The Lackawanna Ferry departs for Hoboken one of her last times. The boats had become expensive to maintain with thin hull plates, and were budget drains on the private corporations that owned and operated them (this before the days of subsidized mass transit as standard operating proceedure). During the last week of operation, 3,000 total daily riders remained. The boat was rated for nearly 2,000 passengers per trip.
Comments:
The "Lackawanna", dating back to the 1890's and dieselized in 1949, appears to be heading back to Hoboken, after disgorging her load of Manhattan-bound commuters.
The creosoted pilings, the creaking overhead loading bridges, and the incandescent bulbs glowing in dangling metal reflectors were once familiar sights in the ferry slips that once were commonplace on both sides of the Hudson. The old Colgate plant, seen near exchange place in Jersey City, was closed and torn down in the 1980's; the large Colgate clock, now a landmark, sits on a vacant parcel of land where the plant once stood. In the right background, we see what was then Harborside terminal, a massive rail/marine freight facilty, served by the Pennsylvania Railroad. Today, the complex has been renovated, and is now the Harborside Financial Center.
After languishing for decades at the Witte Marine company marine graveyard on Staten Island, the once-proud "Lackawanna" (aka "Whining Willy") degenerated into nothing more than a heap of decaying wreckage.
The area seen here has long since been filled in, and is now part of Battery Park City.
The creosoted pilings, the creaking overhead loading bridges, and the incandescent bulbs glowing in dangling metal reflectors were once familiar sights in the ferry slips that once were commonplace on both sides of the Hudson. The old Colgate plant, seen near exchange place in Jersey City, was closed and torn down in the 1980's; the large Colgate clock, now a landmark, sits on a vacant parcel of land where the plant once stood. In the right background, we see what was then Harborside terminal, a massive rail/marine freight facilty, served by the Pennsylvania Railroad. Today, the complex has been renovated, and is now the Harborside Financial Center.
After languishing for decades at the Witte Marine company marine graveyard on Staten Island, the once-proud "Lackawanna" (aka "Whining Willy") degenerated into nothing more than a heap of decaying wreckage.
The area seen here has long since been filled in, and is now part of Battery Park City.