ERA BULLETIN — AUGUST, 2017 The Bulletin Electric Railroaders’ Association, Incorporated Vol. 60, No. 8 August, 2017 The Bulletin STATEN ISLAND’S 157-YEAR-OLD RAILROAD Published by the Electric (Continued from July, 2017 issue) Railroaders’ Association, Incorporated, PO Box Staten Island riders always hoped that the to schedule additional Staten Island trains.) 3323, New York, New railroad could provide a one-seat ride to In 1923, the State Legislature decided to York 10163-3323. Brooklyn and Manhattan. In the previous is- reduce air pollution by passing a law requir- sue, we reported that a 1921 law ordered the ing New York City railroads to discontinue For general inquiries, or city to build a river tunnel. In this issue we steam operation. The company complied and Bulletin submissions, will continue this story of the failed attempt to started ordering and installing electrical contact us at bulletin@ equipment. Because Staten Island riders al- erausa.org. ERA’s build the tunnel. On April 14, 1923, Mayor website is Hylan, who was using a silver pick, started ways hoped that they could enjoy a one-seat www.erausa.org. excavating for the Brooklyn shaft at the foot rail ride to Brooklyn and Manhattan, the com- of 68th Street between Shore Road and what pany ordered electric MU cars that were the Editorial Staff: is now the Belt Parkway. Construction of the same size and operated on the same voltage Editor-in-Chief: Bernard Linder Brooklyn shaft began promptly, but construc- as the BMT B-Types. Their door and seating Tri-State News and tion of the Staten Island shaft did not begin arrangement was different. The company Commuter Rail Editor: until July 19, 1923. This shaft was located at also replaced the old track rails with 100- Ronald Yee the St. George Ferry Terminal near the toll pound rail. Power was supplied by Staten North American and World booths between the inbound and outbound Island Edison’s power house through high- News Editor: Alexander Ivanoff ferry lanes. It was filled in when the terminal voltage transmission lines to substations Contributing Editor: was rebuilt after the 1946 fire. After construc- where the high-voltage alternating current Jeffrey Erlitz tion was completed in 1925, a state law was was converted to 600-volt direct current. The passed limiting the use of the tunnel to pas- third rail and protection board were similar to Production Manager: David Ross senger trains. When bids for tunnel construc- the BMT installation. The signal system, tion were opened on May 8, 1925, no con- which was unique to the Baltimore & Ohio tractors bid for the job and work on the shafts Railroad, consisted of four-aspect color posi- ©2017 Elect ric stopped. Unfortunately, the city wasted more tion light signals, largely approach lighted. Railroaders ’ than $4.2 million, $472,568 for the Brooklyn Because there were white lights above and Association, Incorporate d shaft and $762,715 for the Staten Island below the position light signals, twelve differ- shaft. ent aspects could be displayed. There was much controversy about this Electrification proceeded rapidly; the first tunnel, which was apparently not intended to electric MU car arrived at Staten Island on In This Issue: connect with BMT. If passenger service had April 13, 1925. Third rails were installed on From been operated, it would have been a sepa- portions of the line and it was expected that Recognition to rate railroad whose destination was not spec- power would be turned on in the next few ified. days. Clifton Shop was equipped to maintain Dominance— (Editor’s Note by Bernard Linder: There were the new electric cars, which started operating The New York persistent rumors that through service would be June 5, 1925 on the South Beach Branch. Connecting operated with BMT, but we are not aware that When electric trains started operating July 1, Railroad city officials ever discussed it with BMT officials. 1925 between St. George and Tottenville, (Continued) At that time, BMT was unable to provide ade- there was a ceremony. The first electric train quate service because the city was slow con- departed immediately after the ceremony …Page 2 structing the 14th Street and Nassau Street Lines. carrying borough and Baltimore & Ohio offi- We believe that BMT would have been reluctant (Continued on page 18) NEXT TRIP: STEAM TRAIN RIDE/PHILLIPSBURG1 MUSEUM — SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 9 NEW YORKERA DIVISION BULLETIN BULLETIN — AUGUST, OCTOBER, 2017 2000 FROM RECOGNITION TO DOMINANCE: THE NEW YORK CONNECTING RAILROAD (BRIDGING THE BAY AND CONNECTING THE PIECES) by George Chiasson (Continued from July, 2017 issue) Completing the New York Connecting railway overpasses were completed in the same seg- Railroad—Progress in Baby Steps and Evolv- ment between Calamus Road and Thomson (45th) Ave- ing Freight Operations nue, the very last piece of right-of-way to be graded Back