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It is currently Fri Apr 19, 2024 8:36 am

What's in the old tunnel

Discussion of the past and present operations of the Long Island Rail Road.

Moderator: Liquidcamphor

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 #492386  by Mr rt
 
Noel, Thanks for the input !

Bay Ridge operation from 69 to 84:
- Since PC shut down float, NYCH was exchanging cars with NH ?
- When did NYCH start up float operations again ?
- During this period freight customers became fewer & fewer, so the only traffic was cars going accross the Husdon ? And the line was let get in worse & worse condition.

I know that NYCH got some business from the TA via the SKB conncetion.
That connection still exists, but the TA gets & disposes of its cars via other means.

 #492507  by Nova55
 
NYCH did not come about until 1983, at then they interchanged with CR for a year until LIRR took the branch back over. Float operations never stopped across the river. But they stopped going to 65th street though in 69, and there has never been service there until NYD installed the ex Erie bridge on the North edge of the yard in 78'. That bridge went out of service in 92' and there has been no carfloat service there since, in light of the new bridges installed.

New subways cant go through due to the switch at 39th/2nd Street being to tight when they rebuilt it about 10 years ago, at least thats what im told. The SBK route right into the yard will handle them, but going to 2nd ave wont.

 #493196  by Mr rt
 
1. I assumed that the cars NYC Transit got via floats in Brooklyn were via the 51st ST slip. If they couldn't get from the Bush Term. yard to SBK tracks where did they come in ?
2. NYDR was using that slip at 51st for it's customers before it became NYCH ?
3. When was the last customer on 2nd Ave above the SBK tracks.

 #493467  by BMT
 
Mr. rt, the last subway cars that were delivered via the float barges was the R-62 (first stainless steel cars for the IRT). There used to be a flatcar off-loading ramp in the SBK yard at 39th and 3rd Avenue (adjacent to the Gowanus Exp. off-ramp).

Not sure if all subway cars came through Bush Terminal/Sunset Park docks....I believe earlier sets may have come over on floats through Long Island City.

Of course the very last subway cars to be delivered on their own wheel sets via railfrieght were the R-142's. NYA delivered them from flats at Fresh Pond down the Bay Ridge and right into Linden Yards. Some individual here was 'privileged' to have witnessed the off-loading of some of these cars at Fresh Pond. :wink:

 #493510  by Nova55
 
Mr rt:

1: Yes, Subways came in at either 51st St. or the Army Terminal. Army terminal was in 65th street yard, but it was always referred to as the Army Terminal bridge. It was easier to bring new cars in via there as it was easier to pull the larger flatcars. From there the cars would go down 1st ave. to the SBK yard and off loaded there, or they could be off loaded in Bush Terminal yard as there is a ramp there also.

2: Yes, After the Bush Terminal Co. sunk, NYD took over the operation/property. Then it went to NYCH and now NYNJ Rail.

3: I have NO idea but it was defiantly before NYCH. SBK ran trips up there once in awhile. Its disconnected now..

BMT:

Yes, The ramp is still there. They used an old subway car cut to the frame as a reacher.

Earlier stuff did indeed come in via LIC, but that was gone by 76'..



Many, many scrap subway cars went out via NYCH as well between 1984 and at least 1992. They were bought ont here own wheels and shoved onto a float where they could be bought to a NJ scrapyard ( Naporano, Hugo Neu, etc.. ). Rebuilt cars also went through such as R40s and R38s among others.

Metro North M4s and Path cars also went through NYCH...

- Paul

 #493534  by jayrmli
 
Some individual here was 'privileged' to have witnessed the off-loading of some of these cars at Fresh Pond. Wink
And some here even got to ride the shove of these cars down to Linden. Probably the nicest shoving movement you could ever ask for. Much better than a gondola.

My favorite time with this move was when for some reason, three people were called to unload the subway cars at Fresh Pond. (Only two were needed for the job.) As luck would have it, someone left a car fouling the lead to Linden, and there wouldn't be a way to shove the subway cars in the yard without sideswiping it.

Since we had three men however, I volunteered to run an engine down light ahead of the shove, and move the errant car out of the way. The other conductor on the move (Mr. Moustache, a legend in his own mind), rode the shove.

