The Bulletin in MEMORIAM: WILLIAM J
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ERA BULLETIN — SEPTEMBER, 2020 The Bulletin Electric Railroaders’ Association, Incorporated Vol. 63, No. 9 September, 2020 The Bulletin IN MEMORIAM: WILLIAM J. MADDEN, 1947-2020 Published by the Electric Railroaders’ by Jeff Erlitz Association, Inc. P. O. Box 3323 Grand Central Station New York, NY 10163 For general inquiries, or Bulletin submissions, contact us at bulletin@erausa. org or on our website at erausa. org/contact Editorial Staff: Jeff Erlitz Editor-in-Chief Ron Yee Tri-State News and Commuter Rail Editor Alexander Ivanoff North American and World News Editor David Ross Production Manager Copyright © 2020 ERA This Month’s Cover Photo: Public Service of New Jer- sey double-truck motor cars 2282 and 2235 on Main Avenue & Glendale Street in Nutley, New Jersey on February 11, 1936. Unknown photographer William J (Bill) Madden during a station stop on the Canadian at Thunder Bay, Ontario, July 24, 1977. Jeff Erlitz photograph With deep sadness, I must pass along the around 1970, initially on Saturday mornings In This Issue: news that William Madden passed away on and then on Monday evenings. Like most of Assorted Wednesday, August 12, at the age of 73 due us, he could be found collating, stamping Travels from to complications from COVID-19. envelopes, and bagging sacks of mail for Bill, as everyone knew him, joined the Elec- both the New York Division Bulletin and Na- the First Half of tric Railroaders’ Association on February 21, tional’s Headlights. When the ERA began 2020…Page 18 1964 and was member number 3062. He offering Life memberships, Bill was one of probably started volunteering at headquar- the few members who took up that offer. ters on Greenwich Street in lower Manhattan (Continued on page 2) 1 NEW YORKERA BULLETIN DIVISION —BULLETIN SEPTEMBER, OCTOBER, 2020 2000 In Memoriam: William J. Madden, 1947-2020 that year. Though the war in Vietnam was already un- derway, Bill was stationed in West Germany throughout (Continued from page 1) his three-year deployment. Initially, he was located at I joined the ERA in September, 1970 and met Bill Zweibrücken, a mere five miles from the French border. sometime after that at one of the monthly meetings at Soon thereafter, though, he was deployed, with the the old District 65 building on Astor Place. I recall asking Third Armored Division, to Ayers Kaserne, just outside Hugh Dunne a question I had about the PATH system of Kirch-Göns, about 27 miles due north of Frankfurt am and he directed me to Bill. I may not remember what I Main. As this was during the Cold War, Bill’s unit was had for breakfast yesterday, but I distinctly remember often deployed on maneuvers to the Fulda Gap on the my first words to Bill, literally, “Do you know anything border of East Germany. about PATH?” He chuckled and promptly answered my Bill had already been a railfan for many years and ap- question, the exact nature of which I do not recall. preciated the fact that most (all?) of the troop trains his That was kind of the beginning of a friendship that unit rode were hauled by steam locomotives! Unfortu- lasted fifty years! Starting around 1975, Bill and I would nately, when Bill shipped his film back home from Ger- pick a section of railroad line in the New York metro ar- many, the ship sank! Just about all of his slides of ea and hike a few miles of it, taking pictures of whatever steam trains in Germany and pre-war trams in Frankfurt trains came our way, as well as station buildings and “went down with the ship!” other railroad infrastructure. This was, of course, way Shortly after leaving the army in September, 1967, Bill before “security concerns” became an issue with rail- saw an ad from the Port Authority Trans-Hudson (PATH) roads. Corporation for Signal Helpers. Bill got the job and In addition to rail photography, another of Bill’s pas- spent the next 32 years working in PATH’s Signal De- sions, like several of us, was collecting “rail mileage.” partment (later, Signal & Communications Department), Whenever there was a rail excursion advertised on working his way up to Signal Maintainer, Signal Test- some line that had long ago lost its passenger service, man (of various levels), and, finally, Signal Circuit De- Bill could be counted upon to be in attendance. signer. Also, like many of us, Bill’s interest in transportation In April, 1999, Bill retired from PATH and went to work was quite “multi-modal.” Aviation, marine, and motor for several consulting companies including Stone and vehicle modes were all included in his extensive slide Webster, HNTB, and DMJM-Harris. At least one of collection. Soon after airline deregulation in 1979, Bill those jobs included signal