ERA BULLETIN — APRIL, 2016 The Bulletin Electric Railroaders’ Association, Incorporated Vol. 59, No. 4 April, 2016 The Bulletin RAYMOND R. BERGER, 1941-2016 Published by the Electric by Eric R. Oszustowicz Railroaders’ Association, Incorporated, PO Box On March 1, 2016, Raymond R. Berger corresponded regularly. In addition, the pho- 3323, New York, New York 10163-3323. passed away at age 74. He was an ERA tographic results of his travels were shared member since 1958. Ray will be missed by through countless presentations at which he us all. Ray was on the ERA’s Board of Direc- would educate attendees through meticulous For general inquiries, tors for many years and also served for a narration regarding the transit systems dis- contact us at bulletin@ time as the Chairman of its New York Divi- played. erausa.org. ERA’s website is sion when it was still operationally independ- Ray was a retired transit professional and www.erausa.org. ent. was a respected member of NYCT’s Division To state that Ray performed work for the of Car Equipment. Think of Ray the next time Editorial Staff: ERA is quite an understate- you ride an R-142 or R- Editor-in-Chief: ment. All who perform work 142A since he contributed to Bernard Linder Tri-State News and for the ERA do so on a their basic design. Commuter Rail Editor: strictly volunteer basis. Ray Ray was a religious man. Ronald Yee was an extremely busy indi- He attained secular mem- North American and World vidual with many interests, bership in the Third Order of News Editor: Alexander Ivanoff but he was always available St. Francis and regularly Contributing Editor: to do work for the organiza- volunteered his services at Jeffrey Erlitz tion. Much of his work was the St. Francis of Assisi in a leadership role, but Ray Church in midtown Manhat- Production Manager: never had an issue with roll- tan. David Ross ing up his sleeves in order When it came to any sort of to stuff envelopes, lug box- work, Ray Berger was the ©2016 Elect ric es, or perform any other consummate perfectionist, Railroaders ’ required tedious task. In an and he expected the same Association, Incorporate d era when time is a precious from others. Although he commodity, he was always understood that perfection selfless and ready to sacri- During the 1980s Ray and Eric would was impossible, he also fice his time for the better- often embark on photographic expedi- believed that one should ment of the ERA, a sacrifice tions. On January 9, 1988, they con- make every effort to attain it. vinced a property owner along the In This Issue: for which he never sought Brighton Line to allow access to his roof His tenacity is legendary. From adulation. The greatest leg- to obtain a bird’s eye view of the then- Even after a debilitating ac- Recognition to acy that he leaves for all of new R68s. Here we see Ray proudly cident left him barely able to posing with his camera. Dominance— us is the part he played in walk, he still travelled wide- maintaining the ERA as a Eric R. Oszustowicz photograph ly. In fact, he passed away The New York strong and purposeful organization. while doing what he loved, travelling to pho- Connecting Ray was a busy man indeed. He travelled tograph transit systems on a cross country Railroad the world. Ray photographed almost every journey. To the very end, he never gave in (Continued) transit system in the western world (and be- and never gave up. Let Ray be an inspiration …Page 2 yond) which included every system in Ger- to us all. many. In these travels, he met other transit To have known Ray Berger and been his professionals and enthusiasts with whom he friend was a grand and cherished privilege. NEXT TRIP: SEPTA SHOPS TOUR — SATURDAY,1 APRIL 16 (CHANGED FROM APRIL 30) NEW YORKERA DIVISION BULLETIN BULLETIN — APRIL, OCTOBER, 2016 2000 FROM RECOGNITION TO DOMINANCE: THE NEW YORK CONNECTING RAILROAD (BRIDGING THE BAY AND CONNECTING THE PIECES) by George Chiasson (Continued from March, 2016 issue) As alluded to previously, the Suburban Rapid Transit tan Railway Company since June 4, 1891, as successor Company greatly improved downtown connections for to the original Suburban Rapid Transit concern. While the Harlem River Branch after its opening of an initial the new equipment was being “broken in” and operating operating segment on May 17, 1886, from the existing personnel were trained, the Manhattan Railway tempo- 129th Street station of the Third Avenue “L” to 133rd rarily restored service on the “Willis Avenue Shuttle,” as Street. To accomplish this it used a steel swing bridge it had previously run in 1886-7, starting on July 19. Two across the Harlem River that was appended beyond the weeks later (beginning on August 1) the New Haven end of structure of the Second Avenue Elevated (which used its new rapid