on the line toward Brooklyn, work on an 80-foot- from untamed land was the embankment that crossed wide cut progressed all through 1915 and well into the the Long Island Rail Road Main Line, Maurice Avenue, following year, from a point south of Fillmore (35th) Ave- the North Side Division, and Queens Boulevard be- nue to the end of Section “C” at Grand Avenue, with a tween their respective overpasses. This job was finally separate contract for construction of the long concrete started in May of 1917 and finished within weeks, dove- arch bridge across Queens Boulevard being let on July tailing well with the laying of track. That final, critical 14. Just as it had done with the Long Island Rail Road task was completed from Bay Ridge to Fresh Pond in during construction of its “Woodside-Winfield cut-off,” the summer of 1916 and continued on to Bowery Bay the City of New York worked in partnership with man- Junction through the year 1917, with the line reaching a agement of the New York Connecting Railroad to guide state of beneficial use by the Yuletide (Christmas). its design and construction from an aesthetic and public Initial completion of the lower portion of the New York benefit perspective, given that the wide thoroughfare it Connecting Railroad was marked by the activation of was to traverse was then being created by widening manual block signal stations on the LIRR Manhattan Thomson Avenue to about four times its original size Beach Division at “NU” (New Utrecht), “MJ” (Manhattan (including a reservation for the Jamaica trolley of the Beach Junction), “NO” (New Lots), “KN” (Pitkin), and Manhattan & Queens Traction Company). Whereas the “FN” (Fremont), all across Brooklyn and Queens, on LIRR effort had culminated in a three-section girder January 17, 1918. At that time the southerly portion be- span with ornate steel facing, suspended between came operational for through freight service between Beaux-Arts concrete piers that were adorned with arch- Port Morris and Bay Ridge, with the final increment to es intended for pedestrian passage, after a number of Bay Ridge itself operated under timetable authority. Ac- design proposals the Connecting Railroad’s rendition, tual operations commenced on January 28, at which as completed during 1916, was composed of three ad- time the first New Haven freight trains crossed the Hell joined all-concrete arches featuring Beaux-Arts styling Gate Bridge and made their way south past Bowery Bay throughout (and with no provision for pedestrians at all). Junction, but strictly to perform interchange with the The feature attractions on Section “D” in 1915 were the Long Island Rail Road at the Fresh Pond Junction con- installation of a temporary overpass at Grand Avenue in nection, where a series of sidings were laid on the new- Elmhurst and construction of the tunnel beneath Luther- ly-completed ramp, before returning north. At that time an Cemetery on the edge of Ridgewood. In the first in- trains traversed varying segments of finished and unfin- stance a bridge fabricated of large timbers took shape ished track en route, which would remain the case for that was crowded with utility lines as part of the struc- some time to come, particularly on the multiple-iron ture and also had to carry BRT’s Flushing-Ridgewood Manhattan Beach Division. On April 8 both main freight- trolley over the excavation site. Meanwhile, once oriented tracks of the New York Connecting Railroad ground through the Great Juniper Swamp had been were fully completed from their origin as the “new” 5 stabilized using a “blanket fill,” piles, and massive quan- and 6 at Port Morris in the Bronx, across the Hell Gate tities of concrete, a contract for that second, and equally Bridge to Bowery Bay Junction, and all the way to their critical, undertaking was granted on July 20 with site union with the Manhattan Beach Division at Fresh Pond preparation already underway by August 8. A modified in Queens. Nevertheless a variety of issues (manpower, cut-and-cover method of construction was begun on the equipment, yard space and traffic management, for ex- tunnel in the middle of an otherwise frozen graveyard ample) had to be worked out before the first through during February of 1916, lasted through the entire con- freights were at last able to run on behalf of the Penn- struction season that followed, and was finished in No- sylvania Railroad, both ways between the Bay Ridge vember, when the cemetery Superintendent’s home car floats in Brooklyn and Cedar Hill Yard near New Ha- was shored up after it was slightly dug beneath as part ven, Connecticut on May 7, 1918. of the intended alignment. The finished excavation A key event to the inauguration of through freight ser- measured 518 feet long, 80 feet wide, and about 25 feet vice was the opening of so-called “West Yard” along the deep (all covered by a concrete and steel deck overlaid LIRR Montauk Division.