Day 424

Today’s route — 16.0 miles

February 26th, 2013

Day 424



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The old Hunts Point station

February 26th, 2013



Like the erstwhile Morris Park station, this battered ex-depot ("French Renaissance in style, it might have been the royal stable of a French king") is a Cass Gilbert-designed relic from the days of the New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad's ill-fated Harlem River Branch.

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An anguished snowplow

February 26th, 2013



brooding beneath the Bruckner

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American Sirloin

February 26th, 2013


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Ghost under the hood

February 26th, 2013


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ku ≠ qu; kw = qu

February 26th, 2013


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That’ll do

February 26th, 2013


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But close.

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This poor bridge

February 26th, 2013



All its flaws called out for everyone to see, like it's a pledge at some horrible fat-circling sorority

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Welcome to the Bronx Grit Chamber, where solids (everything from sand and gravel to turtles and dogs) are removed from the sewage of the western Bronx as it makes its way toward the Wards Island Wastewater Treatment Plant.

Here's some great info on NYC's wastewater treatment system. One of the most taken-for-granted pieces of the city's infrastructure, it somehow makes the filth and waste of more than 8 million disgusting people magically disappear! (Except on rainy days.)

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Haven Academy

February 26th, 2013



Pass the Squishy: "Opened in the fall of 2008 by the New York Foundling, a 140-year-old foster care agency, Haven is the first school in the city designed to serve children from broken families."

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Bruckner Boulevard

February 26th, 2013


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The old Port Morris branch

February 26th, 2013



Built in the mid-1800s, this former rail line had become "a combination dumping ground and open sewer" by the latter part of the 20th century. The few trains that still traveled the line in those days apparently had to be outfitted with snowplows to clear the tracks of potentially damaging debris. In 2009, the city pumped out 625,000 gallons of standing water from a mile-long stretch, and removed 45 tons of garbage. The rails are now gone, as you can tell, but the line still sees some occasional traffic now and then.

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New gated condo development?

February 26th, 2013



Nope — it's a Con Ed substation in disguise! The phony facade looks very clean and well maintained, except, oddly, for one thing: the paint is peeling off all the doors.

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Obviously

February 26th, 2013


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Licensed by Dept. of Health

February 26th, 2013



and other things

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Car-in-car

February 26th, 2013


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A disquieting visage

February 26th, 2013



Mister Softee!

While we're on the subject, check out this trippy, dreamy version of the Mister Softee song played by a truck with a defective music box.



I recorded it last summer but forgot to post it at the time. If you're not familiar with the song, you can listen to a standard rendition (and see the lyrics) here.

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Federal Blue

February 26th, 2013



That's the official name of this particular shade (one of only seven colors of paint in the NYC bridge palette) brightening up the trusses of the westbound Bruckner (Expressway and Boulevard) span over the Northeast Corridor.

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Dual spans

February 26th, 2013



Westchester Avenue and the Pelham LineAluminum Green, if I'm not mistaken — crossing the Bronx River, as seen from Concrete Plant Park

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Here we have yet another Cass Gilbert-designed New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad station, this one "a sublime glazed terra-cotta temple" "being slowly crushed by the boot of time."

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Bronx River Greenway bridge

February 26th, 2013



in Starlight Park, named for an old amusement park that once stood nearby

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One more Bronx River crossing

February 26th, 2013



174th Street, viewed from the bridge in the previous photo

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Portal of the day

February 26th, 2013


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Number 6 on the move

February 26th, 2013



That's the old Westchester Avenue station in the background.