Vanderbilt Cup Races

I’ll stay out of this one - too much commonality of interests - without cheating.  Wild guess would be LIRR Main Line in Carle Place looking west with OCR at right.  There are few places where the LIMP crossed the LIRR at a right angle.  But I am taken by an odd detail; the height (or lack thereof) of the telephone/telegraph poles to the left of ol’ 111.  Sure seems unlikely that the flatland on either side of the RR RoW would be at differing grades.  Sam, III

From Mystery Foto #18 Solved : A Train Passing the Mineola LIRR Motor Parkway Bridge Heading East

Spent quite a bit of time exploring that area with my son Gram about 7 years ago. The homeless situation was a factor but that even reminded me of my own explorations of the parkway in the Alley Pond area back when I was a young boy in the 50s. In those days we would come upon a few hobo camps thriving in the relative secrecy of the Queens park system. Those camps disappeared as work started on the Clearview Expressway.

From Sammy & Dave's "Excellent 2020 Vanderbilt Day": Scouting the South Side of Westbury Avenue in Mineola/Carle Place

Hey, Art!  Is Howard paying you overtime?  You sure deserve it.  The two danger points are both RR crossings.  OMG!  The “Victory” Monument (as I knew of it) - I’d forgotten all about that one, too; it impressed me as a kid then - gone.  Keep it coming!  Sam, III

From Kleiner's Korner: The Motor Parkway in Maps - Part IV

Robert Y:

Dear Howard

I am a South African motoring historian (hobby that is ) but presently ‘stuck’ in New Zealand under lockdown.
I devour any old motor sport information and recently Dave Evans sent me two lovely books or pre war racing that mentioned the vanderbilt races.
I must admit that the races were well known to me but your site has expanded what knowledge i had.
The more so in these difficult times we are enduring.
Many thanks for sharing knowlege with us via your efforts.
They are certainly appreciated.
Kind regards

From COVID-19 Vaccine Links

Craig Roman has forward this drone video of the current condition of the Port Washington Seaplane Terminal location.

From Update: Beutenmuller Family Collection #1: Searching for the Port Washington Seaplane Terminals

There’s so much to enjoy with this photo. (I had a Lionel train set as a kid with a locomotive that looked like this engine).  My guess is mid-1930s.  There are so many LIRR straight-aways (still exist), so could be anywhere: Mineola line heading out past Hicksville along flat terrain of center Long Island.

From Mystery Foto #18 Solved : A Train Passing the Mineola LIRR Motor Parkway Bridge Heading East

*Location & Orientation:  PRR Steam Engine hauling freight north & possibly east along the Oyster Bay Branch. Believe the train is just north of IU Willets Rd, Albertson NY.This Branch begins north from Mineola. The LIMP overpass with the transmission tower nearby is in East Williston.

*LIMP & LIRR crossings:  Central Ave, Bethpage - Mineola - East Williston. Trolley - Broad Hollow Rd, Westbury Ave, Mineola/Willis Ave.

*Date:  I’ll say 1935.

From Mystery Foto #18 Solved : A Train Passing the Mineola LIRR Motor Parkway Bridge Heading East

From Art Kleiner:
Craig, fantastic footage showing the range of possibilities with drones these days to help document our preservation efforts.  Perhaps one day we can discuss other locations that might warrant a fly-over.

From Flying Boat/Seaplane of the Week: Sikorsky S-42B Pan American Clipper III (NC-16736)

The last and final map publish in 1928, has the labeling of Rt. 25 and 25A in reverse order.

From Kleiner's Korner: The Motor Parkway in Maps - Part IV

I went and took a flyover today.  In retrospect, I should have focused more on the property.  I was enamored with the clarity of the water.

https://youtu.be/v0UH3In5Xi0

From Flying Boat/Seaplane of the Week: Sikorsky S-42B Pan American Clipper III (NC-16736)

Al - I forgot to mention regarding photographer’s position of the mystery photo (likely 1928-30), shows the west bridge in the foreground (Polo bridge) under construction, with the east bridge in the background (Sheeps Pen Road) already built in 1908. The mystery photo also shows the left embankment wall brightly lit (facing the south sky), with the right wall shaded (facing the north sky). You are correct about the unimportant removal of any of these bridges, being in their remote location.

From Updated: Mystery Foto #17 Solved: The Meadowbrook Polo Club Bridge over the Motor Parkway

Nice exploration guys! I’ve yet to visit this area. Amazing the parkway here remains preserved after 110+ years, sleeping quietly and left undisturbed. The pic with the two-three foot extensions is very cool. Thanks for the update and for sharing. Stay healthy and safe!

From Sammy & Dave's "Excellent 2020 Vanderbilt Day": Scouting the South Side of Westbury Avenue in Mineola/Carle Place

The LIRR crossed over the LIMP in Albertson, Mineola, and at Central Ave in Bethpage.  The LIRR crossed under the LIMP at current day Bell Blvd in Queens.  Although, I do not believe it was ever active at this location. 

