Re: Tracing the New York & Manhattan Beach

g-u-rr Wrote:
=======================================================
> I've got a basic question about the Mason
> Bogie-types that were run on the NY&MB. Was this
> design capable/practical for operation on a
> straight-line railroad without facilities for
> turning? Obviously would have to be a run-around
> and back-up operation one-way...

That's a good question. I've alway assumed the Mason bogies were as capable of tender first operation as Forneys, but I don't know.

The NY&MB had a turntable at Greenpoint of course and possibly one at Bay Ridge as well, but I can find no evidence of one at Manhattan Beach in the narrow gauge era. (The LIRR did have a turntable at Manhattan Beach after the line was standard gauged, but their terminal was in a slightly different location north of Oriental Boulevard, whereas the original NY&MB terminal was south of Oriental.)

So was there a short wye at Manhattan Beach, or did the engines just go in reverse on the return trip? (I've seen no photographs that show tender first operation, but that doesn't mean it didn't happen. It could have just been considered unphotogenic.)

The one source that would likely resolve this question is an article on the operations of the NY&MB that was published in the Railroad Gazette in 1877(?), written by none other than Matthias Forney himself. I've seen references to it (in Hilton for example) but have not yet located the original publication.

-Philip Marshall