"FH" and "BN" Towers

The above towers defined the limits of a major line change on the Hudson Division at the turn of the Century, incidental to the creation of Harlem River Ship Channel. This caused the Main Line to be relocated from Kingsbridge to a direct route through Marble Hill, with a significant reduction in curvature and length of Line.

Can anyone advise how these towers came to be designated as "FH" and "BN"??

Hi
The FH abd BN are office call tower telephone numbers in a sense , same as a regular telephone number . I did find that BN was at Boston Corners at milepost 99,72 on the Harlem division .

Pat Fahey wrote:Hi
The FH abd BN are office call tower telephone numbers in a sense , same as a regular telephone number . I did find that BN was at Boston Corners at milepost 99,72 on the Harlem division .

I thought BN was where the old Putnam Division left the Harlem Division, just south of Stella D'Oro in the Bronx.

Pat Fahey wrote:Hi
The FH abd BN are office call tower telephone numbers in a sense , same as a regular telephone number . I did find that BN was at Boston Corners at milepost 99,72 on the Harlem division .

There's more than one BN on the whole New York Central system...

From what I understand, "FH" stood for "Fish House."

Not sure what "BN" at Marble Hill stood for, though sometimes they used arbitrary combinations of letters when no other solution was available.

There's a nice color picture of BN Tower on page 17 of my book, "Forgotten Railroads Through Westchester County."

-otto-

Thanks, Otto!

"Fish House" was the answer I never would have expected.

The quest for "BN" continues... (and yes, that is a fine image in your book)!!

Paul.

I dug out an Electric Division timetable from 1933, two Putnam Division timetables from 1912 and 1924 and could not find anyting in any of these timetables that would help answer this one.
Noel Weaver

Thanks, Noel!

Eventually, I suspect, the answer to "BN" will be discovered - sitting right "there" in front of us all...

Paul.

When I qualified from Selkirk to Oak Point for Conrail back in '97, several different crews told me BN stood for "Bronx North". I never saw anything in print, but given their extensive years of service on the railroad, I took their word as gospel. No idea if it's true, but it helped me get thru the Metro North PC tests.

I have just discovered a post, in this forum, from 2008 relating to the Bronx Automobile Warehouse (located in FH Yard) that refers to "Frog Hollow".

Interesting, eh?

Paul.

I talked with a retired railroader who was and still is very familiar with this area. He told me he thought but could not gurantee that FH stood for either Foggy Hollow or Freight House. His theory on this was that when the line was relocated it was in a hollow that acquired a lot of fog at times. For Freight House he said the Central built a big freight house in the Kingsbridge Yard and that was also a possibility. He got this from old timers of many years ago in his early Penn Central days. As for BN he said it stood for Borden which had milk processing plants in that area. Milk was brought to New York by train in special cars and I know this continued up until sometime maybe in the 50's when the processing and shipping changed and the railroads were no longer involved in these shipments. He said Sheffield Farms had a big processing plant in the area years ago so this too makes sense to me. I also remember Sheffield Farms which had milk receiving stations all over Upstate New York. When I was a kid I remember on in Cooperstown which had a siding off the D & H Cooperstown Branch, they received coal but the milk arrived in milk cans during the morning and left in a large tank truck in the late afternoon for New York City where further processing took place. For what it is worth, I have a lot of trust in this information and the person who provided it to me. I hope this helps.
Noel Weaver

My Great Grandfather worked for the Central as an electrician, first on the Putnam Electric Division, then later out of Kingsbridge Yard in teh Bronx. According to my Dad, who visitied him more than once (remembers riding on a Q motor in the yard), the yard was also called Frog Hollow Yard., hence the "FH" call letters for the tower there. As for "BN" I have never been able to find out the reason for those letters.

Steve Loitsch