TheNEW YORK DIVISION BULLETIN - FEBRUARY, 2011 Bulletin New York Division, Electric Railroaders’ Association Vol. 54, No. 2 February, 2011 The Bulletin LATE DECEMBER BLIZZARD PARALYZES Published by the New METROPOLITAN AREA York Division, Electric Railroaders’ Association, by Bernard Linder and Randy Glucksman Incorporated, PO Box 3001, New York, New On mid-Sunday morning, December 26, onk to Montauk remained suspended. The York 10008-3001. 2010, it began with light snow flurries, but by next morning Far Rockaway and West the time it ended the next afternoon, it was Hempstead got their service back. As For general inquiries, rated as the sixth worst storm to hit the met- Wednesday dawned, trains ran on all contact us at nydiv@ ropolitan area. This storm was certainly one branches, albeit with a few cancellations. Bus erausa.org or by phone at (212) 986-4482 (voice for the history books. The snowfall amounts service was provided east of Ronkonkoma mail available). The ranged from 12 to 32 inches (Rahway, New and Speonk. Rail service returned between Division’s website is Jersey), but with the high winds, the drifts Speonk and Montauk on Wednesday eve- www.erausa.org/ accumulated to several feet. As could be ex- ning, while the service from Ronkonkoma to nydiv.html. pected, the railroads were especially hard hit, Greenport had to wait until Friday morning. Editorial Staff: and below are summaries of each. It should Member Larry Kiss and his wife were aboard Editor-in-Chief: be noted that railroad crews worked around Train #203 (12:41 PM Greenport/ Bernard Linder the clock to restore service. Ronkonkoma) when he overheard the Con- News Editor: MTA LONG ISLAND RAIL ROAD ductor telling a passenger that it was a last- Randy Glucksman It is almost unbelievable, but there was a minute decision at 3 AM to restart train ser- Contributing Editor: Jeffrey Erlitz period of time during the blizzard when there vice. In fact he said that the replacement bus were no LIRR trains in service. Service was for the first trip out of Greenport had not been Production Manager: suspended at 10:30 PM Sunday. Tickets cancelled and was waiting at Greenport. David Ross were being honored by New York City Transit MTA METRO-NORTH RAILROAD at New York Penn Station, Atlantic Terminal, At 5 AM Monday, with a Sunday schedule and Jamaica. The railroad has a policy that it in effect, service was suspended on the New will not operate when snow accumulates Haven Line due to equipment and switch fail- above 10-13 inches to prevent trains being ures related to the blizzard. The Harlem Line ©2011 New York stuck on the road. That said, there was a re- was next at 8:30 AM. At 9:30 AM, all service Division, Electric Railroaders’ port that 11 trains never made it to their ter- was halted while crews worked to inspect Association, minals and were returned to the nearest sta- switches in the Bronx. There were hourly de- Incorporated tions or Jamaica, where passengers were put partures to Poughkeepsie at 12:45 PM, on buses to their stations. Trains with heat Southeast at 12:48 PM, and New Haven at and light were available for those who were 12:52 PM, making all stops. Inbound service In This Issue: stranded in New York Penn Station and Ja- resumed at roughly the same time, also mak- Brooklyn’s maica. Partial service returned to the Port ing all stops. On Tuesday, a Saturday sched- Little Birney Washington Branch at 5:30 PM Monday, and ule was in effect. Normal service resumed on Cars the following morning on the Ronkonkoma, Wednesday morning. ...Page 2 Huntington, and Babylon Branches. By eve- NJ TRANSIT ning, only the Far Rockaway, West Hemp- An “enhanced” weekend schedule was in stead, Ronkonkoma to Greenport, and Spe- (Continued on page 6) 1 NEWNEW YORK YORK DIVISION DIVISION BULLETIN BULLETIN - FEBRUARY,OCTOBER, 2000 2011 BROOKLYN’S LITTLE BIRNEY CARS by Bernard Linder The Birney car, named after Charles Birney, the mas- were renumbered 7200-5 in 1919 and were operated on ter mechanic of the Stone and Webster Engineering the Nortons Point Shuttle and Gravesend Avenue Lines. Corporation, was a one-man, single-truck lightweight The following cars were sold to F.B. Cutter Company car. It was developed about 1915 and was usually pur- of Terre Haute, Indiana on May 18, 1923, which sold chased by companies that could not afford a double- them to several street railways: 7001, 7005, 7008, truck car. 7022, 7025, 7027, 7030, 7031, 7056, 7062, 7070, 7072, The safety equipment in most Birneys included a com- 7074, 7076, 7078, 7079, 7082, 7094, and 7101-7. bination brake, sander, and door operator with dead- The following