EW YOR N & K ATLANTIC R Y A A ANACOSTIA IRL W A Moving Forward A I L WAY Spring 2015

News for customers, employees and friends of the New York & Atlantic Railway

NY&A instrumental in clearing snow after storms

On Monday, January 26, 2014, normally spread gravel ballast (bed New York Governor Andrew Cuomo for railroad tracks) and create drain- issued a state of emergency as Storm age ditches. However, the spreader can Juno hit Long Island with heavy snow, also serve as a snow plow. high winds and coastal flooding. Parts Due to continuous winds and of Long Island saw more than two feet drifting snow, there was a significant of snow. The Long Island Rail Road amount of snow that had to be cleared (LIRR), Metro-North Railroad and all several times. About 800 locomotive main roads were closed by 11 PM. The miles were operated over a three-day New York & Atlantic Railway tempo- period and, by mid-February, well over rarily ceased operations. 1,000 locomotive-miles were con- NY&A operations started again on sumed in this snow removal service. Wednesday, January 28 and the rail- Immediately after the storm, the road was instrumental in clearing snow NY&A maintenance team cleared for the LIRR. NY&A crews helped ice and snow from the rails and at all reopen passenger and freight lines in switch points. “We had to dig out all central and eastern Long Island. the switches and worked with the train Two NY&A GP38-2 locomotives crews to get to our customers to make NY&A 261 after a day of clearing snow and were used to push the LIRR’s Jordan sure there were no interruptions in ser- ice. Photo by Joseph A. Tischner Spreader—a heavy maintenance unit vice,” says Bob Clark, chief engineer. equipped with a plow and blades that

The LIRR’s 53-foot-long and 80-ton steel Harsco Spread- er Ditcher, also known as a Jordan Spreader and nick- named “Darth Vader,” gets a push from two NY&A GP38-2 locomotives. The Jordan Spreader was used to clear the tracks between Ronkonkoma and Riverhead, eventually ending up in Montauk. Photo by Joseph A. Tischner MOW supervisors share the workload The Maintenance of Way (MOW) and he gave me the opportunity to work department at the NY&A has not one but on my first railroad job.” two professionals keeping an eye on their Bob goes on to say, “It’s a much tracks: Bob Clark, chief engineer, and Ed- different railroad than when we started. win De Leon, MOW supervisor. We’ve upgraded the condition of the rail- Bob, a native of Canada, has more road substantially over that period, with than 60 years of experience in the railroad welded rail and a lot of capital jobs.” industry. He started out in the engineering “I think we work well together,” says department for the New York Central Rail- Edwin. “Our relationship has developed road. As his railroad career progressed, he over the past six years and we’ve been worked in various locations around the able to do a lot together for the NY&A.” northeast United States and the Midwest, Bob replies, “Edwin is a very hard subsequently ending up in Philadelphia. worker and maintains a high quality of He retired as the assistant vice president work. He is a real asset to this railroad.” of engineering at Conrail in 1994. When they’re not working, they each (From left) Edwin DeLeon and Bob Clark “I met Paul Victor in 1999, while we spend time with their families. Bob has were individually doing consulting work in Mexico,” says Bob. been married to his wife, Mary Ellen, for 61 years and has four “When Paul became president of the NY&A, he asked if I could children, seven grandchildren and one great-grandchild. assist the NY&A in strengthening its MOW organization.” Edwin, a New York Yankees fan, enjoys working out and That’s when Edwin entered the picture. He was self-em- lifting weights and spending time with his wife, Cecilia, and ployed, doing contract right-of-way clean up work for the their three daughters: 17-year old Ashley, 14-year old Kimber- NY&A. Edwin says, “I asked Paul for a position at this railroad ly and 2-year old Makailey.

ELM Global Logistics relies on NY&A to build business ELM Global Logistics, located in the warehouse. Currently, railcars need freight for a number of customers that Brentwood, Long Island, is the only to be separated and hand brakes ap- are crucial to the Queens, Brooklyn, direct rail-served, third-party, full-lo- plied at different openings in order to and Long Island markets and tireless- gistics service provider in Nassau and unload them. Completing this project ly explores new opportunities as they Suffolk counties. They are also well will allow more railcars to be unloaded arise.” positioned to serve all five boroughs of at a faster rate. ELM's Director of Sales, Cindy New York City. ELM, which has experience han- Farley, says, "ELM formed a partner- Located 40 miles east of New York dling a wide range of consumer and ship with the NY&A as they have the City, ELM has been using NY&A ser- industrial commodities, has an addi- ability to offer competitive rail rates vices since 2003. Through the railroad, tional rail spur that can be opened once with connections to all major rail car- they connect with all major rail carri- the need arises. riers. As such, their rates reflect a sub- ers, receiving goods from as far away “We are pleased to partner with a stantial savings in trucking costs." as California, Mexico and Canada. company that is such an effective rail Three of ELM’s current rail cus- Plans are under way to expand logistics provider,” says James Bon- tomers receiving inbound cargo are track capacity and improve crew utili- ner, director of sales and marketing at Azteca Milling, Inter-County Bakers zation by removing an interior wall in the NY&A. “ELM handles inbound and Clearwater Paper.

