Category: NEW YORK IMAGES

The  High Line in New York City is a 1-mile ‘linear park’ built on a disused section of the former elevated New York Central Railroad spur called the West Side Line.  This line runs along the lower west side of Manhattan currently runs from Gansevoort Street, three blocks below West 14th Street in the Meatpacking District, up to 30th Street, through the neighborhood of Chelsea to the West Side Yard, near the Javits Convention Center. 

The line has been imaginatively redesigned and extensively planted as an ‘aerial greenway’. Many reminders of its former life have been incorporated, including sections of track; and the line cuts through a number of large office blocks. Along the way, there are a number of access points. There are plenty of neat ‘mini-platform’ wooden seats from which to contemplate the scenery or the urban art; and areas with larger wooden seats long enough to lie on, as with a sun lounger. Some of these are doubles… 

You’ll find plenty of information on the excellent Friends of the High Line website HERE. When we were in NYC a couple of months back, it was in winter mode, with snow on the ground and a freezing wind. However I enjoyed the experience so much that I walked the length of it… twice! It was gratifying to see the large number of people doing likewise, even in very cold weather, and making the most of New York’s most recent city innovation.

I am planning a series of photographic posts to highlight various aspects of the High Line, starting slightly perversely with some of the astonishing and/or entertaining art (in a broad sense) along the route. I really look forward to coming here in summertime one day. This is a wonderful railway restoration project that you definitely do not need to be a rail-geek (trackie?) to enjoy.