cars were renumbered to fill in the miss- man controls. We do not know whether this type equip- ing numbers in the 7000-99 series: ment was installed in the Brooklyn cars. The new roster was 7000-82, 7108-7205. Birney was able to produce a lightweight car by speci- ORIGINAL NEW ORIGINAL NUM- NEW NUMBER fying an arch roof instead of a deck roof and using steel NUMBER NUMBER BER instead of wood. In 1919, Brooklyn Rapid Transit wanted to convert its 7083 7082 7092 7031 lightly travelled lines to one man and replace its oldest 7084 7079 7093 7030 single-truck cars. Instead of converting two-man to one- 7085 7078 7095 7027 man cars, the company decided to buy one-man Birney cars, which cost only $5,680 each. The company hoped 7086 7076 7096 7025 that it would attract additional riders by running these 7087 7074 7097 7022 small cars more frequently than the large cars. 7088 7072 7098 7008 Like all single-truck cars, Birneys were rough riding. We never rode the Brooklyn Birneys, but we rode Third 7089 7070 7099 7005 Avenue’s 100-series single-truck cars, whose front and 7090 7062 7100 7001 rear platforms bounced up and down as soon as the car 7091 7056 picked up speed. Passengers sitting in the center of the car were not as uncomfortable. Car 7068 was rebuilt to surface rail grinder on Sep- Before ordering several hundred cars, Brooklyn Rapid tember 30, 1930 and was renumbered 9998. It was Transit tested six demonstrators. Cars 341-345 and scrapped March 26, 1955. 350, built by the American Car Company in 1918-9, ar- Car 7082 was rebuilt to rapid transit rail grinder on rived in Brooklyn on February 23, 1919. One car was September 30, 1930 and was renumbered 5004. It was placed in service at 9 AM February 23 on the 65th scrapped in July, 1954. Street-Fort Hamilton (Third Avenue) Line. Three others Car 7203 was sold to Bush Terminal Railroad on May were operated later in the day. At 5:50 AM the next day, 31, 1933. three cars were placed in service and ran all day. Run- Scrapping dates are as follows: ning time was 12 minutes with 3 minutes layover for YEAR NUMBER OF CARS changing ends, raising and lowering trolley poles, and reversing cross seats. Because the cars were smaller, 7000S 7100S 7200S service was increased from a 5– to a 3½-minute head- 1923 18 (A) 8 (A) — way in the rush hour and a 10– to a 7½-minute head- 1932 7 3 — way in non-rush hours. These six demos were sold to the Connecticut Com- 1933 31 9 6 (B) pany in early 1920 after the 7000s entered service. 1934 25 24 — The first shipment of the 7000s arrived in Brooklyn 1935 9 13 — during the week of December 14, 1919. Roster is as follows: 1937 8 43 — CAR NUMBERS MANUFACTURER YEAR 1954 1 — — 1955 1 — — 7000-7199 J.G. Brill Company 1919 (A) Sold to dealer 7200-7205 Cincinnati Car Company 1918 (B) Includes one car sold to Bush Terminal Railroad Cars 7200-5, which cost $5,500 each, were pur- Because they were flimsy and rough-riding, most Bir- chased November 29, 1918 by the South Brooklyn Rail- neys were scrapped long before the older, heavier, and way Company. Original numbers were 7000-5. They smooth-riding double-truck cars. (Continued on page 3) 2 NEW YORK DIVISION BULLETIN - FEBRUARY, 2011 Brooklyn’s Little Birney Cars (Continued from page 2) A Birney demonstrator on the Third Avenue Line in 1919. A Birney car on the Williamsburg Bridge during municipal operation Bernard Linder collection (1923-31). Bernard Linder collection Birney 7141 in 1921. Birney 7141 at Second Avenue and 58th Street in 1921. Bernard Linder collection Bernard Linder collection Bush Terminal Birney 1 (ex-BMT 7203) at 43rd Street Yard in Interior of Birney 7026. December, 1934. Bernard Linder collection Bernard Linder collection (Continued on page 4) 3 NEWNEW YORK YORK DIVISION DIVISION BULLETIN BULLETIN - FEBRUARY,OCTOBER, 2000 2011 Brooklyn’s Little Birney Cars sengers was 4 and the maximum was 24 in 1921 and (Continued from page 3) 28 in 1922. The fare was only two cents. Passengers were lucky that the company subsidized this deficit. BUSH TERMINAL RAILROAD COMPANY MUNICIPAL OPERATION ON THE This company was incorporated January 17, 1903. WILLIAMSBURG BRIDGE Construction began in July, 1905 and was completed in Birney cars were operated by the city on the Williams- the fall of 1906. Operation began April 1, 1906. The burg Bridge from 1923 to 1931 because BMT refused to company operated an electric railroad principally to provide service. The company complained that through transport freight between the buildings in the complex service was operated at a loss. Local service was profit- and lighters in connection with interstate traffic.