tom Gerbracht on how he and others helped preserve U-25B NYC 2500, now on display at the Lake Shore Railway Historical Society in North East, Pennsylvania. The second part of Fred Furminger's article on Maurice Lewman rounds out the feature material.This, and other great stories, information and photographs await the reader in the next Central Headlight!

NYCSHS members get the current issue mailed to them each quarter! Not a member? Join today! Not sure if you want to become a member? Members and non-members can purchase back issues of the Central Headlight here.

Michigan Central Station - Seeking a Future for a Symbol of a Grander Past

By SUSAN SAULNY, New York Times
Published: March 5, 2010

DETROIT -- The last train pulled away more than 20 years ago from Michigan Central Station, one of thousands of "see-through" buildings here, empty shells from more auspicious times. Many of the blighted buildings stay up simply because they are too expensive to tear down. Yet Michigan Central is in a class of its own. Some city officials consider it among the ugliest behemoths to pockmark Detroit and have ordered its demolition, but others see it as the industrial age's most gracious relic, a Beaux Arts gem turned gothic from neglect but steeped in haunting beauty.

Now Detroit has become embroiled in an urgent debate over how to save what is perhaps its most iconic ruin -- and in the process, some insist, give the demoralized city a much needed boost. "People compare it to Roman ruins," said Karen Nagher, the executive director of Preservation Wayne, an organization that seeks to protect architecture and neighborhoods around Detroit. "Some people just want it left alone. But I'd love to see that building with windows in and lights on again."

Read the rest of the article here.