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INDUSTRIAL & OFFLINE TERMINAL RAILROADS
OF BROOKLYN, QUEENS, STATEN ISLAND, BRONX & MANHATTAN:

WEST 23RD STREET STORES & FREIGHT YARD
Manhattan

(BALTIMORE & OHIO RAILROAD)

Twenty Sixth Freight Stores Warehouse

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Visitors please take note ! The collection of images on this website, which continues to grow; is due to the unprecedented and selfless contributions of the current owners of photo archives. These people made their generous contributions to this website in good will, and allowed me to post their images online for the entire railroading community to view and appreciate, in admiration of these Fallen Flag Railroads. In return, I strongly request that you please respect the ownership copyrights of those said images. Other than that, please enjoy the history, thanks for taking the time to visit, and don't forget to sign the guestbook on the main page!  ~ Phil

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   This is a facility with very elusive information.

   Very little is known about it, other than a photograph (the only one known image is seen below). Also, it cannot be determined which direction the photographer is facing in that image. It is believed that the photographer is facing east, for if the photographer was facing west, we would be looking at the ferry terminal on the shore of the Hudson River and not an eight story brick warehouse type structure.

   This photo came to my attention on 24 June 2009; and is an image of the "B & O R R Co. Twenty Third Street Stores", which is seen below. The negative for this image resides in the Smithsonian Institution.

   This photo can also be seen on page 113 of "The American Railroad Freight Car", by John H. White, (published by John Hopkins Press in 1993).

   In the following photo, a small freight yard can be seen with many boxcars marked for "Balto. & Ohio" and "B & O S - W" (Baltimore & Ohio Southwestern). One boxcar (#1789) is marked "BR&P" (Buffalo, Rochester & Pittsburgh).

   Upon examination of the photo, there appears to be a peaked roof freight station to the left of the yard. The lettering on the tall brick structure in the background is clearly legible: "B. & O. R.R. Co. Twenty Third Street Stores" and is the inspiration for this page to have been created.

   Now, I had just the day before (23 June) created a webpage on the Erie Railroad's West 23rd Street Freight Station, of which can be viewed on another part of this website. I had solicited Tom Flagg for information on the Erie location and he forwarded a copy of the image seen below.

   I immediately said "whoa!" as the building and cars are marked Baltimore & Ohio, and not for Erie. I spent many hours pouring over property maps in the digital archives and the Fairchild Aerial Survey Photo of the New York Public Library for evidence of the Baltimore & Ohio's presence at West 23rd Street, but to no success.

   I then enlisted the assistance of Ed Bommer, (a noted Baltimore & Ohio Railroad historian) in helping identify this property. His first contribution via email, (edited for pertinent data) is as follows:

   "That photo indeed was likely taken in New York City. B&O owned Pier 63 at the foot of 23rd Street in Manhattan as a freight terminal and for stores (warehousing).

   Finding B&OSW box cars in New York City back then would not be unusual. There is also a BR&P (Buffalo, Rochester & Pittsburgh) box car in that photo

   I checked over B&O "Form 6" listings for Philadelphia, Baltimore, Cincinnati, Chicago and East St. Louis. None list any of the stores buildings by street numbers - only names. Where street numbers do appear, they are not near the upper teens or low 20's.

   As late as the 1950's, B&O held Piers 20-23, 45, 52, 63 and 65-66 on the North (Hudson) River. Until the 1930's, they also held Manhattan Pier 21 just south of the Brooklyn Bridge on the East River. And from 1890-1905, B&O also held the Whitehall Street Terminal at South Ferry with service to Brooklyn, Staten Island and Jersey City.

   As for the box car labeled "Air Brake," it's likely standing on 11th Avenue. This could account for its odd juxtaposition relative to other freight cars on the team tracks in the photo. It could be that this facility had a carfloat link, as the B&O West 26th Street Yard may not have been completed until later in the 1890's. B&O provided a specially rebuilt steam loco for the West 26th Street Yard in 1898. Or, a carfloat bridge may have been already in place at West 26th, with feeder track running along 12th Avenue to West 23rd Street where 12th Avenue joins 11th Avenue. The team track layout at West 23rd looks similar to what was installed at West 26th.

Well, it's my best shot at this. I hope it may be helpful!"

unknown date - unknown photographer
Smithsonian Institution

   Now, while Ed's information seems straight forward, there are many dilemmas created by this Smithsonian photo appearing in John White's book (hereinafter called the White / Smithsonian photo).

   No property maps or Sanborn Fire Maps located thus far, show a Baltimore & Ohio Railroad yard or structure located on West 23rd Street. We do know there was an Erie Railroad yard and freight station located between West 22nd and West 23rd Street and Twelfth and Eleventh Avenues, but this Baltimore & Ohio facility clearly is not that located upon that property.

