ERA BULLETIN — JUNE, 2017 The Bulletin Electric Railroaders’ Association, Incorporated Vol. 60, No. 6 June, 2017 The Bulletin STATEN ISLAND’S 157-YEAR-OLD RAILROAD Published by the Electric Staten Island’s trains have been providing quate service with only one locomotive, it Railroaders’ Association, regular service for more than a century, but decided to buy another one. When the trains Incorporated, PO Box most people living in the other boroughs are were running less than a year, it was unable 3323, New York, New York 10163-3323. not aware that the railroad exists. to pay for the locomotives and the creditors The Staten Island Rail Road Company was threatened to seize the property. To protect incorporated on October 18, 1851 to con- the assets, the company declared bankrupt- For general inquiries, or struct a railroad from the easterly shore of cy and Cornelius Vanderbilt’s son, William, Bulletin submissions, contact us at bulletin@ Staten Island between Quarantine and Clif- was appointed receiver. erausa.org. ERA’s ton to a point nearly opposite Amboy, New Meanwhile, the company bought the pri- website is Jersey. Construction began in November, vately-owned ferries, which provided unrelia- www.erausa.org. 1855 and was completed in 1860. This 13- ble service between South Ferry (Manhattan) mile route extended from Townsend’s Dock and Staten Island. Also bought and operated Editorial Staff: Editor-in-Chief: at Vanderbilt’s Landing to Tottenville. An in- until 1948 was the Perth Amboy to South Bernard Linder spection trip from Vanderbilt’s Landing to Ferry route, which was rerouted from Perth Tri-State News and Eltingville was held for officials and stock- Amboy to Tottenville. Commuter Rail Editor: holders on February 1, 1860. Regular pas- The company continued to prosper for sev- Ronald Yee North American and World senger service to Eltingville began on April eral years. Unfortunately one of its boats ex- News Editor: 23, 1860. Trains started operating to An- ploded on July 30, 1871 and it was forced to Alexander Ivanoff nadale on May 16 and to Tottenville, where a declare bankruptcy, because it could not pay Contributing Editor: big celebration was held, on June 2. At first the claims that were submitted. A receiver Jeffrey Erlitz the railroad operated five daily trains, which was appointed on March 28, 1872. The prop- Production Manager: were scheduled to meet the steam boats erty was sold at foreclosure and transferred David Ross from South Ferry. Running time was about 50 by deed to George Law on September 17, minutes from South Ferry to Clifton and 1872. The Staten Island Railway Company about 50 minutes from Clifton to Tottenville. was incorporated March 20, 1873 for the pur- ©2017 Elect ric Fuel for the wood-burning locomotives was pose of operating the Staten Island Rail Railroaders ’ Association, obtained by cutting down trees on railroad- Road Company, whose property was trans- Incorporate d owned land. ferred to Staten Island Railway by George The original stations were as follows: Law in a deed dated April 1, 1873. Another Vanderbilt’s Landing (Clifton) corporation, the Staten Island Rapid Transit Garretson Railroad Company, was incorporated on April In This Issue: New Dorp 14, 1880 for the purpose of building a rail- From Richmond (Court House) road from a point on the shore near New Recognition to Giffords Dorp Lane and Peteler’s South Beach Pavil- Dominance— Eltingville ion and Port Richmond. On June 30, 1883, Annadale the company leased the Staten Island Rail- The New York Huguenot way Company, which was operating from Connecting Princes Bay Clifton to Tottenville. The lease went into ef- Railroad Pleasant Plains fect on July 31, 1884, when the company (Continued) Richmond Valley started operating from Clifton to Tompkins- …Page 2 Tottenville ville. But it was unable to reach St. George Because the railroad could not provide ade- (Continued on page 4) 1 NEW YORKERA DIVISION BULLETIN BULLETIN — JUNE, OCTOBER, 2017 2000 FROM RECOGNITION TO DOMINANCE: THE NEW YORK CONNECTING RAILROAD (BRIDGING THE BAY AND CONNECTING THE PIECES) by George Chiasson (Continued from May, 2017 issue) (Continued on page 3) 2 ERA BULLETIN — JUNE, 2017 From Recognition to Dominance (Continued from page 2) (Continued on page 6) 3 NEW YORKERA DIVISION BULLETIN BULLETIN — JUNE, OCTOBER, 2017 2000 STATEN ISLAND RAILWAY SCENES A Staten Island Rapid Transit steam engine, October, 1914. Belaire Road station, South Beach Branch. Bernard Linder collection Bernard Linder collection Two views of Fort Wadsworth station, South Beach Branch. Bernard Linder collection South Beach station, South Beach Branch. South Beach Branch, July 2, 1950. Bernard Linder collection Bernard Linder photograph (Continued on page 5) Staten Island’s 