Vanderbilt Cup Races

I looked at a Google map and #35 was actually placed about 1400 ft south of the RR ROW. The old ROW runs just north of the lake. I have vivid memories of the engine in the open field just south of the old clubhouse or Lannin House directly adjacent to Merrick Ave. You may have a point about using a shoo-fly track to get the engine and tender directly in from Merrick Ave. It would have been precarious for those trucks and cranes to try to drive over and set up on a grassy field.

From Kleiner's Kolumn: Documentation of the Long Island Motor Parkway Bridges in Nassau County (#28-#42)

So Howard, when will the Renault make it’s debut on Long Island roads again? It would look great in your collection! You can only have a race when ole Number 8 has a mate!
Best Regards,
Scott & Vicki

From Update: A Renault Vanderbilt Racer was Sold Today at the Amelia Island Auction

-Provide background information on participants Rene Simon and Joe Seymour and their connections

René Simon (December 8, 1885 – April 21, 1947) was a French aviator. He toured the United States in 1911-12 with the Moisant International Aviators. He became known for daring tactics and was called the Flying-Fool by the public. Joe Seymour participated in two Vanderbilt Cup Races; finishing 8th in the 1908 race and 10th in the 1909 race.

-Identify the airplane and the likely race car

The plane was a Bleriot XI. A plane that VCR driver Hubert LeBlon and 1st female pilot Harriet Quimby both perished in at different times at flying events. A neat Bleriot XI replica can be seen in the main terminal at MacArthur airport in Islip. The Vanderbilt Racer could have been a Thomas or an Isotta being those are what Seymour drove in the Vanderbilt Cup Races. Although the Thomas is unlikely since it had 60hp and not the 120hp stated in the photo’s caption.

-Link the airplane to the Long Island Motor Parkway

I’m seeing many round about connections, but having a tough time finding a direct connection.

-Kudos question: When and where was the Mystery Foto taken? Since the answer is currently unknown, a list of possible options is acceptable.

Attached are some newspaper advertisements for the Moisant International Aviators event in Fort Worth Texas on Jan 12th & 13th, 1911. The mystery photo can be seen in the advertisements, so I do not believe it was from that Texas event, but a previous event possibly a few weeks or months earlier. Moisant Int. Aviators toured across the US, Mexico and Cuba and was formed in Oct 1910. This mystery photo was absolutely taken sometime between Oct 1910 and Jan 1911.

From Mystery Foto #9 Solved: A Bleriot Monoplane Racing a Vanderbilt Cup Racer in 1910/1911

I’m covering sale of this Renault at Bonhams for Sports Car Market magazine. I don’t want to guess at sale price, but if anyone has additional information about this car please comment, or write me at .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address).

From Update: A Renault Vanderbilt Racer was Sold Today at the Amelia Island Auction

In Gary Hammond’s June 5th 1950 photo at the bottom is what still left of the LIMP a small curving turn into Clinton Ave. that Howard had brought up in a previous time, last year? about saving this section as historical landmark site.

From Mystery Foto #8 Solved: A 1951 Aerial View of Mitchel Field & the Motor Parkway & 2017 Circus Trains

Sam, I would agree that at some point #35 had to leave the rails. I used that same picture that you referenced. #35 was placed for exhibit (I climbed it many times as a child) about a hundred yards south of the RR ROW in the picnic area next to the old clubhouse. I have no idea how it got to that place or from where via the lo-boy. One thing did just occur to me. If the picture is indeed 1956 then the Meadowbrook Parkway would already have bisected the RR so it did not come from the adjacent tracks.

From Kleiner's Kolumn: Documentation of the Long Island Motor Parkway Bridges in Nassau County (#28-#42)

Exciting race!

From Mystery Foto #9 Solved: A Bleriot Monoplane Racing a Vanderbilt Cup Racer in 1910/1911

Lee - where “east of the Park” on Stewart could A&P have moved, please?  It’s all residential and light commercial.  Sam, III

From Mystery Foto #8 Solved: A 1951 Aerial View of Mitchel Field & the Motor Parkway & 2017 Circus Trains

Wayne, I have a vague recollection that #35 was pushed in from Merrick Avenue on a temporary shoo-fly track, NOT on CRR track.  It came by Gerosa lo-boy flat-bed truck in June 1956 as you note - the photo is at <https://www.arrts-arrchives.com/CEXT7.html>.  Sam, III

From Kleiner's Kolumn: Documentation of the Long Island Motor Parkway Bridges in Nassau County (#28-#42)

Addendum: General Bronze would relocate to Florida in 1966.  The A&P Warehouse would move further east on Stewart Ave., east of the Park about the same time.