A ANACOSTIA An Anacostia Company New York & Atlantic Railway The New York metropolitan area, Message from the President as well as the northeastern region of the country, has been in a deep freeze ees to re-clear switches and crossings. since almost the beginning of the New Blowing snow from passenger trains can Year. There have been repeated cycles quickly undo the effort just expended to of snow, followed by rain, immediate- make a switch operational. ly followed by a hard freeze. This cre- The occasional times when the mer- ates two specific challenges: significant cury climbed above 32°F, especially in snow drifts and ice that forms over the concert with rainfall, repeatedly result- rails. ed in a sheet of ice several inches above To combat the snowfall, NY&A, the head of the rail at many locations. together with the LIRR, operated a ma- The standard practice of using under chine known as a Jordan Spreader. The rail portable kerosene heaters, and/or engine’s plows were a critical compo- the staging of rail cars tied down over nent because winds drove snow back key switches, were simply not sufficient over the recently plowed right-of-way. to overcome the magnitude of ice that In addition, the NY&A contracted to use formed. Only people armed with picks, scribed as bad. However, despite these front-end loaders and other equipment lining bars, propane, gasoline and jack- challenges, NY&A persevered and we to clear snow that collected repeatedly hammers were able to clear the ice-cov- will work hard in order to return to the on freight-only line segments after each ered areas and liberate cars frozen in level of service our customers expect. snowstorm. place. We need to thank everyone for Almost all trains and yard engines In total, more than 20 people, in their individual efforts and for their fo- that were operated during this period addition to our own train crew mem- cus on safety over this critical period. required both contractor-supplied and bers, were required to keep rail service NY&A engineering personnel to ride up and running for NY&A’s customers. along with the transportation employ- The working conditions can only be de- Paul

Bridge project completed through ingenuity NY&A President Paul Victor recalls that the design of the bridge was a challenge. “We have the street overhead, so we couldn’t go up. The sewer is underneath, so we couldn’t go down, but we needed another foot of clearance.” The bridge in question is an integral and final component of the railroad’s Plate F clearance project, which was initiated last fall to increase clearance for 17-foot high cars. Constraints were the over- head intersection of Metropolitan Avenue and Fresh Pond Road, and a 100-year-old sewer line below. In between is a 630-foot long un- derpass less than a mile from NY&A’s Fresh Pond yard in Queens, New York. Borrowing from past experience, Paul suggested a way that the clearance could be improved. The idea was reviewed by Thomas Si- wula, principal engineer and Scott Wertans, president of Saratoga Construction of the bridge showing use of I-beams (in- Railroad Engineering PC and approved by the New York State De- stead of conventional girders) and placement of a sample partment of Transportation. rail. The objective was to cut the height of the supporting With the bridge project completed, the NY&A will be able to ac- structure, which would typically be 2½ to 3 feet, to only 16 commodate 17-foot high Plate F cars throughout all of Queens and inches. The bolts visible in this photo were torqued down upon completion. Brooklyn by the end of April 2015.

A New York & Atlantic Railway An Anacostia Company ANACOSTIA New York & Atlantic Railway

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NY&A properties, which are within the 25-mile New York studio zone, have provided ideal locations for the filming of scenes of many movies, TV shows and advertising shoots. Some memorable films and TV shows include "Unstoppa- ble," "Man on a Ledge," "Person of Inter- est," "The Good Wife," and "Boardwalk Empire." Below is a pop culture quiz to see if you can guess the movies or shows that have been filmed on NY&A property.

1. In this reboot, featuring Andrew Garfield and Emma Stone, a young man uses his super powers to protect New York from bad guys. 2. Two detectives solve modern-day ver- sions of Sherlock Holmes cases in New York City. It stars Jonny Lee Miller and Lucy Liu. 3. Mariska Hargitay, Christopher Meloni, and Ice-T star in this TV show about an elite squad of NYPD detectives who in- vestigate a variety of crimes. 4. Liam Neeson starred in this film about a hit man who has one night to figure out who he can trust - his estranged son Posters featuring movies and shows that have filmed on var- (played by Joel Kinnaman) or his long- ious NY&A properties line the walls of the railroad’s offices. time best friend (played by Ed Harris). Top: Posters from the TV show “Persons of Interest” and the 5. This dark drama starring Ben McKenzie movie “Man on a Ledge.” Bottom: Posters from the movie and Jada Pinkett Smith takes place in “Unstoppable” and the TV show “The Blacklist.” Gotham City years predating Batman’s arrival. 6. This crime thriller takes place in New York City in 1981 during what is con- sidered one of most violent years in the city’s history. It stars Jessica Chastain,

Oscar Issac and Albert Brooks.

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(filmed at Dutch Kills Bridge Bridge Kills Dutch at (filmed Gotham 5. 2013) in Blissville

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(filmed at at (filmed Unit Victims Special Order: & Law 3. 2013)

(filmed at Maspeth in in Maspeth at (filmed Elementary 2. 2014) and 2013 in

(filmed in several locations locations several in (filmed 2 Spider-Man Amazing The 1.

: Answers