Yard at Maspeth Avenue in Queens

1. We didnt spot cabbage cars, just rice, flour and the occasional Onion reefer

2. The Ho Chi Minh trail was exiled to teh velvetop track in LIC Team yard

3. Yes, C&D pays beter than rice .. wehn hauled in 10 car cuts

4. The stuff loaded in teh hoppers is ... tada! Dirt. Ugly messy sludge, non Hazmat NIMBY dirt

Always wondered why it was called the cabbage track when you never saw cabbage there.

Ho Chi Minh Trail, LOL

When I worked at the water tunnel site I was amaized how many bags of onions come out of a reefer, and how many gallon cans of Hunt's tomato Catsup come out of a boxcar. (Ever notice how it's called tomato catsup, like they would make it from something else) Equally amaized how long those bags of onions and catasup cans sat on the loading dock until needed.

NIMBY dirt, I love it. Probably from their yards from the McMansions they build as they displace the old populations

jtunnel wrote:Ever notice how it's called tomato catsup, like they would make it from something else

As a matter of fact, they used to:

Wiki...Yes, Wiki, Dammit! wrote:Ketchup existed before anyone outside the Americas had ever seen a tomato. Originally this sauce was made out of pickled fish. It originated in Eastern Asia; the word "ketchup" is used in Chinese, Malay, and Indonesian (e.g., kecap manis - traditional spelling kitjap manis). English and Dutch sailors brought the Asian ketchup to Europe, where many flavourings, such as mushrooms, anchovies and nuts, were added to the basic fish sauce. It is not certain when and where ketchup first came to be made from tomatoes.

Any improvements made to the Maspeth Yard- new/re-habbed tracks, switches, etc? or new customers getting served there? Thanks.

There was a bulkhead flatcar loaded with what appeared to be utility poles at Maspeth Yard today. I didn't note which carrier it belonged to...

Passed by the Maspeth Yard the other day. Saw some loaded bulkhead flatcars, centerbeam flatcars, some boxcars, reefers and a couple of covered hoppers, one of which an urban Van Gogh had tagged to the max with his artwork. I went down to the west end of the yard and saw where it stubs-out just before that grade crossing with the PRR-style position light signal next to it. That was the first time I ever saw the tracks down at the end. The brush appeared to have been cleared. I guess a single switcher has room to get to the end down there and then run past whatever it pulled down there. Though clear of brush, the tracks down there were rusty. Do NYA engines ever run to the end down there in the course of working the yard? Thanks.

The Tenth Legion wrote:Passed by the Maspeth Yard the other day. Saw some loaded bulkhead flatcars, centerbeam flatcars, some boxcars, reefers and a couple of covered hoppers, one of which an urban Van Gogh had tagged to the max with his artwork. I went down to the west end of the yard and saw where it stubs-out just before that grade crossing with the PRR-style position light signal next to it. That was the first time I ever saw the tracks down at the end. The brush appeared to have been cleared. I guess a single switcher has room to get to the end down there and then run past whatever it pulled down there. Though clear of brush, the tracks down there were rusty. Do NYA engines ever run to the end down there in the course of working the yard? Thanks.

Bulkheads go to that lumber customer right there, boxcars are I believe foodstuff that gets unloaded right there in the yard (they back the trucks up and unload). No idea about the covered hoppers.

2 tracks in the center are cut about halfway through the yard area. Not sure what's going on but there's some work happening there. Maybe it's just something being put in under the track as the cut section was quite small (a few feet). If I recall right it's these two tracks that go to that switch/bumper block on the west end. Ive never seen an engine run down there though. It gets switched out during the day (noon-ish)...

I spoke to an employee recently and he said something about a stone move starting in Maspeth. Maybe it'll be some sort of pit for the chutes underneath the cars? I guess eventually the WMX waste move may occur out of there also. Maspeth mave have a good amount of activity in the near future.