From Mystery Foto #8 Solved: A 1951 Aerial View of Mitchel Field & the Motor Parkway & 2017 Circus Trains

While I have seen no specific dates but you can draw conclusions from related events that are documented.
Salisbury Park became a county park in 1949. Nassau took over the Salisbury Golf Club property for non payment of taxes. 1949 maps of the new county park show the LIRR ROW going through the park. The original tracks through that area were probably torn up for the war effort in the early 1940’s. The tracks would have then ended at the Salisbury Plains station just west of Merrick Road. Passenger service to Salisbury Plains (via a shuttle from Garden City) ended in the mid 1940’s. In 1948, the railroad relayed track eastward, through the park, to an area behind the now NUMC to deliver building supplies for Levittown. Those deliveries lasted as late as April of 1951. Photos from 1952 show the delivery sidings still in place but obviously not in use judging by their condition. Another photo shows the June 1956 delivery of steam engine 35 for static display at the park. The track is still across Merrick Ave but appears to end right at the park side of the road. So, I would say that the final track was removed from Salisbury Park sometime between 1952 and 1956,  probably closer to the 1952 time frame.

From Kleiner's Kolumn: Documentation of the Long Island Motor Parkway Bridges in Nassau County (#28-#42)

Wayne Woodbury, Can you tell me when the Central Railroad tracks were taken up thru Eisenhower Park ?

From Kleiner's Kolumn: Documentation of the Long Island Motor Parkway Bridges in Nassau County (#28-#42)

With commission I estimate 2 1/4 million. Good Luck!

From Update: A Renault Vanderbilt Racer was Sold Today at the Amelia Island Auction

Thanks for the reply. My main interest has been with the Central Railroad of Long Island (Stewart Line) that ran through the area. Several publications have stated incorrectly that when Levittown was built (1948-1951) the railroad delivered building supplies to an area east of the parkway near Newbridge Road. Some said a RR bridge was built over the parkway and some even say that there was a crossing at grade and the parkway was flagged when a freight movement was necessary. Can you imagine trying to flag traffic to a stop on the parkway? The railroad did rebuild a couple of miles of track east from Merrick Ave to a spot just behind NUMC where the jail now stands. An excellent LIRR wesite arrts-arrchives.com confirmed this with maps and photos. The photos show the most basic temporary track laying. No way the RR was going to foot the bill for a parkway bridge to take the track further east for a few years. God knows Robert Moses wasn’t going to do it.

From Kleiner's Kolumn: Documentation of the Long Island Motor Parkway Bridges in Nassau County (#28-#42)

The wealth of information on this site is staggering. I only recently discovered it. Thank you. There is an aerial photo on this site that clearly shows the Motor Parkway crossing the then new Wantagh State Pkwy (1938) on a bridge. This bridge is not included in any ground photographs and is not mentioned in any texts. Yes, it would have been built decades after the original Motor Parkway bridges presumably by Robert Moses as he brought the Wantagh Parkway through the area to link up with the Northern State. Interesting since the Motor Parkway was on it’s last legs at this time.
_______________________________________________________
Wayne, welcome to the website! Yes, Robert Moses built the Motor Parkway Bridge over the Wantagh State Parkway just when the Parkway was closing. He was not a happy camper!

From Kleiner's Kolumn: Documentation of the Long Island Motor Parkway Bridges in Nassau County (#28-#42)

Oops - the USMC was WEST of the gas holder, between that and the east end of the Curtiss plant on the SE corner of Clinton and Stewart.  One comment that I let slide is the frustration that the top of the photo doesn’t quite reach the east end of the Curtiss plant (13 Aug 2018 Mystery Foto #32).  So many of these fab photos stop just short of some feature of great interest.  Curses; foiled again!  Hey, look again at Brian’s Myst. Photo #19 Hammond 1950 aerial.  Is that a race track immediately west of Raymond Ct. or just a now-gone running track for the Stewart School?  Sam, III

From Mystery Foto #8 Solved: A 1951 Aerial View of Mitchel Field & the Motor Parkway & 2017 Circus Trains

I noticed the B building still looking the same in a 1966 aerial ( but surrounded by a whole lot of newer buildings on the N/S of Stewart Ave ) It’s directly across the 2 narrow Mitchel Field buildings S/O Stewart Ave ( black lined in 1951, white lined in 1966 ).

From Mystery Foto #8 Solved: A 1951 Aerial View of Mitchel Field & the Motor Parkway & 2017 Circus Trains

Al, a construction schematic indicates the girder’s size at 106’ 0” on the west side, and 105’ 2.5” on the east. The 1926 aerial measures the bridge’s shadow at 107’.

From Kleiner's Korner: Documentation of the Long Island Motor Parkway Bridges in Nassau County (#43-#52)

I referred to the Mitchel Field Atlas below for the B? 

The long narrow building east of General Bronze must have been built after June 1950 since it’s not in the aerial below, but existing in the 1951 aerial.

From Mystery Foto #8 Solved: A 1951 Aerial View of Mitchel Field & the Motor Parkway & 2017 Circus Trains

Art, Has anyone commented on the length of the Parkway bridge over Central Ave./LIRR at Bethpage? The three span Parkway bridge over Westbury Ave. in Mineola is less than 80 feet across. the one over Central Ave./LIRR is between 96-100 feet. Anyone?

From Kleiner's Korner: Documentation of the Long Island Motor Parkway Bridges in Nassau County (#43-#52)