Shop at West Albany, NY

PB545129

Shop at West Albany, NY

Engine Service

This is an interior photo looking south to north of erecting shop "c" at West Albany. It was the first modern steam locomotive erecting shop built at West Albany with electrically "dc" operated overhead Niles cranes having a maximum lifting capacity of 90 and 15 tons! Electrical lights and small electrical machines with compressed air tools in each of 22 locomotive pits were also added. There was a centrally located hot air blower with warm air in winter carried by conduit to each bay. All electrical ac and dc power, compressed and heated air came from the centrally located, coal fired huge power house! The north end of the new erecting shop had three additional building stories added for tool hand out and storage rooms, piece work recorder and pay calculating areas, file and shop office rooms along with an extensive apprentice school for shop employees! In later years the maximin lifting capacity of the main crane was raised to 125 tons to accommodate the heavier Hudson engine boilers! The new erecting shop was designated shop "c" with "a" and "b" at the new 1895 similarly designed NYC&HRR shops outside of Buffalo and shops "d" to be built parrel to shop "c" at West Albany with a transfer table between the two shops! Erecting shop "c" was used primarily for passenger engines while shop "d: handled the heavier freight engines of the NYCRR. The whole locomotive department at West Albany was rebuilt through enlargements and the use of electrical power throughout occurred over a period of 5 to 10 years before WW1! The new modern shops were built over the tops of the civil war era shops with the workman keeping their work efforts continuing! Shop "c" and the other locomotive shops ended the repair of steam locomotives in the fall of 1952 with the full dieselization of lines east! Steam crane work and car boilers continue on with a very small crew of repairmen until the summer of 1954 when all railroad machinery of value had been removed from the locomotive department buildings. The whole West Albany complex was sold in 1956 by Pearlman/Young to local investors for new industry but the new owners went for the quick dollar and trashed the facilities for scrap metal prices. They then sold the shells to a simple candy maker who unable to sell or rehab the building shells quickly went bankrupt and the proprieties were taken by local government with a final demolition of the shells in 1964 and 1965. There followed a light industrial park which exist up to today.

NYCSHS

8x10 glossy photo

6/11/1916

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West Albany, NY