157-Year-Old Railroad Coast Guard. After long negotiations, the railroad re- ceived permission to build a 512-foot two-track brick- (Continued from page 1) arch tunnel through mostly solid rock under the property because it was not allowed to cross the land owned by just south of St. George. This tunnel, which was built in the U.S. Lighthouse Service, the present-day U.S. (Continued on page 5) 4 ERA BULLETIN — JUNE, 2017 Staten Island Railway Scenes (Continued from page 4) Sweeper X600 at Clifton, May 23, 1945. Staten Island Rapid Transit train. Bernard Linder collection Bernard Linder collection Interior of car 343, August 20, 1969. Car 392 at Jefferson Avenue, August 30, 1968. Lawrence Linder photograph Lawrence Linder photograph Train of ex-Long Island Rail Road cars on fantrip, April 28, 1973. Train of R-44 cars, April 28, 1973. Bernard Linder collection Bernard Linder collection Staten Island’s 157-Year-Old Railroad ny’s 1886 report revealed that a new ferry landing at St. George and eight first-class station buildings, with the (Continued from page 4) necessary platforms, had been constructed. 1885, is still in service at the present time. The compa- (To be continued) 5 NEW YORKERA DIVISION BULLETIN BULLETIN — JUNE, OCTOBER, 2017 2000 From Recognition to Dominance (Continued from page 3) (Continued on page 7) 6 ERA BULLETIN — JUNE, 2017 From Recognition to Dominance (Continued from page 6) (Continued next issue) 7 NEW YORKERA DIVISION BULLETIN BULLETIN — JUNE, OCTOBER, 2017 2000 Commuter and Transit Notes No. 342 by Ronald Yee, James Giovan, and Alexander Ivanoff MTA Long Island Rail Road now terminate at Westbury, with its passengers required A relatively unknown fact is that LIRR has recently to transfer to the 6:04 PM from Atlantic Terminal to been finding itself short of passenger coaches for its Ronkonkoma, which will make additional stops at West- diesel-hauled services to the East End of Long Island bury and Hicksville or the 6:08 PM train from Hunter- during the peak Summer travel season. In a surprise spoint Avenue, which will stop at Westbury to receive move, the railroad announced that it will seek MTA passengers and make all local stops to Port Jefferson. Board approval for a non-competitive inter- On the Montauk Branch, the Summer season Cannon- governmental lease agreement to rent 8 single-level ball express service to the Hamptons and Montauk re- push-pull coaches from the MARC system in Maryland. sumed on May 26, departing Penn Station at 4:06 PM. The monthly lease rate is expected to be $15,570 per Additional Friday-only departures include a 1:47 PM car and is the same rate that had been charged to train to Montauk from Hunterspoint Avenue, a 5:09 PM Amtrak and SEPTA when they had leased this equip- from Penn Station to Montauk and a 7:38 PM from Ja- ment last year. LIRR plans to initially lease these 8 cars maica to Montauk. In addition, two extra trains will oper- for 2017 and increase the number of leased cars to a ate on Fridays only to Patchogue and are coordinated maximum of 21 for option years 2018 and 2019. These with Fire Island ferryboat departures there. One train cars have been in storage on MARC property since departs Jamaica at 8:08 AM to Patchogue and the other 2015 as they have been rendered surplus by the latest train departs Babylon at 12:02 PM. Beginning Memorial order of 54 MARC IV Bombardier multi-level push-pull Day weekend, half-hourly service was restored at Lyn- coaches, which were placed in service beginning in brook following the completion of Babylon Branch con- 2014. MARC also has 63 MARC III multi-levels built by crete tie work in the vicinity of that station. With the Kawasaki 1999-2001, 33 MARC IIB single-level coach- completion of midday track work, two weekday off-peak es, and 24 MARC IIA single-level coaches, the latter Oyster Bay Branch trains were restored to the schedule, two subclasses both built by Sumitomo Nippon-Sharyo the 12:08 PM from Jamaica to Oyster Bay and the 1:35 in 1991-3 and 1985-7 respectively. (note: two MARC IIA PM from Oyster Bay to Jamaica. Minor 1-2-minute and one MARC IIB class coaches were destroyed in the changes were made to three other off-peak trains on collision with Amtrak’s Capitol Limited at Silver Spring, that branch. Lastly, a new Fisherman’s Train was intro- Maryland in 1996. The 24 MARC IIAs are the fleet cur- duced to the “Greenport Scoot” schedule, departing rently in storage and would be the pool of cars to be Ronkonkoma at 3:49 AM and arriving at Greenport at leased by LIRR. The initial 8 cars would likely be the 5:04 AM as a Summer service and the result of efforts same ones leased by SEPTA during its Rotem Silverlin- to improve LIRR train service on the North Fork of Long er V crisis of July-November, 2016.