TheNEW YORK DIVISION BULLETIN - OCTOBER, 2011 Bulletin New York Division, Electric Railroaders’ Association Vol. 54, No. 10 October, 2011 The Bulletin HURRICANE IRENE STRIKES EAST COAST Published by the New Subways and Commuter Rail Completely York Division, Electric Railroaders’ Association, Shutdown – An Unprecedented Action Incorporated, PO Box 3001, New York, New by Bernard Linder and Randy Glucksman York 10008-3001. Hurricane Irene was born in the Caribbean and Exchange Place. Portable pumps with all Sea at 7 PM Atlantic Time, Saturday, August necessary hoses, and emergency generators For general inquiries, contact us at nydiv@ 20. In the following days, she achieved Cate- were checked and tested. Amtrak canceled: erausa.org or by phone gory 3 status during her northward trek, Auto Train (#52/53), Palmetto (#90), Silver at (212) 986-4482 (voice causing flooding and damage to several Car- Meteor (#97/98), and Silver Star (#91/92) for mail available). The ibbean Islands. The East Coast of the United trains originating between August 26 and 28. Division’s website is States was put on alert, and by August 24, For August 27 and 28, the Carolinian www.erausa.org/ nydiv.html. evacuations began from the Outer Banks of (#79/80) and Palmetto (#90) were canceled. North Carolina. Each day, at press confer- FRIDAY, AUGUST 26 Editorial Staff: ences, elected officials detailed the steps that The unthinkable happened. MTA Chairman Editor-in-Chief: were being made to prepare for Irene’s arri- Jay Walder announced that effective noon Bernard Linder val. Following is a day-by-day summary of Saturday, NYC Transit subways and buses, News Editor: Randy Glucksman what took place in the New York metro area. Staten Island Railway, the Long Island Rail Contributing Editor: PREPARATIONS Road, and Metro-North would shut down. Jeffrey Erlitz THURSDAY, AUGUST 25 This action is unprecedented. Mayor Michael Governors Cuomo (New York), Christie Bloomberg issued the first-ever mandatory Production Manager: David Ross (New Jersey), and Malloy (Connecticut) pre- evacuation order for people living in the so- emptively declared states of emergency. On called “Zone A,” the low-lying areas of the the same day, the Long Island Rail Road city, notably the Rockaways, Coney Island, canceled Friday’s Hunterspoint Avenue to Manhattan, and parts of Staten Island. It was estimated that roughly a quarter million peo- Montauk trains along with weekend work pro- ©2011 New York jects. At an evening press conference, MTA ple live in a “Zone A” area, but the shelter Division, Electric Chairman Jay Walder stated that if there capacity that the city can provide could only Railroaders’ were sustained winds in excess of 39 mph, accommodate 70,000. It was recommended Association, train service would be suspended. This ac- that people go to and stay with friends. Fare Incorporated tion would be taken eight hours in advance of collection was suspended on westbound this occurring. All rail agencies began taking LIRR Far Rockaway, Babylon, and Montauk In This Issue: precautions and moving equipment to higher trains as well as on New York City and MTA A History of the ground and storage locations away from low- Long Island buses, and as of 8 PM at sub- lying areas. PATH crews prepared for poten- way and railroad stations located in the man- A Train tial flooding with sandbags and pumps, in- datory evacuation areas. LIRR ran special (Continued) cluding a 1,000-gallon-per-minute, trailer- shuttle trains between Far Rockaway and ...Page 2 mounted portable diesel pump that could be Valley Stream. After 8 PM, toll collection was used inside tunnels if necessary. Floodgates suspended at the Cross Bay Veterans Me- would also be utilized if needed at Hoboken (Continued on page 8) NEXT TRIP: FERN ROCK & 69TH STREET1 SHOP TOUR, OCTOBER 1 NEWNEW YORKYORK DIVISIONDIVISION BULLETINBULLETIN - OCTOBER,OCTOBER, 20002011 A HISTORY OF THE A TRAIN by George Chiasson (Continued from September, 2011 Issue) ROLLING STOCK USED ON THE FULTON enable them to be hauled by either the new bridge mo- STREET ELEVATED, 1888-1956 tors to and from Manhattan, or the usual Forney loco- Kings County and Early Elevated Equipment motives on the Kings County line, during the time this When opened in 1888, the Kings County Elevated service actually operated between November, 1898 and Railway was populated by 80 coaches that were pro- July, 1899. vided by the famous Pullman car works of Chicago As the BRT Company. prepared to assume control of (100-179), all hauled by Forney-type 0-4-4T coal-fired, the Kings County Elevated (under the auspices of the steam-powered locomotives. While not much is known Brooklyn Union Elevated Railroad) in 