Commuting on the Erie Lackawanna, 1964

Another wonderful if anonymous reel of film from the National Archives. It shows commuters traveling to and from New York City on the Erie Lackawanna railroad in the summer of 1964. It starts on a foggy morning on the train from Hohokus to Hoboken, where the commuters board one of the ex-Lackawanna ferry boats, SCRANTON or ELMIRA. In the afternoon, we see commuters flooding into the Lackawanna pier at Barklay street and buying a newspaper to read on the trip home.
These were the final years of operation for the SCRANTON and ELMIRA--ferry service was discontinued in late 1967 and all the commuter traffic was shifted over to PATH. It would be almost 20 years before NYWaterway brought back ferry boats across the Hudson.
Some notes on individual shots:
0:20 Commuters wait on the eastbound platform at Hohokus, on the former Erie main line. The unique station shelter seen here still stands, though now isolated from the tracks by a high-level platform. The man in closest to the camera is reading the New York HERALD-TRIBUNE.
0:30 At the head of today's train is one of EL's ex-Erie Alco PA's. The train appears to be made up of ex-Erie Stillwell cars.
0:37 Now in ex-Lackawanna electrified territory.
0:42 Three teenagers on their way into the city watch as their train runs alongside a train of ex-Lackawanna MU cars. Why is that young woman stabbing her hand?
1:00 Hoboken terminal. Our train appears to be on the right.
1:25 The ELMIRA emerges from the fog as we wait for the SCRANTON to depart. During rush hours, the ferries carried only passengers, so commuters fill the main deck.
1:54 The older men still wear hats, but most of the younger ones do not.
2:08 One of the few New York TIMES readers seen in this film.
2:35 Yes, the ferry terminal says "Lackawanna-Erie" on it.
3:24 Who saw the paper bag from Schrafft's, the old restaurant chain?
3:42 Many of the commuters are doubtless headed for what was then the Courtlandt St station on the Seventh Avenue IRT. Compared to today, this area is unrecognizable. The location of the Lackawanna pier is now inland, thanks to Battery Park City.
4:17 Copies of the WORLD-TELEGRAM AND SUN, one of three New York afternoon papers, arrive.
4:25 The commuters begin to arrive. The posters on the wall advertise THE UNSINKABLE MOLLY BROWN at Radio City Music Hall, and FADE IN FADE OUT, a stage show with Carol Burnett.
4:52 The big headline in the TELEGRAM is "Rocky Blasts Goldwater." The 1964 Republican convention in San Francisco's Cow Palace has just nominated Arizona senator Barry Goldwater for president. New York governor Nelson Rockefeller had dropped out of the race earlier in the year, but continued to take strong exception to Goldwater's conservative positions.
5:26 Most of the commuters take the TELEGRAM, but a few buy the New York JOURNAL-AMERICAN ("Fright in Yorkville"), another afternoon broadsheet.
5:43 The newsstand also has copies of the Newark EVENING NEWS.
6:03 Now the commuters are really pouring in. It's a Friday afternoon in midsummer, and hopefully they got a chance to go home a little early.
6:49 On board the ferry again, making upriver for Hoboken terminal.
7:18 Magnificent shot as the SCRANTON swings around into the dock.
7:40 It looks like the cameraman decided to take an extra ferry trip and somehow got himself up into the wheelhouse.
8:10 I'm still working identifying the two ocean liners in this shot.
This really is some magnificent footage--good camera work, the colors are fresh and bright, and the National Archives did an excellent job on the full-HD digitization. The original film is silent, but Dave Brubeck seems to be an appropriate period soundtrack.
After some research into the newpaper headlines, I have determined that this film was shot on Friday, July 17, 1964.

Видео Commuting on the Erie Lackawanna, 1964 канала Speed Graphic Film and Video