Hudson Downbound ’18a

Here’s a Hudson down bound set of three posts I did five years ago, in a different season.

This trip starts at Scarano’s just south of Albany, where a crew picked up excursion boat Kingston for delivery to Manhattan.   Last fall after delivery up bound, I posted these landmarks.

Spirit of Albany (1966), operated by the Albany Port District Commission, is a regular for the Waterford Tugboat Roundup parade.

High above Castleton, name going back to Henry Hudson, is that Sacred Heart Church?

Two bridges cross just north of Coeymans are the Berkshire Spur of the NY Thruway and the Alfred H. Smith Memorial Bridge, the furthest south operational rail bridge over the Hudson.

Katherine Walker performs spring buoy planting south of Coxsackie.

I’ve heard a story behind the “parked” marine equipment in Athens NY, but need a refresher.  Anyone explain how this came to be frozen in time here?  The view is only possible if your draft allows you to navigate the channel on the west side of Middle Ground Flats.

Hudson-Athens Light is one of the lighthouses saved from demolition at a point when all lights were being automated.  Back when I did more hiking, I looked down on the Hudson and some of these landmarks from the heights, in “what Rip saw,” as in the long sleeper.

South of Catskill Creek, you can see snow still covering the slopes of the Catskills.

Marion Moran pushes Bridgeport upbound.  That’s the east shore of the Hudson beyond her.

By the time we get to Saugerties, snow seems to be creating whiteout conditions on the Catskill escarpement.

We head south, here meeting Fells Point pushing Doubleskin 302.

All photos by Will Van Dorp.  For more on the lighthouses, click here. In the next in the series, we head farther south.

And for what it’s worth, I’m still in the market for some “seats” photos.

 

Bridges 7

Tomorrow I head back out on my longest gallivant yet, even before I process what could be from the previous jaunt.  But I have a list I’ll work on when energy and wifi coincide.  But not to worry if I’m silent for a day or a week or three.

Part of me would be happy to stay in the boros;  if you’re near the sixth boro with a camera, keep your eyes open for  Ariadne,  the perfect name for a cable-laying vessel.

In the past month, I passed under more than a hundred bridges, and over a bunch also.  On July 22, we passed beneath the TZ Bridge, one space to the east from the main channel because of ongoing work to complete the last span.

Just to reiterate the record, the old bridge opened in December 1955.

 

That gap will be filled with these, then still also 100 miles away.

On July 23 we passed under these next two bridges, the Smith (1928) … the southernmost freight rail bridge since 1974.  Here’s who the Smith memorializes.

Beyond the rail bridge is the Castleton Bridge (1959), the connector between the Thruway and the MassPike. “Castleton” is a village of fewer than 2000 people.

I call this the Albany Swivel, but the more accurate name is the Livingston Avenue Bridge, opened

in 1902!  You’d think it abandoned, but if you’ve ever traveled on Amtrak through Albany, you’ve been on it.

I don’t know the actual name or alphanumeric designation for this one, but its carries all the freight/passenger trains through the Mohawk Valley.

A blurry photo I know, but it shows an Amtrak train crossing just east of lock E-19 in Frankfort NY, once world renowned home of Carlotta the lady aeronaut and the Meyers Balloon Farm.

All photos, sentiments, and any errors by Will Van Dorp, and more bridges to come as wifi and inspiration provide.