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Growing up in the Hudson Valley we saw Lord & Burnham, Weyerhauser, GM, Anaconda Cable & Wire, Bobbie Brooks (Stretchini) and Otis Elevator* all leave the area for other states. You can't blame Trump for that.
Otis Elevator is a customer of my employer (steel). They may be based in El Paso, TX, but we deliver their orders to an address in Loudonville, NY.
While I get what VA Yankee stated, I think you make a big point many people don't think about in terms of what is actually in Upstate NY. I think people underestimate what is actually in or what people Downstate even know about that part of the state.
I went to college down in Rockland County, and i was the only person from upstate NY, in with NYC, NJ, and Rockland/Westchester Co. folks. I stopped saying i was from Schenectady, because no one there had ever heard of it. I would say Albany. My roommate was from Riverdale, and she used to call upstate East Bumble F*** - of course, the only place she went up here was to Cooperstown to the Baseball Hall of Fame, and that region is rather sparse.
Now she lives in Wappingers Falls, which I find hysterical considering the 2010 Census shows a pop of 5,500; Sch'dy shows a pop of 66,000.
I went to college down in Rockland County, and i was the only person from upstate NY, in with NYC, NJ, and Rockland/Westchester Co. folks. I stopped saying i was from Schenectady, because no one there had ever heard of it. I would say Albany. My roommate was from Riverdale, and she used to call upstate East Bumble F*** - of course, the only place she went up here was to Cooperstown to the Baseball Hall of Fame, and that region is rather sparse.
Now she lives in Wappingers Falls, which I find hysterical considering the 2010 Census shows a pop of 5,500; Sch'dy shows a pop of 66,000.
They used to build ALCO steam and diesel locomotives in Schenectady. Anyone that knows anything about trains has heard of Schenectady Works. I would have loved to have visited that plant.
ALCO made the famous "Big Boy" 4-8-8-4 and "Challenger" 4-6-6-4 steam locomotives. The total weight of the "Big Boy" and tender was over 1,250,000 lbs. Of the 25 made only 8 are left. I don't know if they were made in Schenectady or not, or if ALCO had other plants? Those two types of locomotives were used by Union Pacific which is here out west along with BNSF.
They also made the RS (road switcher) series of diesel locomotives powered by a 12 cylinder engine. One of my friends was a diesel mechanic at Croton-Harmon. There were a few abandoned RS1 locomotives there. We got to open up all the service doors for a look at what was under the hood so to speak. Pretty impressive to say the least. They still use ALCO diesel engines as back up generators throughout the United States. The same engines that powered their locomotives. I believe they made them from 12 to 20 cylinder configurations. They were also used in tug boats and I believe they are still in use.
There's a company called "Way More Power" that services and supplies parts for those big ALCO diesel engines. I think they're in Illinois.
Last edited by Ex New Yorker; 07-27-2017 at 02:59 PM..
Otis Elevator is a customer of my employer (steel). They may be based in El Paso, TX, but we deliver their orders to an address in Loudonville, NY.
I'm not sure? But I don't think they manufacture in New York anymore after closing it's Yonkers facility in the early 1980's. I had relatives that lived close by their facilities. They employed a lot of people from that area. I don't know if Kawasaki Rail Car took up the slack?
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ContraPagen I am sure your knowledge of downstate communities was just as vague at 18/19 as your roommates was of your hometown. Upstate residents seem to have as many stereotypes about downstate as they have about you. Most people I met in Navy automatically assumed that I lived in NYC which I didn't, so I explained that some of us were living in caves outside the city but we had fire...
For some of the other posts you could make an unbelievable list of what used to be made in each city but on average that is about 50 years in the past and for a millennial to know that steam engines were made in Schenectady that wouldn't even be on their radar, I mean app.
ContraPagen I am sure your knowledge of downstate communities was just as vague at 18/19 as your roommates was of your hometown. Upstate residents seem to have as many stereotypes about downstate as they have about you. Most people I met in Navy automatically assumed that I lived in NYC which I didn't, so I explained that some of us were living in caves outside the city but we had fire...
For some of the other posts you could make an unbelievable list of what used to be made in each city but on average that is about 50 years in the past and for a millennial to know that steam engines were made in Schenectady that wouldn't even be on their radar, I mean app.
ContraPagen I am sure your knowledge of downstate communities was just as vague at 18/19 as your roommates was of your hometown. Upstate residents seem to have as many stereotypes about downstate as they have about you. Most people I met in Navy automatically assumed that I lived in NYC which I didn't, so I explained that some of us were living in caves outside the city but we had fire...
For some of the other posts you could make an unbelievable list of what used to be made in each city but on average that is about 50 years in the past and for a millennial to know that steam engines were made in Schenectady that wouldn't even be on their radar, I mean app.
I think you were referring to my post? Being a rail fan and lover of large machines/engines I couldn't help bringing up Schenectady. I'm guessing that for some people they might not even know what a steam engine is let alone know where they were built? Hell, some people probably don't even know about Pearl Harbor? What a sad state of affairs!
Quote:
"Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it"--Santayana
That quote applies to a lot of things.
Yeah, when we moved to Arizona people figured we lived in the city. All they had to hear was "New York". They automatically think NYC. My wife has a typical New York accent, I don't. At least that's what people have told us. Maybe they should go back and call New York City "New Amsterdam" as the Dutch had originally called it? It would be a lot easier than having to explain that New York City and upstate New York are two different places.
We've had no problems adjusting to life out here as most Arizonans have a lot in common with New York's upstaters. For us Arizona is where we truly belong it's almost as if we've lived here all of our lives. I'm gonna' hafta' change my moniker to "Permanent Arizonan" or something like that.
Yeah, it's too bad that New York City doesn't become a separate state and leave the upstater's alone. Unfortunately for you guys that's who runs the state government.
All of our friends and family are still back there just biding their time for the right opportunity to leave just as we did.
Sure they are. Posting here for five years about how lousy NY is, and how we should all move to Arizona.
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I can appreciate your being a rail fan and I enjoy history but from the carpet mills of the Mohawk Valley, to the former homes of GE & Westinghouse, Kodak, Bosch & Lomb, Xerox, IBM and the Bethlehem Steel presence on Lake Erie there all gone and many more. To millennials that is probably a good thing because who wants all those dirty factories ruining the environment...
That was after they passed the "Safe Act". Which proves that the "Safe Act" was passed for political retribution against those that do not think like the governor and his party. Not necessarily to keep New Yorkers "safe". I'm sure that all of those criminals who are already prohibited by law from owning firearms in the first place rushed to register their so called "assault weapons" and turn in magazines that hold over 10 rounds.
Cuomo's actual quote:
What better way to punish your political enemies than to declare their lawfully owned property contraband, criminal penalties intact? Talk about tolerance and civility that they so demand of others.
I just thank God I was out of New York State well before that act was passed. There's nothing like the taste of freedom, and living 2474 miles away from all that.
Oh, please. You just would have broken the law like everyone else.
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