The Pelham Park and City Island Railway was a short
street railway in
the Bronx
The Bronx () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Bronx County, in the state of New York. It is south of Westchester County; north and east of the New York City borough of Manhattan, across the Harlem River; and north of the New Y ...
,
New York City
New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...
, which connected
City Island with the
Bartow station of the
Harlem River and Port Chester Railroad
The Harlem River and Port Chester Railroad (HR&PC) was chartered in 1866 as a branch line railroad between New York City and Port Chester, New York. The line opened in 1873 as part of the New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad and served in va ...
on the mainland. The line existed from 1884 to 1919, most of that time as a horse-drawn system. The mainland portion was converted to an electrically-driven
monorail
A monorail (from "mono", meaning "one", and " rail") is a railway in which the track consists of a single rail or a beam.
Colloquially, the term "monorail" is often used to describe any form of elevated rail or people mover. More accurat ...
in 1910, unique in the country at the time, nicknamed ''The Flying Lady.'' Prior to the railway, a stagecoach operated between City Island and
Mount Vernon
Mount Vernon is an American landmark and former plantation of Founding Father, commander of the Continental Army in the Revolutionary War, and the first president of the United States George Washington and his wife, Martha. The estate is on ...
.
The railroad experienced two serious accidents, one during the horse-drawn era, and the second on the inaugural day of monorail service. The line was never a commercial success and eventually ceased operation when the company went bankrupt.
Stagecoach era
Prior to the building of Bartow Station, a stagecoach service operated by Robert Vickery ran between Mount Vernon and City Island. This ran until 1887. Another stagecoach service was operated by two brothers who ran a grocery store on the island; the stagecoach was used to make deliveries to local residents.
Horse drawn railway
The line was incorporated as two companies on August 30, 1884; the Pelham Park Railroad Company and the City Island Railroad. The two would connect end to end at Marshall's Corner on
Rodman's Neck
Rodman's Neck (formerly Ann Hook's Neck) refers to a peninsula of land in the New York City borough of the Bronx that juts out into Long Island Sound. The southern third of the peninsula is used as a firing range by the New York City Police Depar ...
, just short of the bridge to City Island. At the time the territory to be traversed lay entirely within the
Town of Pelham in
Westchester County
Westchester County is located in the U.S. state of New York. It is the seventh most populous county in the State of New York and the most populous north of New York City. According to the 2020 United States Census, the county had a population ...
. The Pelham Park Railroad Company was designated as the operator of the
narrow gauge
A narrow-gauge railway (narrow-gauge railroad in the US) is a railway with a track gauge narrower than standard . Most narrow-gauge railways are between and .
Since narrow-gauge railways are usually built with tighter curves, smaller structu ...
system. The line opened from the
Cass Gilbert
Cass Gilbert (November 24, 1859 – May 17, 1934) was an American architect. An early proponent of skyscrapers, his works include the Woolworth Building, the United States Supreme Court building, the state capitols of Minnesota, Arkansas and ...
-designed
Bartow station to Marshall's Corner on May 20, 1887. Five days later operations were extended across the bridge to City Island and along City Island Avenue to Brown's Hotel. By 1892 the line had reached Belden's Point, its final terminal. The length of the combined system was .
On April 8, 1889, an accident occurred. Several hundred passengers had taken the Harlem River Branch Railroad to Bartow station, where they transferred to horse-drawn cars for the trip to City Island; six passenger cars were augmented by two horse-drawn flatbed freight cars, on which 50-60 of the passengers were conveyed, many of them standing. The lead car overturned on a sharp curve approaching the City Island Bridge, resulting in many injuries, some of them severe. There were reports that the driver was intoxicated; officials of the railroad denied that, but stated that he might have been guilty of reckless driving.
In 1895, New York City annexed what is now the
East Bronx
The East Bronx is the part of the New York City borough of the Bronx which lies east of the Bronx River; this roughly corresponds to the eastern half of the borough. Neighborhoods include: Baychester, Castle Hill, City Island, Co-op City, ...
, including the area through which the horsecars ran. The same year, City Island resident Richard S. Williams filed a complaint with the Board of State Railroad Commissioners that the two companies were unlawfully double-charging passengers. Mr. Williams contends that as the two companies were "practically one railroad line", they should be charging a single 5-cent fare, instead of the 5 cents being individually charged by each.
In 1897, the Pelham Park Railroad Company applied for a franchise to operate a railroad line through
Pelham Bay Park
Pelham Bay Park is a municipal park located in the northeast corner of the New York City borough of the Bronx. It is, at , the largest public park in New York City. The park is more than three times the size of Manhattan's Central Park. The pa ...