All three LIRR bridges over the parkway were accompanied by the power cables we see in this picture.  In both Albertson and Mineola the power tower seems accurately placed.  In Bethpage there is a tower north of the tracks, but I feel it is too far removed from the tracks.  But more importantly these power lines in the picture cross the tracks.  In Albertson they come from the north and turn at this power tower.  To me, that makes this picture the Mineola LIRR bridge of the LIMP.  The picture being taken from near Glen Cove Rd, looking west. 

-joe o

From Mystery Foto #18 Solved : A Train Passing the Mineola LIRR Motor Parkway Bridge Heading East

On the 1917 map Art provided, A.R.‘s house was located just north of Main Street, above and about midway between the I and T in SMITHTOWN. Oakwell was just west of the present LIRR trestle over Main and the Smithtown Bull, but the house was demolished for a restaurant—it would be nice if someday a commemorative marker could be placed at that location in honor of A.R’s work. A.R. enjoyed a beautiful view of the Nissequogue River near the Riverside Inn and Riverside Garage, where in 1912, he photographed more than a dozen automobiles during one of Fred Wagner’s annual picnics for the auto industry held from 1911 to 1922 at his Smithtown property and later at his home called ‘Sunnybrook’. Pardington first bought land in Smithtown in 1909; petitioned the Town Board to allow the extension of the Vanderbilt Motor Parkway into Smithtown in 1910; and by 1911, A.R., the man whose family credited him with inventing the checkered flag, and Fred Wagner the first man photographed waving the checkered flag at the 1906 Vanderbilt Cup Race, were relocating their families to the new suburbia, reached via the Vanderbilt Motor Parkway!

From The Residence of the Starter of Five Vanderbilt Cup Races -Fred Wagner- Rediscovered in Smithtown

Good catch Brian! On top of Polo Field bridge looking west down Motor Parkway, towards the Garden City lodge (1.4 miles) Aug 1950. As Frank Mendyk once commented, many trees planted to surround the Polo Grounds! Credit: Newsday, Howard Edwards via Art Kleiner.

From Updated: Mystery Foto #17 Solved: The Meadowbrook Polo Club Bridge over the Motor Parkway

Brian, I am now convinced that the 1951 photo was definitely taken from the bridge built by the Parkway in 1907/1908 to carry the Sheeps Pen Road over the Parkway. I could not uncover anything regarding the removal of the bridge prior to when the photo was taken. There was no pressure on Nassau County to take down the bridge since the Sheeps Pen Rd. road in that area was officially abandoned 1933. I am further of the opinion that the bridge did not come down until a little later when Moses built that section of the Meadowbrook Parkway in the bed of Motor Parkway ROW.

From Updated: Mystery Foto #17 Solved: The Meadowbrook Polo Club Bridge over the Motor Parkway

Frank, Newspapers of the day reported the grandstand was fully occupied (mostly society folks) and spectators around the field were five deep Not all visitors came by autos, most came out from the city by train. That day the LIRR ran trains from Brooklyn and Manhattan on an as needed basis, sometimes only 10-15 minutes apart. The trains after unloading, were parked on nearby spurs ready to take passengers back west.  A good analogy regarding parking, crowd control ,the LIRR etc. today would be the Belmont Stakes and the major golf events at Bethpage.

From Updated: Mystery Foto #17 Solved: The Meadowbrook Polo Club Bridge over the Motor Parkway

This is the Motor Parkway bridge over the LIRR Main Line east of Mineola. The photographer is looking West and the train is traveling East. The high tension tower in the distance just to the South of the tracks and adjacent to the bridge correlates to current Google Earth views of the transmission towers. Indeed, there is a current road in that area south of the tracks named Vanderbilt Dr. I am sure that is no coincidence. Steam engine 112 is a class H10 2-8-0 freight locomotive acquired by the LIRR from parent PRR between 1928 and 1930. The lack of development along the ROW suggests that the date is pre-WWII.

From Mystery Foto #18 Solved : A Train Passing the Mineola LIRR Motor Parkway Bridge Heading East

From Art Kleiner:
Thanks for the additional information, Corey!  I found Auto Avenue as you noted in the Belcher Hyde Map of 1913. Do you know exactly where Pardington’s Oakwell home is actually located?

From The Residence of the Starter of Five Vanderbilt Cup Races -Fred Wagner- Rediscovered in Smithtown

Looks like the main line travelling eastbound from the Mineola Motor Parkway Bridge. The train is engine 112 and the only other choice i would have picked for a possibility would be the Central Ave Bridge but thats on an angle so this looks like its going from Mineola to Westbury. Guessing this photo is in the late 30s or 1940s as the power line tower is next to the bridge where it still is today.

From Mystery Foto #18 Solved : A Train Passing the Mineola LIRR Motor Parkway Bridge Heading East