design work for the Second and I (and others, including Bruce Lane and the late Jim Avenue Subway. Bill’s last occupation was as an inde- Mattina, for example) would take advantage of extreme- pendent consultant for Arinc (formerly Aeronautical Ra- ly inexpensive air fares to fly places solely to ride on dio, Incorporated). Arinc was based in Annapolis, Mary- aircraft we had not been on before. One of the most land and this was where he and his wife lived at the memorable of those was when a few of us took the time. For Arinc, Bill worked on a signal project with the Eastern Air Shuttle up to Boston. There, we rode a Bos- Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority ton-Provincetown Airline DC-3A to, where else, Prov- (WMATA) and, later, Positive Train Control (PTC) with a incetown and back. On the outbound flight, Bill hap- couple of railroads, including CSX Transportation and pened to be seated next to a young girl who was a bit Kansas City Southern. Bill retired a second time from “disturbed” about being on such an ancient aircraft. She his consulting work in January, 2017. asked Bill if “this plane was safe.” Smiling and without Bill leaves behind his beloved wife of 35 years, Carol, missing a beat, Bill told her “how do you think it got to stepdaughter Tracey, grandson Griffen, and many, be so old?” Our little group, however, was thrilled to be many friends. Full of good cheer, he brought laughter able to actually ride on a DC-3! and smiles to any gathering he attended. Bill was an After graduating from Bayside High School in June absolute gentleman who would give you the shirt off his 1964, Bill enlisted with the United States Army and back. A truer friend would be very hard to find. He will started training at Fort Dix, New Jersey in September of be sorely missed. 2 ERA BULLETIN — SEPTEMBER, 2020 Commuter and Transit News by Ron Yee and Jeff Erlitz The Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) an- Citing high costs amid a historic fiscal crisis, the MTA nounced the first cuts to address a massive budget defi- announced on August 21 that its temporary overnight cit created by the COVID-19 pandemic, with more dras- For Hire Vehicle (FHV) program would cease opera- tic cuts, including service reductions, yet to come. tions, effective August 30 at 5 AM. The premium pro- Moves under review include service reductions, job gram was launched as an alternative to overnight sub- cuts, postponement of infrastructure projects, and toll way service, which officials suspended so that subway increases at the bridges and tunnels run by the agency. cars and stations could be disinfected and cleaned Facing deficits now projected at $16.2 billion through more thoroughly during the pandemic. It served a lim- 2024, MTA Chairman Patrick J. Foye said the size of ited number of customers who faced excessively the shortfall is “why these unpalatable, unacceptable lengthy trips as a result of closing the subway overnight. alternatives have to be considered. We’re going to have To assist those customers impacted by the cessation to make hard choices no matter what happens here.” of the program, the MTA has added a trio of bus routes Additional emergency federal assistance currently un- that largely mirror some of the more frequented trips der consideration in Congress could help prevent some that overnight FHV program users have been taking of these draconian cuts, but even with more federal aid, since the program launched in May. Metro-North Rail- there will still be a large unsustainable deficit. On July road and the Long Island Rail Road will also cross- 22, the MTA Board is expected to review the first series honor fares from stations in NYC during overnight hours of cuts that will save $1 billion in 2021, including the when the subway is closed. elimination of consulting contracts and a reduction of Since the program began, roughly 1,500 customers overtime. (Editor’s Note by Ron Yee: as this issue goes to have been using the service per night. The program has press, an emergency MTA Board meeting is scheduled for cost the MTA over $6 million, with the average cost per August 26 to discuss how the MTA will go forward with ad- trip being $49. The vast majority of those who previous- dressing the tremendous financial crisis confronting all divi- ly took the subway during the overnight hours have sions of the agency.) (New York Times, July 21) adapted by taking a range of different MTA buses. In The MTA provided a progress report on the efforts to addition to running its standard round-the-clock bus implement full Positive Train Control (PTC) systemwide routes, the MTA added three new interborough express on the Long Island Rail Road (LIRR) and Metro-North options, the B99, the M99, and the Bx99.