Traffic jam vs train

[Trainman203]

https://mirc.sc.edu/islandora/object/usc%3A33691

This clip offers as much interest for antique vehicle fans as the railfan.  The setting is industrial street trackage switching on the New York Central in an unidentified city. I thought at first lower West Side in the city itself but maybe not, the partial appearance in the beginning of a large road engine, probably a mikado, makes me wonder.  Maybe someone can confirm the city with assurance.  Street trackage like this clip features has largely disappeared today.  Notice the single track crossing the ones our switchers are negotiating. The curve to the left is of a sharp radius worthy of a model railroad.  I thought at first it was streetcar track but more likely it serves an out of view rail customer.

It's in original sound, very new to motion picture film at the time.  You later get to hear the NYC cast iron 5 chime whistles, very coarse sounding compared to the mellow brass three chimes on the PRR K4's.

Next up railroad wise is an early box cab diesel, the kind that were so underpowered all the steam guys laughed at them saying they'd never amount to anything.  The wood boxcars being shoved backwards are seen extremely close up as never seen before in excruciatingly clear detail. 

Then comes the best one, to me.  The coarse 5 chime whistle sounds, the police officer stops the relentless traffic, and an 0-6-0 pulls into view with a completely crazed engineer engaging in wild antics for the camera.  It almost looks like the same boxcars just shoved in
by the box-cab are being pulled out by the steam switcher.  The cars are seen again in extraordinarily clear detail.  Surprisingly, each of those three boxcars is currently available in HO kit from Accurail. 

After a break in the film, the 0-6-0 backs out of the scene with the engineer now calmed down and attending to the business at hand.

The thought I come away from this film is how completely motorized vehicles even in 1929 have taken over commerce, and the end is beginning for railroad dominance.

[Terry Toenges]

Lower West Side in Manhattan is pretty flat. If you check the way buildings are in relation to the street (on the upper right in the video), there a pretty good grade there.
Having said that, there is a Weber McLoughlin Co. truck that passes in the first part of the video.
There was a Weber McLoughlin Co. in NY in Harlem and Harlem isn't all flat.
https://books.google.com/books?id=WXBJAQAAMAAJ&pg=PA499&lpg=PA499&dq=%22weber-mcloughlin+co%22&source=bl&ots=BsH8AnaWhL&sig=ACfU3U1UYiKBXzXxShf3HwcHAmLBg_aSIQ&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjDjsvsvrTqAhWLWM0KHX5pB3UQ6AEwAnoECAUQAQ#v=onepage&q=%22weber-mcloughlin%20co%22&f=false

[Terry Toenges]

Here you can see the flatness of Lower Manhattan.
http://www.trainweb.org/bedt/indloco/misc.html#Historical

[Trainman203]

The thing that makes me think somewhere else besides NYC is all those steam engines when steam had been banned from the city sometimes before 1910.  Plus, that big road engine, which I'm starting to think looks more like a Pacific.  Those engines would have never come onto a Manhattan in those years.  I'm wondering if it's Albany or Rochester .

[Terry Toenges]

Maybe up in the Bronx. Weber McLoughlin Co. was a coal company. I don't know if they were that far North in Albany or Rochester.
At 1:01, there is a Franco American Bread truck. I found references to Franco America Bread Co. in both NY and California.
At 3:10, there is a Norton-Keating truck. Page 4 - New York Engineering records lists Norton-Keating Co. under Department of Docks.
http://cityrecord.engineering.nyu.edu/data/1925/1925-12-29.pdf

[Trainman203]

You did good research Terry , I'll go along with it.  I also realized that the steam engine ban was Manhattan only, I believe, someone correct me if needed.  So this scene could be in one of the other boroughs.

[Terry Toenges]

I was wishing I could make out the lettering on some of those other trucks that passed.

[Terry Toenges]

I lived in NY for about four years in the early 70's. I lived in Yonkers but worked in Manhattan. When I worked at Korvette's in Herald Square, I used to take the West Side Highway home and when I worked at the UN, I took the East Side Highway home and when I partied, I partied all over Manhattan so I'm pretty familiar with the whole place. At least I was back then. I'm thankful to Google for augmenting my fading memory.

[Quentin]

Terry,
random question, but what did you do at the UN?

[Terry Toenges]

Security. The UN has it's own police force. Since the UN grounds is considered International Territory, NYPD isn't allowed in there unless it's a hot pursuit. Otherwise, they have to get permission to enter the premises. Before that, I was a store detective at E.J. Korvette's on Broadway and 34th Street (Also known as Herald Square. I had to give my regards to Broadway to get the job. ). The "Miracle on 34th Street" was right across the street at Macy's.

[Trainman203]

This fixes the location as Brooklyn or Queens:

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kaufman_Act

[Terry Toenges]

This would seem to differ with that. This is toward the bottom of that article. The video was from November 2, 1928.
"On December 31, 1925 eight railroads led by the NYCRR secured a temporary injunction against penalties for non-compliance with the Act."
"On July 1, 1926, when the lawsuit was still in progress, Mayor James Walker convened a conference of city and railroad executives.[2]:83 It resulted in a general agreement to remove surface tracks from West Side altogether.[2]:82 The Engineering Committee appointed at this conference presented their detailed plan in May 1927[2]:82 and secured the approval of the State Assembly in 1928.[2]:83 In July 1929 the NYCRR finally agreed to cease steam traffic north of 72nd Street in two years time, and remove all tracks south of 60th Street, in five years.[2]:83 The 30th Street freight yards were allowed to stay.[2]:83 The project resulted in a new 13-mile-long (21 km) elevated structure, the $150 million High Line, which opened in 1934, was electrified with a third rail power supply, and was separated from street traffic.[5]:37 The elevated line passed directly through the warehouses, some of which contained sidings hidden from public view.[5]:37 The sidings were not electrified and were served by new tri-power switchers built by General Electric and ALCO. They could run on diesel, third rail, or battery power.[5]:37[34] The long-distance trains of the West Side Line were moved into a below-grade trench and tunnel west of 10th Avenue."

[Trainman203]

Good catch Terry

[Trainman203]

Anyone ever been able to fix the exact location?

[Terry Toenges]

I was just checking out Google Earth. The whole area around there is flatter than I remembered it being. Manhattan up into the Bronx and over to Queens. There are some slight hills in places. I've been looking up and down some of the main streets trying to find buildings that look like those. They could have been torn down and replaced with high rises by now.