transit rolling stock to provide all ser- itself had opened in August of 1880), and carried only vice on the Harlem River Branch, with schedules run- elevated trains across the river at a height sufficient to ning through from New Rochelle to the Manhattan Rail- meet navigational needs. The elevated line’s interim way’s 129th Street terminal, where immediate cross- terminus was just a short block-and-a-half walk from the transfer was available to both the Second and Third Harlem River Terminal and changed the entire dynamic Avenue elevated lines. At New Rochelle, a storage yard (though still did not completely solve the dilemma) for was built for the trains and a turntable for the Forneys, New Haven passengers navigating between the nor- with Harlem River trains starting trips from a siding therly and southerly reaches of Manhattan in a timely (referred to as Track 6 or the “Gauntlet Track”). The fashion. With cooperation from the New Haven, Subur- New Haven’s “L” cars were evidently equipped with ban Rapid Transit instituted a direct shuttle train from steps and folding traps, as such trains served the exist- 129th Street to the Harlem River Terminal itself (known ing low-level stations along the Harlem River Branch, by the “L” operator as “Willis Avenue”) on November 25, then the two side platforms in the terminal as they 1886 that was coordinated with the railroad’s local moved to and from the ramp connection to the “L,” schedules. To enable the Suburban’s diminutive “L” where they terminated at a high platform at 129th Street. trains to access the existing railway terminal, a high- The high middle platform and turn-back also remained level platform was laid over the middle of three existing in place at the Harlem River Terminal after this service low-level installations (whereas New Haven locals con- expansion, and may have been used from time to time tinued to use the outer two) and a ramp constructed by connecting shuttles. At any rate, this long-ago New from the Third Avenue “L” off the end of the new Harlem Haven foray into steam-powered rapid transit lasted a River Bridge that curved eastward as it descended to decade and a half until the Willis Avenue Branch was ground level. Consisting of a Forney and perhaps two or electrified under the auspices of the Interborough Rapid three standard coaches, these steam-powered shuttle Transit Company in 1905. In addition, for as long as the trains would be discharged on the northerly track, re- Belmont Stakes were staged at Morris Park Racecourse layed in a turn-back east of the platform through a see- each June between 1892 and 1904, the New Haven saw power swapping procedure, and then re-load at the was permitted to run its own rapid transit trains all the southerly track before returning to 129th Street. In reali- way between City Hall in Manhattan and the track’s sid- ty, most New Haven patrons continued to walk the short ing in the Bronx, operating express on the Second Ave- distance between the Harlem River Terminal and the nue Elevated and presumably in the charge of Manhat- 133rd Street station, as this was oftentimes quicker than tan Railway and later IRT personnel along the way. waiting for the languid shuttle to come and go. As a re- PIECES TO CONNECT, PART 2—THE NEW sult the little train proved to be short-lived in that initial YORK, BAY RIDGE & JAMAICA form, with service suspended just a year later on De- Prior to being terminally victimized by the financial cember 18, 1887. panic of September, 1873, the New York & Hempstead, This might have been the end of that particular story while a subsidiary of Long Island’s South Side Rail were it not for a degree of persistence on the part of the Road, was gaining momentum as a going concern, New Haven, which took delivery of its own miniature though in reality it consisted of two disconnected seg- “rapid transit” fleet in 1890-1. This consisted of Forney- ments, only one of which had thus far been transformed type locomotives and a series of 9-foot-wide open- into operational reality. As might be recalled, the compa- vestibule coaches, built to the same basic dimensions ny’s original mission, as of 1869, had been the con- as the Suburban’s equipment and outfitted with Eams struction of a continuous railroad as far east as Oyster vacuum brakes. Collectively they were capable of run- Bay and as far west as Kings County’s harbor frontage, ning both on the New Haven’s lines and the Manhattan “L” system, the latter being in the hands of the Manhat- (Continued on page 3) 2 ERA BULLETIN — APRIL, 2016 MUNICIPAL OPERATION OF WILLIAMSBURG BRIDGE TROLLEY CARS by Bernard Linder We have been publishing excerpts from BMT Chair- papers provided the following detailed account of the man Gerhard Dahl’s book, Transit Truths, in which he transition.