If I remember tracks 6,7, and 8 all run into a stub ended track on the west end of Maspeth yard. I think you can fit 2 SW1001's max between the end of those tracks and the bumping block. This used to be all the time when the Prima train was being built from the Grow tunnel project. You would have to use the w end to run the engine back around the loaded Prima hoppers.

I'm not sure but I suspect WM will use the spot where another company was loading C&D into red cubes for awhile. It's on that siding running south from the east end of the yard area. Plenty of real estate back there to load flatcars (not so much though to build a full DSNY trash hub though)

That costumer was Sab Trucking. They wee a big costumer for a long time. Yang shing was alway busy off that same lead. Another track back there off the Sab trucking switch was called "Jeanine" where they laid up Sab cars also.

I know someone posted that Waste Mgmt. facility was going to be closer to Review Ave and I guess the containers loaded trucked to Maspeth yard. I guess this is more feasible than cutting in another switch on the Lower Montauk further up the line closer to Allied Extruders(opp side) where the WMX facitlity will actually be located.

Daniel Brush of the Glendale [i]Register[/i] wrote:Waste Management (WM), is planning to build a new transfer station in Maspeth that would haul waste out of Western Queens by rail instead of by truck...The plan includes what Waste Management estimates as 15 trucks per hour trucking waste along a mile and a half trek on Rust Street from Review Avenue to the Maspeth Railyard at Maspeth Avenue & Rust Street.

The trucks would bring containers of solid waste to Maspeth yard for transfer to rail cars. Then NY&A would haul the cars (estimated at 15-17 per day) to Fresh Pond for pickup by CSX.

The service is slated to begin in early 2011.

I've found most of the Queens weekly community newspapers are pretty negative towards this plan but the story in the Glendale Register seems pretty well-balanced. Below is a link to the full article:

http://glendaleregister.com/bookmark/2778162

It's a good article - the trash definitely should be moving by rail - though WM doesn't really seem to explain why they can't add a siding down at review av other than to say it's commuter territory. Are they seriously trying to hide behind that one through train per day? NYA already coexists with the lirr just fine down there... If they need more land to build upon down there, I'm sure they've got the cash.

In separate news LIRR rebuilt the crossing where the 'penny bridge' stop once was. Looks like they did all the work in one shot yesterday. There's a few front end loaders in maspeth yard, along with some ballast & asphalt, so if those haven't been replaced recently, they might be soon.

Would NY&A also prefer to make the container transfer from truck to rail car at Maspeth rather than at Review Avenue? Maybe because Review Avenue would require more investment dollars (that they don't have) in trackwork than doing it at Maspeth?

Might it also be because they would have to submit to a full-blown and time-consuming environmental review if they tried to establish a truck-rail transfer at Review Avenue? That doesn't seem to be the case at Maspeth yard. The City wants to get this up and running. Currently that solid waste is moving all the way to Virginia by tractor-trailer.

Btw, on the DSNY web site they say that eventually 90% of all city solid waste will move by rail.

Drove past the yard today - construction office trailers & other work equipment being set up. Looks like something big-ish is going to be built.

Zero boxcars by the crossing -which seemed odd. Usually there's at least 2 or 3 laid over for the weekend after some Saturday truck loading. Those customers getting moved for whatever this construction project is?

Drove through the area today.

The former SAB Trucking loading area/tracks off Grand Avenue looks like it has a new owner either moving or already moved in.

In Maspeth Yard, The Cabbage track was four boxcars deep, unloading what looked like rice bags, and the LIRR and Railroad Construction Co were busy unloading heavy equipment off low-boy trailers.

There is a new dump pit and transfer conveyors midway through in the yard and someone is trans-loading stone from GATX hoppers.

NY&A has a nice new (to me), and very orange, International hy-rail section/service truck.

http://jtunnel.rrpicturearchives.net/sh ... id=1812467

http://jtunnel.rrpicturearchives.net/sh ... id=1812463

I took a few photos,

http://jtunnel.rrpicturearchives.net/ar ... x?id=50392