New Haven dock at Brooklyn Bridge?

Am I reading this photograph correctly? New Haven had a pier opposite the Brooklyn Bridge? Or is this not railroad related at all?

The New Haven Line is a part of the NYNH & H's New England Navigation, later New England Steamship Lines subsidiary. My 1917 map shows NH Line using Pier 28, East River. New England's short routes and the lines of the Hartford & New York Transportation Co., another New Haven RR steamboat operator, used East River piers. Fall River and Providence Lines (NESS later NE Nav) used North River piers.

Chester W. Chapin was one of the New England's vessels that was moved around from line to line. You'll find lots of information on the NYNH & H's Sound Line operations (and those of several competitors) in When Splendor Sailed the Sound.

The New Haven Line ended in 1920 when the steamer Maine, obtained through the acquisition of the Stonington Line, stranded on Execution Rock (off New Rochelle) and was unsalvageable. The Maine was the vessel assigned to the New Haven Line at the time. It was a menace to navigation and was burned to make scrapping the metal parts easy. New England Steamship was short one vessel and the New Haven Line was a one vessel line in an era that was witnessing a gradual decline in coastal shipping. So quite quickly, New England Steamship ended the New Haven Line. A couple of footnotes. After the New Haven RR put together its New England Navigation Co. (later NESS) it bought only two new vessels for the Sound Lines, both for Fall River Line in 1905 and 1907 and a few more for the Island Line. By the way, the Chester W. Chapin was reboilered (converted to oil) late 1920s and emerged with only a single stack after the conversion.

Otto Vondrak wrote:Am I reading this photograph correctly? New Haven had a pier opposite the Brooklyn Bridge? Or is this not railroad related at all?

Otto- Behind the piershed on the far left of the photo: are those freight cars on a float?

Ridgefielder wrote:

Otto Vondrak wrote:Am I reading this photograph correctly? New Haven had a pier opposite the Brooklyn Bridge? Or is this not railroad related at all?

Otto- Behind the piershed on the far left of the photo: are those freight cars on a float?

No, I think they are on a pier...

Otto Vondrak wrote:

Ridgefielder wrote:

Otto Vondrak wrote:Am I reading this photograph correctly? New Haven had a pier opposite the Brooklyn Bridge? Or is this not railroad related at all?

Otto- Behind the piershed on the far left of the photo: are those freight cars on a float?

No, I think they are on a pier...

That's even more interesting. I know there was trackage on the Brooklyn waterfront, and on the West Side piers, but I never realized there were rails on the East River side, particularly this far south-- Pier 20 no longer exists, but it would be somewhere just north of South Street Seaport.

What's the date of the photo? Given that there's no sign of the construction of the Manhattan Bridge, I'm guessing pre-1901.

There were no standard gauge tracks that belonged to railroads on the surface of Manhattan on the lower East River. Those railcars will definitely be on a carfloat.

Many of the mainline railroads had pier stations along the East River and the North River (Hudson). The Central Vermont used Pier 29 in lower Manhattan. The CV boats traveled to New London.

The New Haven Line was freight only, except for summer excursions.

Here is link into the Brooklyn Daily Eagle Almanac, 1922 showing the primary Steamship lines. I had searched for the CV. The NH is still listed.

http://books.google.com/books?id=Ob0JAA ... &q&f=false

That is a fantastic picture! I was down at the Seaport Mall last week, and the Brooklyn bridge is as handsome as ever. That shows how much industry there was in New York City at one time, that is no longer there.

The freight cars to the left of Pier 20 were on tracks, but the tracks were either on a carfloat or were on a lighter (essentially a carfloat with its own loading dock between the cars). If you look further down the left side of Pier 20, you'll note watercraft. There were no street tracks on the Manhattan side of the East River.