1899, its electrifi- about the motive power, the coaches were of a more or cation was a priority item and third rail was available for less standard design of the day, measuring a little over use as early as January of 1900. Correspondingly, the 48 feet long, just under 9 feet wide at the thresholds, “Bridge” motor and trailer cars of 1898 were quickly re- and 12 feet 9 inches in height. Access was attained via built as all-electric motor cars 500-540 (including elec- open vestibules with manually-operated metal swing tric interior lights) in 1899. These were supplemented by gates and seating was mostly longitudinal with a few new electric gate motor cars 436-440 from Brill in 1900, transverse types gathered in the middle of the car. In which had slightly longer wooden bodies built on steel sum they were virtual copies of the cars used on both and wood under-framing. As of 1903, when steam drew the Manhattan els and the Brooklyn Elevated Railroad its last train on the Fulton Street El, such motors were before the Kings County El was formed, but with one still being used to haul the surviving KCER coaches, very noteworthy exception: the window posts of the some still set up as non-electrified, oil-lit trailers and original Kings County fleet had a unique style of scroll others by this time as electrified trailers. It appears that that then set them apart from the rest of BRT’s el car there was no multiple-unit capability in such trains dur- fleet as time progressed and their configuration ing those years and the motor cars were switched in evolved. and out of them at terminals like the steam locomotives As service was extended to Van Siclen Avenue, 50 had been. During the summers between 1899 and additional coaches were built by Pullman for KCER in 1905, the trailers were joined by open cars 3200-32, 1889 (180-229) along with some more Forneys, osten- originally built for the Brooklyn, Bath & West End and sibly as a separate acquisition by subsidiary Fulton Ele- the New York & Sea Beach excursion lines then electri- vated Railway. The final 15 coaches to be placed in ser- fied as trolley motors about 1897. On the Brooklyn ele- vice under Kings County tutelage (230-244) were built vated system they were used as electric trailers. by Harlan & Hollingsworth of Wilmington, Delaware in From 1901 to 1905 the balance of BRT’s initial fleet 1893. At the time they were a notable supplier of rolling was converted from steam-hauled coaches to electrified stock for the nation’s budding rapid transit industry, in- trailers numbered 1-271, while the motor cars were re- cluding both the Kings County El and then the a- numbered from the 400-series (ex-Brooklyn Elevated building Metropolitan West Side company of Chicago. Railroad) and 500-series (ex-Kings County Elevated) to Altogether the Kings County fleet totaled 145 coaches the 600-940 group. Of the Kings County’s alumni, and 44 Forneys through the 1890s, with little if any coaches 100-159 became “BU” Motor cars 700-758 change until the first attempt was made to run through (still as identified by the ornate window framing); 160- trains to Manhattan. In 1898 KCER took delivery of 229 were re-identified as Trailers 191-256; and Harlan electric motor cars 245-264 and electric trailers 265-285 & Hollingsworth cars 230-244 became trailers 257-271. from the Wason works of Springfield, Massachusetts. Finally, the 1898 bridge cars became motors 900-935, These were not as ornately detailed as the earlier stock, while the 1900 Brill electric motors became 628-632. but had center doors and cable grip equipment installed Note that by no means was any of this rolling stock nec- for use in crossing the Brooklyn Bridge. They used their essarily restricted to the Fulton Street El after the mass electric capabilities to navigate in and out of the termi- electrification of equipment started in 1901, but by the nals at Park Row and Sands Street and the grips to end of 1905 what was being operated in service there cross the span, and then were propelled by steam en- were cars assigned to the “Eastern Division” of BRT gine once on the Kings County El itself. Incredibly, they (based at East New York): electric trailers in the new 1- retained oil lamps for interior illumination and wood-fired 271 series; and converted electric motors in the 600- stoves for heat as had the earlier cars. In addition, cen- 632, 700-758, 800-859, and 900-936 groups, a jumbled ter doors and cable grips or cable depressors were in- (Continued on page 3) stalled on the original steam coach fleet (100-244), to 2 NEW YORK DIVISION BULLETIN - OCTOBER, 2011 A History of the A Train into two permanently-joined 3-car sets was undertaken at the 39th Street Shops.