elevatedrailway

Date inscribed in reverse on negative: 7/31/13.

Wystan: Thanks for bringing our attention to the date on the negative! We'll add it to the description next time we update.

Hi, I'm an admin for a group called VIVER DESCALÇO, and we'd love to have this added to the group!

I wish I knew the relationships between the boys. Their names even. Several of them look like they are from the same family. It's so unusual to see smiling children in early photos. They are adorable.

Ok, for a moment I thought this it a photograph of a modern scene edited with Snapseed or something :)

Taken from same spot:

This picture shows the 1915 conversion of the center express tracks at the 14th Street Station to a "hump express" configuration, whereby express trains arrived at the station on a higher track than locals. It is taken from the east side of 9th Ave., looking northwest toward 14th St.
This August, 1915 New York Times article describes the resumption of express train service after a two week suspension to raise the tracks, which has been completed at the time of this photo.
select.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=F50816F6355A1573...
This photo from the 30's shows the finished station from the opposite side of 9th avenue, looking northwest:
picasaweb.google.com/116363262722377355677/NYC9thAveEl?no...
And this aerial photo from the 30's shows that the tracks were eventually enclosed and roofed over at 14th St.
picasaweb.google.com/116363262722377355677/NYC9thAveEl?no...

Must be approximately this sight in this case:
View Larger Map

nice shot

The IRT Ninth Avenue Line, often called the Ninth Avenue El, was the first elevated railway in New York City. It opened in 1868 as the West Side and Yonkers Patent Railway, a cable-hauled line. It ceased operation in 1940. The last section in use, over the Harlem River, was known as the Polo Grounds Shuttle, and was closed in 1958. This portion used the now-removed Putnam Bridge swing bridge and went through a tunnel, complete with partially underground stations.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IRT_Ninth_Avenue_Line

This is taken from the west side of 9th Avenue at 13th st. looking southeast toward Little West 12th St. . The white building across the tracks is still there:
maps.google.com/maps?q=9th+avenue,+13th+street+and+hudson...
In 1915, the line updated its express stops to a "hump express" configuration, where the center express track was elevated at the express stations. Wing and Son was a piano manufacturer located at between Hudson, 9th Ave and 13th St.
The 9th Ave. El was demolished in 1940.