   The Erie Railroad "Pavonia Avenue" Ferry Terminal was located at the foot of West 23rd Street. The float bridge that the Erie Railroad utilized, was not installed until 1893, and that was located south of the ferry terminal closer to West 22nd Street.

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Observations:

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Dating the photo:

   The freight cars in the White / Smithsonian photo above, appear to predate that float bridge installation, as at least one of the boxcars (the one with the horse & wagon backed up to the door of the boxcar, on the right side of the image); appears to be equipped with link and pin couplers. Baltimore & Ohio boxcar #66497 (on the same track as the car being loaded / unloaded) does not show the coupler release grab handle (cut bar) on the far corner, so it is unlikely this car is equipped with Janney type couplers either.

   Use of the Janney type (knuckle) coupler was mandated by the Safety Appliance Act, enacted on March 2, 1893 and which took effect in 1900; after a 7 year grace period. The following is excerpts of that law:

Section 2

Need automatic couplers that can be uncoupled without man. On January 1, 1898, it will be unlawful for a common carrier used for interstate commerce to haul or permit to be hauled any car that is not equipped with couplers coupling automatically by impact and which can be uncoupled without a man going between the ends of the cars.

Section 3

Can’t receive cars not equipped. When any person, firm, company, or corporation engaged in interstate commerce by railroad has equipped a sufficient number of cars to be in compliance with Section 1, he/it may refuse to receive the connecting lines of road or shippers of any cars not equipped in such a manner

   So that being the case, it is believed this image predates 1893.

   Now we found ourselves asking, how were the freight cars in the photo interchanged in that yard? That raises the next problem and hypotheses:

   1)  The Baltimore & Ohio Railroad Trackage was either accessed via street trackage, either by way of New York Central Tenth Avenue line (which was street level) or other street car trackage, ie. Twenty Third Street Line (passenger street car / trolley), or:

   2)  This facility was tied into some other railroads float bridge.

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Track Openings in Face of Building

   Now, clearly seen in the face of the structure marked Baltimore & Ohio Railroad Twenty-Third Street Stores are opening large enough to permit the entrance of freight cars. Whether the the track that entered through these openings passed through the entire structure, is unknown.

   But the peaked roof structure appears to block the left two most building openings, as if the peaked roof structure was constructed after the construction of the B&O Twenty Third Street Stores. Again this is not confirmed.

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Structure Placement

   But this belief too, leads to a dilemma. That structure with the peaked roof and awning over the freight cars, would have to be on the north side of the city block with the yard track occupying the southern half of the block. As it turns out, the Erie West 23rd Street Freight yard and freight house was completely the opposite, as the Erie West 23rd Street Freight Station was located along the southern half of the block (and actually along West 22nd Street) with the tracks in the north half, this would not correspond to the arrangement in the image.

   Upon referencing the 1924 Fairchild Aerial Survey Photo, a structure with what appears to be a peaked roof (but not conclusive), can be seen in the northeast corner of the block bordered by West 23rd, West 24th Streets, Twelfth and Eleventh Avenues. However, the structure east of that property does not conform to the size or shape of the eight story warehouse marked Twenty-third Street Stores. The difference in time might be able to explain this (ca. 1890 and 1924).

   But, on the roof of the peaked structure in the photo above, a square vent (?) can be seen. This square is not evident on the roof of the structure in the Fairchild Aerial Photo.

   This peaked roof structure is better seen in the 1924 Army Air Service aerial image furnished by Tom Flagg, and seen below.

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Yard Trackage

   If the freight yard in the photo above was indeed connected by street trackage, they would have to be connected to street trackage on either Twelfth Avenue (behind the photographer if he/she is indeed facing east) or Eleventh Avenue (between the freight yard and B&O Stores) or run through the warehouse structure and connect to the New York Central's freight service line on Tenth Avenue.

   Another dilemma raised by the photo, is the appearance of the boxcar in the extreme foreground of the image. This boxcar is without a doubt at a sharp angle to the remainder of the yard.

   If this photo is indeed facing east, then the track that is carrying the boxcar must run east - west along West 23rd Street and then turn sharply north. Ed feels it is on Eleventh Avenue, while I feel Eleventh Avenue is in front of the B & O Twenty Third Street Stores building. This makes no operational sense, to put a perpendicular track in the middle of a yard (and thereby dissecting the yard trackage). Even  more confusing , is a track in this orientation could not hold more than one or two cars with in the yard at the most, based on the width of the yard, if that track were a stub track.