I shoved the car out of the way, lined the switch away from the engine, and waited for the subway cars to arrive. I could listen to "Guy" on the radio. "Keep Shoving Alex...all clear."

When the crews get down to Linden, there is a switch that is lined against the shoving move, as it is lined for the subway system. The TA has a clamp over the switch that has to be unclamped in order for the switch to be thrown. This prevents a crew from "running the switch," and breaking it. As the legendary Mr. Moustache approached, he called out once again on the radio: "All clear Alex." And then "Oh ^%$*! Stop the train!" I got to witness brand new subway cars go flying over the clamped switch.

I hadn't laughed that hard in a long while. :-D

Jay

 #493820  by BMT
 
Nova55 wrote:
Yes, The ramp is still there. They used an old subway car cut to the frame as a reacher.
I rode with the SBK crew out to the docks last summer. IIRC the ramp is no longer there...unless I was just not paying attention.

 #494339  by Spartan Phalanx
 
Is the SBK still operational?

 #494343  by Nova55
 
Of course.. They just repainted the engines last year to..:-D

Williamsburg Bridge

 #494555  by freightguy
 
Years ago, I remember a crew picking up cars at NYCH interchange around 8th(?) Avenue in Brooklyn. They were subway cars that had to be towed towards Linden Avenue subway yards. This was probably around Sept. of 1999. There were alot of MTA and SBK officials on hand to take photographs of this rare occurance!

I think eng 101 or 105 held that assignment that day in the former Zone "B".....

 #494590  by BMT
 
To Spartan Phalanx: Yes, they are very much still in operation, but much like LIRR they do not do commercial frieght moves anymore, just frieght moves for themselves (i.e., new passenger cars, track supplies, wheel sets, motors, etc). IIRC the last real customers that SBK had was the Cocoa Port, and before that SBK did tons of work for Davidson Pipe Company (which in later years became a much smaller company. Not even sure if they are even still around).

To freightguy: Ahhh! Wish I was there for those awesome moves made on the Bay Ridge Branch back in the late 80's/early 90's when the Williamsburg Bridge was closed for repairs. This severed the 'Eastern Division' of the BMT (East New York Yard and Fresh Pond Yard) from the rest of the subway system during a period when they were refurbishing the subway fleet after a decade of horrendeous graffiti and maintanence wear. Only way to get the cars out of the subway sysem was via the Bay Ridge Branch through Linden Yard connection for car floating to NJ.

A few railfan photographers were either tipped off or found out about the moves by chance, so we are fortunate to have many photos that exist related to this rare move over LIRR trackage. There are many nice shots of some of these moves in the book "Brooklyn's Waterfront Railroads", by Jay Bendersky.

 #494613  by Nova55
 
BMT,

SBK didnt handle the Cocoa moves, NYCH did, they went right through the yard ( the Cocoa guy was in back of the yard ). Davidson was relocated to Bush Yard when SBK rebuilt the yard when Costco went in ( and when the f^ed up the switch at 39th & 2nd ). Davidson still gets cars, They store all there crap right in the yard. Heres a shot of NYNJ grabbing an empty from there spot in the yard: http://trainweb.org/AbandonedLIRR/busht ... ross22.jpg

 #494988  by BMT
 
Nova55: I thought that SBK at one time had the Cocoa Port account...guess I was wrong. I hadn't realized that Davidson still gets service via railfreight....makes sense that NYCH would be their shipper. The last time I went by Davidson Pipe they had relocated to that smaller building over by 50th Street with entrance on 2nd Avenue. And thanks for that shot of the 'rental unit' on DP property last year.

BTW, I checked my shots and found that the ramp is indeed still there BUT the 'flatcar' portion (aka remnants of subway car underside) are no longer there.

Seems you get over there quite often (otherwise have someone taking shots for you?).

 #495007  by Nova55
 
BMT,

They own that UP unit...Finally some good operable power there..

Heres my site on NYCH:
http://trainweb.org/AbandonedLIRR/NYCH.htm

haven't been there in awhile, Gonna head there soon though.
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