Walking the high line...
Trees & Flowers in the center of a track.
 Revs-Cost roller tagging
on a warehouse along the ROW. This one had a narrow platform for offloading
freight.
Circumventing one of 2 walls along the tracks. |
Our posse is 5 deep as we climb the steep
incline, finally achieving level with a location that pollinates the
air with New York's industrial history, current political landscape,
and enduring urban culture.
We are on the abandoned west side freight line, allowing our senses
to consume the beauty that the location presents. Below your feet
is a bed of ballast rock, rotting wooden rail ties, and rusting iron
- all of which is slightly hidden by floral growth. Some of the plants
simply are weeds, while others are strange flowers one might not normally
encounter in an urban/industrial neighborhood. It is an interesting
juxtaposition indeed, as these freight tracks were once regarded as
"the lifeline of the city", where much of the food, milk, and freight
into or out of town was transported to and from. Even in abandonment
and death, however, the line provides a source of life.
To either side of this elevated structure are a canyon of warehouses.
Some have been converted to apartments, and the residents of at least
one seem to have taken to watering the flowers and allowing their
pets to run freely along the ROW.
Beyond these, an amazing view of the skyscrapers that cluster Manhattan
island can be obtained. With all of this natural beauty and strategic
location, is it any wonder why some neighborhood residents would like
to see this abandoned, elevated line converted into a liner park?
Unfortunately though, This is a private, elevated stretch, which has
seen little if any maintenance performed on it since the mid 70s or
early 80's. These tracks were abandoned by Conrail around 1980, as
they claimed there was not enough revenue generated from warehouses
that shipped freight via the railroad to justify continued operation.
I believe Fed Ex or UPS later requested service along the line, but
by then the high line's rail connection to the outside world, a rail
yard located near the Javits Center, was severed to make way for a
parking lot and LIRR Yard.
The high line's current owner is CSX corporation, which gained control
of it when it acquired half of conrail in 1999 in a messy merger deal.
Spokespersons for CSX have previously stated that they remain open
to any and all reuse options decided upon for the structure, though
they would naturally not like to spend the millions of dollars it
might take to demolish the structure.
Unfortunately though, throughout much of the 1990's NYC mayor Guliani
was very much opposed to seeing the line preserved. It was his position
that the city did not have the money to refurbish the structure, or
the resources to police and maintain it. He went so far as to make
an 11th hour attempt during his last days on the job to give the property
over to neighboring landlords. Luckily the Friends of the High Line
succeeded in having this thrown out in court, and the current mayor,
Michael Bloomberg is a bit more sympathic towards seeing the property
reused rather than destroyed.
This would have been a sad end for a structure which had served the
city for well over 65 years. The elevated tracks were constructed
here in the 1930's as a means of separating the tracks from the congested
streets below. At that time, horse-drawn carriage, pedestrian, and
early automotive transport were often backed up as long trains made
their way down the middle of the avenues. The removal of these trains
in the 1930's spelt an end for 'the west side cowboys' - kids on horseback
who would walk alongside the trains to ensure safety.
Today, the only cowboys you'll find along this line are the bold few
who dare access it, avoiding authorities not with a blaze of gunfire,
but with speed and stealth to obtain an uncommon view of the city.
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