Syracuse, New York, USA
(Detroit Publishing Company / Library of Congress)
The Empire State Express was the flagship train of the New York Central and Hudson River Railroad. It also had world renown as the first passenger train with a speed scheduled above fifty miles per hour as well as undertaking the longest scheduled non-stop run, between New York City and Albany, for 143 miles.
Trains have run on the roads of Syracuse, New York, since 1859, earning the city the sobriquet ‘the city with the trains in the streets’. As well as the obvious safety concerns, the situation also brought noise, dirt and pollution to Syracuse citizens. At peak points, around sixty trains ran along Washington Street, though that era finally came to an end in 1936 with the arrival of an elevated railroad and a new station on Erie Boulevard East. The final train to run on Syracuse streets was the Empire State Express, eastbound.
‘The passengers on board said that the train flew along with the same steadiness that would have accompanied a slower rate of speed. There was no unusual swaying or jolting, and only persons who were looking out for manifestations of extraordinary speed would have noticed that the clickety-click of the rails sounded like the roar of musketry, and the telegraph poles along the track seemed like pickets in a fence.’
‘Empire State Express Engine Travels at the Rate of 112 1/2 Miles an Hour’, The New York Times, May 12, 1893