   As you can see, there are many, many questions are raised, regarding the location of this photo the orientation of the yard..

   During the evening of 24 June, Tom Flagg and I confer on this matter and share our information and hypothesises, with no definitive results, but Tom sends me a oblique aerial of the area taken 1924, by the Army Air Service.

   This photo yields indirect information which contains some notes I added. I am showing it with the 1885 E. Robinson property map for comparison:

   The next day (25 June), Ed Bommer and I conferred via a lengthy telephone call, where we discuss this further. This in turn leads me to create the following hypothetical property track map based on our observations. We noticed that a trolley car barn was located on the block where we think the freight yard was located.

   More promising was the fact that loops in the trackage ran perpendicular to the yard trackage seen in the White / Smithsonian Photo. Even more promising was that streetcars could be seen on east west oriented trackage in the 1924 Aerial! Also interesting ly enough, there are three tracks entering the car barn on Twelfth Avenue. It just so happens there are three  yard tracks in the White / Smithsonian photo. Whether this is a coincidence or not, we do not know. But at the least, we have confirmed trackage on that block.

   The map below the "hypothetical property map" is a 1909 G. W. Bromley Property Map, which shows the open storage yard for the street cars, which we believed to be the former B&O yard as the basis from which the hypothetical map was modified..It combines various elements from both the 1885 Robinson, 1912 Bromley and 1924 Aerial photos.

Findings

   There are definitely cases for and against the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad presence at West 23rd Street.

   I originally thought the curves on street trackage would be too sharp to permit the passage of freight cars; but as Joe Roborecky pointed out, Bush Terminal in Brooklyn ran regular freight service on trolley car / street trackage. Tom Flagg however, points out that Bush Terminal street trackage was designed with freight hauling in mind, and I realized as Bush Terminal started rail operations in 1905, the Safety Appliance Act was already in effect. This might not be a good comparison after all.

   Also, to be considered is the fact that the freight cars of this era were only 36 feet in length, and space between the cars could be increased by using extra long links (i.e. 36" instead of the standard 18"); which would allow the cars to negotiate sharp curves without "bumping" the corners of the car bodies. We also know this practice was used for that very reason on other railroads negotiating sharp curves.

   Furthermore, if the block width was 200 feet (nominal) as are the other city blocks in the area, a track looping into the center of the block from the centerine of West 23rd Street would be possible. While this curve could be conceivably as sharp at 60 to 80 foot radius, it would not be impossible to negotiate, considering that a few offline terminals  (i.e.: CRRNJ Bronx Terminal) utilized 90 foot radius curves with 40 foot boxcars right through the 1950's.

   Whether these hypotheses and the track layout in hypothetical map actually bears out in reality, remains to be seen.

   The questions that remain will either be confirmed or denied through further research.  Naturally anyone is invited to contribute, so feel free to contact me at bedt14@aol.com

   Stay tuned!

Also please note:

That in the event that it is learned that the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad Twenty Third Street Stores was not located in New York,
this page will be deleted.

23rd Street Stores: Baltimore?

   Around the end of June, I was looking at aerial photos of various cities that the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad had major facilities located in, and that also had a thoroughfare named 23rd Street. I chose Baltimore to start with, and began to search historicaerial.com. Almost immediately took note of a location that MIGHT have been a freight location.

   There are two factors in the 1957 aerial photo above which could possibly be the location of 23rd Street Stores:

1) While the remnants of tracks can be seen in the alley next to the stone building in a modern aerial photo (not shown) and possibly as the remains of those track could be the interior tracks in the B&O 23rd Stores if those tracks existed, and;

2) A structure resembling a peaked roof freight house "across a street" from the possible location of the warehouse.

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23rd Street Stores: Philadelphia?

Lapse forward to July 3, when Roger Hinman contacted me via email with the following info & 1895 map of Philadephia:

   Above link shows a Reading freight yard at 23rd St in Philadelphia off the B&O; although listed as a foundry it appears to match the trackwork in the photo on your website. The same website has older maps of New York and no trackwork appears in the 23rd St location to match the photo.

Roger Hinman

   Just above the Reading Yard, is a B&O Yard with a freight depot, west of St. David Street between Race and Vine Streets. If in fact the property upon which the grain warehouse in the map was reconstructed to a warehouse, this location is a potential candidate.

   Also, judging from the height at which the Smithsonian / White photo was taken, it appears that the photographer was standing on top of a freight car and not on the ground. As the main lines running along the river run in the approximate direction as seen as the boxcar in the Smithsonian / White photo, the boxcar in the photo would be located on the rightmost track, with the photographer "shooting" over it while standing on a boxcar on the second from right track.

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