Back when I was doing a pretty fair amount of off-road riding, I often sluiced through the hills and gullies of Forest Park in Queens. I was living in Park Slope then, and the park--which was bigger and less agressively policed than Prospect--was about half an hour away. So, on a spring or summer day, I could get in a ride after work.
Since I sold my Bontrager and stopped riding off-road, I have cycled to Forest Park, but not in it. That is, until today.
Most of the park lies to the west of Woodhaven Boulevard. But the part to the east is more thickly wooded and has a few other interesting geological features the other side lacks. (Or, perhaps, the west side had them but they were obliterated by the golf course, bandshell and other things built there.) I was riding south, toward JFK airport, when I espied one of the paths I used to ride. It wasn't very long and ended abruptly in the trotting course, where other cyclists and I used to upset the horse riders. I didn't see any today.
But I saw something more interesting, at least to me (or in terms of this blog):
Did I never notice the track all those times I rode off-road? Or did I forget about it?
When I chanced upon it, a cute tuxedo cat scurried across. I don't know how long it's been since a train last rumbled and clattered over it, but I'm sure it's been decades. It parallels a Long Island Rail Road (Yes, it's spelled as two words!) line that runs through another part of the neighborhood. Perhaps some now-discontinued branch of the line ran here. Or, maybe, freight trains: The Atlas Park mall is about a kilometer to the southwest. It used to be an industrial park (That phrase seems so strange) that, at one time, housed General Electric, Kraft, Westinghouse, New York Telephone and other large companies. There are still some small factories as well as warehouses near the mall.
Anyway, I can't see abandoned railroad tracks without thinking, "Now this would be a great bike path!" Old rail lines have been so re-purposed in other places; if the same were done to the tracks I saw today, they could be linked to the nearby section of the Brooklyn-Queens Greenway , which might one day be a continuous greenway that connects Brooklyn and Queens.
Since I sold my Bontrager and stopped riding off-road, I have cycled to Forest Park, but not in it. That is, until today.
Most of the park lies to the west of Woodhaven Boulevard. But the part to the east is more thickly wooded and has a few other interesting geological features the other side lacks. (Or, perhaps, the west side had them but they were obliterated by the golf course, bandshell and other things built there.) I was riding south, toward JFK airport, when I espied one of the paths I used to ride. It wasn't very long and ended abruptly in the trotting course, where other cyclists and I used to upset the horse riders. I didn't see any today.
But I saw something more interesting, at least to me (or in terms of this blog):
Did I never notice the track all those times I rode off-road? Or did I forget about it?
When I chanced upon it, a cute tuxedo cat scurried across. I don't know how long it's been since a train last rumbled and clattered over it, but I'm sure it's been decades. It parallels a Long Island Rail Road (Yes, it's spelled as two words!) line that runs through another part of the neighborhood. Perhaps some now-discontinued branch of the line ran here. Or, maybe, freight trains: The Atlas Park mall is about a kilometer to the southwest. It used to be an industrial park (That phrase seems so strange) that, at one time, housed General Electric, Kraft, Westinghouse, New York Telephone and other large companies. There are still some small factories as well as warehouses near the mall.
Anyway, I can't see abandoned railroad tracks without thinking, "Now this would be a great bike path!" Old rail lines have been so re-purposed in other places; if the same were done to the tracks I saw today, they could be linked to the nearby section of the Brooklyn-Queens Greenway , which might one day be a continuous greenway that connects Brooklyn and Queens.
Your blog is great--the first one I read every day. I love your down-to-earth approach to biking and life in general, not to mention the great links to give to other bike bloggers. Thanks!!
ReplyDeleteAnon--Why, thank you! (blush)
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