, along Shore Road, and across the Pelham Bridge. The line would connect
New Rochelle
New Rochelle (; older french: La Nouvelle-Rochelle) is a city in Westchester County, New York, United States, in the southeastern portion of the state. In 2020, the city had a population of 79,726, making it the seventh-largest in the state o ...
in
Westchester County, New York
Westchester County is located in the U.S. state of New York. It is the seventh most populous county in the State of New York and the most populous north of New York City. According to the 2020 United States Census, the county had a population ...
, to the Bronx's existing trolley network, which included lines to
Harlem
Harlem is a neighborhood in Upper Manhattan, New York City. It is bounded roughly by the Hudson River on the west; the Harlem River and 155th Street on the north; Fifth Avenue on the east; and Central Park North on the south. The greater Ha ...
in
Manhattan
Manhattan (), known regionally as the City, is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the five boroughs of New York City. The borough is also coextensive with New York County, one of the original counties of the U.S. state ...
. Residents of the surrounding area opposed the franchise because a new rail line on that route would require tearing up Shore Road's pavement. On November 30, 1897, the
New York City Board of Aldermen
The New York City Board of Aldermen was a body that was the upper house of New York City's Common Council from 1824 to 1875, the lower house of its Municipal Assembly upon consolidation in 1898 until the charter was amended in 1901 to abolish ...
voted to grant a 25-year franchise on a vote of 25 to 3. The granting of the franchise did not necessarily entitle the railroad to operate the line later.
New York City's mayor at the time,
William L. Strong, indicated he would veto the franchise. On December 8, the
New York Supreme Court placed an injunction to prevent the franchise from being sold to the Pelham Bay Railroad.
On March 14, 1902 (two years before it began operating
the first line of the
New York City Subway), the
Interborough Rapid Transit Company
The Interborough Rapid Transit Company (IRT) was the private operator of New York City's original underground subway line that opened in 1904, as well as earlier elevated railways and additional rapid transit lines in New York City. The IRT ...
(IRT) took control of the two companies.
August Belmont Jr., the IRT's operator, had paid $32,000 for the City Island Railroad, which the IRT then acquired for $4.5 million.
The City Island Railroad was to be expanded to the planned New York and Port Chester Railroad, as well as the then-under-construction IRT subway line. As such, the Crawford Real Estate and Building Company sold some land in 1902 for an expansion of the City Island Railroad.
A mortgage was recorded in December 1902 for $27,750 () for a 1-year term.
Monorail
An experimental operation of a
monorail
A monorail (from "mono", meaning "one", and " rail") is a railway in which the track consists of a single rail or a beam.
Colloquially, the term "monorail" is often used to describe any form of elevated rail or people mover. More accurat ...
by Howard Hansel Tunis at Virginia's
Jamestown Exposition
The Jamestown Exposition was one of the many world's fairs and expositions that were popular in the United States in the early part of the 20th century. Commemorating the 300th anniversary of the founding of Jamestown in the Virginia Colony, it w ...
of 1907 impressed the management of the Pelham Park Railroad, which sought permission for its own construction with support from his Monoroad Construction Company.
The proposed cars were long by wide, with pointed ends. The plans called for a car which was supported by 4 double-flanged wheels riding on a single rail, with two 4-wheeled trucks on top of the car engaging with an overhead guide rail.
John H. Starin predicted that the cars would be capable of . The trip from Bartow Station to City Island would take 3 to 5 minutes, compared to the 40 minute trip by the horse-drawn car.
City Island residents had complained about the horse-drawn service, and one newspaper reported that "the cars were off the rails almost as much as they were on them". In October 1908, application was made to the New York State Public Service Commission to change the motive power of the railroad from horse to overhead electric current. A hearing was held on November 6 and final approval issued on November 17. The route was described as:
It was the first commercial monorail in the city, and the only in the United States at the time. After its brief run from 1910–1914, it was a half-century before the city saw another, the temporary exhibition of the
AMF Monorail at the
1964 New York World's Fair.
Operating history
![Pelham Bay Monorail Route](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/14/Pelham_Bay_Monorail_Route.png)
The monorail plans were prepared by January 1909.
The service between the Bartow station and Marshall's Corner opened for regular service in mid-July 1910 (variously reported as the 16th or 17th), although it unofficially began carrying passengers two days earlier. Service was provided by a single car, nicknamed ''The Flying Lady'', capable of reaching . Although previously proposed to be , it was later reported to be long, and variously described as yellow or orange in color.
Electric power was supplied by two overhead rails, which also served to stabilize the car.
