It only took nine minutes for Cornerspotter quick trigger Ferryboi to identify the particular curve of the train tracks in this picture as the S, for Suicide, Curve of the Ninth Avenue El. Though commenters disagreed on the exact intersection, many were roughly correct: it's labeled 110th Street and Eighth Avenue. The train traveled north on Ninth Avenue (now Columbus), made a right turn eastward on 110th Street to avoid barreling into Morningside Park (that's where the photo was taken), and then careened left again on Eighth Avenue (now where Central Park West meets Frederick Douglass Boulevard). For another view, a commenter posted a photo of the tracks looking westward on 110th. Thomas Edison even shot a video of the harrowing turn in 1899, just three years before the photo was taken.
· Photo: Manhattan Railway Company, 110th Street and Eighth Avenue [MCNY]
· Hint: Where These Trains Tracks Took A Dangerous Turn [Curbed]
Filed under: