Electrified Bay Ridge Branch

When was the Bay Ridge branch first de-energized? I know only a few years later they realized electric operations were cheapter and bought second hand E33's from Virginian Ry. Was this 1964 when they re-energized the line? I assume it was Penn Central that de-energized the line for good in 1969?

-otto-

Electric freight service on the New Haven ceased in the late 1950s following the arrival of the 60 road switchers (GP9s, RS11s, and H16-44s) in 1956 and the subsequent retirement of the last freight motors. It resumed following the arrival of the Virginians -- some wire that had been removed had to be restored -- and ceased for good very shortly after the Penn Central takeover. I visited Bay Ridge yard in July 1969 and much of the catenary had already been removed at that point... there's a photo of the desolation in the January 1970 issue of Trains if you can find a copy.

Otto Vondrak wrote:When was the Bay Ridge branch first de-energized? I know only a few years later they realized electric operations were cheapter and bought second hand E33's from Virginian Ry. Was this 1964 when they re-energized the line? I assume it was Penn Central that de-energized the line for good in 1969?

-otto-

Electric operation over Hell Gate Bridge on tracks 5 and 6 enroute to/from Fremont and Bay Ridge ended in 1959 and the
wires were de-energized between Bowery Bay Substation and Bay Ridge at that time. Most of the wires in this area
remained intact although they suffered from no maintenance and also they differed from actual track and switch locations
as changes were made during the period following 1959. I do not have an exact date when the power was restored to Bay
Ridge but my best guess is very early in 1964. The Virginian motors were running to Oak Point in vary late 1963 but it took
a bit longer to restore the wires to Cedar Hill and Bay Ridge. I think Cedar Hill was restored before Bay Ridge was.
Bowery Bay Substation was located at the Queens end where the tracks to Harold and Fremont separted.
Noel Weaver

Thanks, Tom and Noel for the information!

-otto-

If I remember correctly, the Bay Ridge branch came from Queens, went through a tunnel and emerged around Atlantic avenue and Liberty avenue, heading towards Bay Ridge. Last time I went by there, there were NO tracks, no catenary, nothing but empty ground. The area is right next to a hospital. As kids we used to ride our bikes there and got to know the RR men that worked the area fairly well. In the yard, was a big electromagnet crane there and it loaded the gondolas with scrap metals, brought in by trucks.

The last I knew the line was still in service and operated by the New York and Atlantic. You might have some other trackage
in the general area in mind.
Noel Weaver

pennsy wrote:If I remember correctly, the Bay Ridge branch came from Queens...

Bay Ridge Branch reverted back to Long Island Rail Road control after the New Haven left... and it is now operated by New York & Atlantic (NYAR), which took over the freight services of LIRR.

http://www.anacostia.com/nyar/nyar.html

See also: http://www.lirrhistory.com/Bayridge.html

http://www.oldnyc.com/bayridge/contents/bayridge.html

-otto-

pennsy wrote:If I remember correctly, the Bay Ridge branch came from Queens, went through a tunnel and emerged around Atlantic avenue and Liberty avenue, heading towards Bay Ridge. Last time I went by there, there were NO tracks, no catenary, nothing but empty ground. The area is right next to a hospital. As kids we used to ride our bikes there and got to know the RR men that worked the area fairly well. In the yard, was a big electromagnet crane there and it loaded the gondolas with scrap metals, brought in by trucks.

I had an opportunity to be in that area for a job I was working on back in May.

The tunnel: the 2 outer tracks of the 4 track tunnel are gone,

The 2 inner tracks remain. In all 4, you can see where the insulators were in the ceiling of the tunnel and there are doors to alcoves in the West side track of the tunnel that read: "DANGER 11KV".

The junkyard with the electromagnetic crane is still there.