The car toppled over on its maiden voyage while rounding a curve with 100 passengers aboard, more than twice the normal capacity of 40 people.
A number of passengers were injured, one seriously. Howard Tunis, who was operating the vehicle, received a broken rib, and his 6 year old daughter Eugenia suffered bruises.
Tunis blamed the accident on "cheaply built" roadbed, which sank several inches under the weight of the car, causing contact to be lost with the upper rails. The accident occurred on the third curve of the route; this was within sight of the line's power house, allowing an engineer to cut the electrical power as soon as the accident happened.
Operation was immediately suspended with service restored on November 14, 1910. The monorail was not a financial success and the IRT forced the companies into bankruptcy on December 4, 1911. The monorail on the line's western end and the narrow gauge horsecar line on the eastern end continued to operate until 1914.
Conversion to standard gauge
In 1913, the IRT decided to
convert
Conversion or convert may refer to:
Arts, entertainment, and media
* "Conversion" (''Doctor Who'' audio), an episode of the audio drama ''Cyberman''
* "Conversion" (''Stargate Atlantis''), an episode of the television series
* "The Conversion" ...
the line to a electric trolley system and with this in mind, merged the two companies into a new entity, the Pelham Park and City Island Railroad, which took over operation on July 1, 1913. The trackage across the bridge and on City Island was converted to
standard gauge, with leased
New York Railways
The New York Railways Company operated street railways in Manhattan, New York City, United States between 1911 and 1925. The company went into receivership in 1919 and control was passed to the New York Railways Corporation in 1925 after which a ...
horsecars taking over the service. The monorail ceased operation on April 3, 1914, with service temporarily operated by a leased bus from
Fifth Avenue Coach Lines
The New York City Omnibus Corporation (NYCO, later Fifth Avenue Coach Lines, Inc.) ran bus services in New York City between 1926 and 1962. It expanded in 1935/36 with new bus routes to replace the New York Railways Corporation streetcars when t ...
.
On July 9, 1914, the IRT sold the company to the
Third Avenue Railway
The Third Avenue Railway System (TARS), founded 1852, was a streetcar system serving the New York City boroughs of Manhattan and the Bronx along with lower Westchester County. For a brief period of time, TARS also operated the Steinway Lines i ...
. After taking control on August 1, 1914, the Third Avenue quickly completed construction of the standard gauge railway, but did not install overhead wire. The last horsecar in the Bronx completed its run on August 18, 1914. The first
storage battery
A rechargeable battery, storage battery, or secondary cell (formally a type of energy accumulator), is a type of electrical battery which can be charged, discharged into a load, and recharged many times, as opposed to a disposable or prima ...
car began operation from Bartow to the line's end on City Island at 12:30 p.m. that same day.
Termination of service
![Bartow Station March 2022](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/fe/Bartow_Station_March_2022.jpg)
In 1919, the Third Avenue Railway petitioned the
New York Public Service Commission
The New York Public Service Commission is the public utilities commission of the New York state government that regulates and oversees the electric, gas, water, and telecommunication industries in New York as part of the Department of Public Servi ...
to permit abandonment, on the grounds of insufficient funds to continue operation; the PSC granted the permission. Operation ceased on August 9, 1919. On August 11, New York City mayor
John Francis Hylan
John Francis Hylan (April 20, 1868January 12, 1936) was the 96th Mayor of New York City (the seventh since the consolidation of the five boroughs), from 1918 to 1925. From rural beginnings in the Catskills, Hylan eventually obtained work in Broo ...
also wrote to the commission, noting that the railway had been losing almost $18,000 () per year and that he was opposed to continuing to run the railroad as a municipally owned service. Hylan suggested that the equipment be sold to "people who deal in second-hand railroad scrap, who are commonly called junk dealers".
, Bartow Station is abandoned, and in extremely poor condition. The roof is partially missing, the building is overgrown with trees which have damaged the structure, and the walls are covered in
graffiti
Graffiti (plural; singular ''graffiti'' or ''graffito'', the latter rarely used except in archeology) is art that is written, painted or drawn on a wall or other surface, usually without permission and within public view. Graffiti ranges from s ...
.
See also
*
Boynton Bicycle Railroad
*
1881 map of the area
*
1893 map of the area
References
External links
*
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Pelham Park City Island Railway
3 ft 6 in gauge railways in the United States
Defunct monorails
Defunct New York (state) railroads
History of the Bronx
Monorails in the United States
Third Avenue Railway
Predecessors and affiliates of the Interborough Rapid Transit Company
Passenger rail transport in New York City
Railway lines closed in 1919
Streetcar lines in the Bronx
City Island, Bronx