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A question about horse car tracks: I would appreciate it if a New York historian or a transportation specialist (such as Cliff Hood or Peter Derrick) could help me in answering a question about the New York & Harlem Railroad, pulled by horses on NYC streets (1832): were the tracks of this first city railroad placed on top of the street or were they depressed? Ken Jackson, in "Crabgrass Frontier," suggests they were laid on top of the street because he argues that streetcar construction did not take off until a method of depressing tracks was developed. In 1854, the New York Board of Aldermen passed a resolution requiring that the Hudson River R.R. Co. be compelled to remove their tracks on Hudson and other streets and substitute "grooved" rails, suggesting that they had originally been laid on top of the street. I know that in the 1850s, horse car tracks were largely depressed - that is, even with the street surface (required by ordinance in Brooklyn) although still causing serious problems for traffic. The images I have seen in Taylor suggest that the tracks were above the street. Other sources such as Carman, "Street Surface Railway Franchises," do not supply an answer. I would greatly appreciate any suggestions. I have, by the way, searched both the New York Times and the Brooklyn Eagle. Joel Tarr Richard S. Caliguiri Professor of History & Policy Department of History Carnegie Mellon University Pittsburgh, PA
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