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www.freightrrofnyc.info

Industrial Offline Contract Switching Rail Marine Pocket Terminal Brooklyn Kings Queens Staten Island Richmond Bronx Manhattan New York City
Freight Harbor Port Pier Station Railroad Trains Steam Diesel Locomotive Locomotives Sidetank Saddletank Docksider Tank Engine
Carfloat Tugboat Barge Float Bridge Interchange Pier Station

transfer bridge carfloat float bridge rail marine pier station lighterage contract independant

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Hello & Welcome!

   This website is a compilation of the histories of the offline freight terminals, industrial concerns with railroad operations, and pier stations that were operated by railroads and that were located throughout Brooklyn, Queens, Staten Island, the Bronx and Manhattan.

   Included in each chapter you will find the data (where known) for the locomotives that operated for the companies and facilities listed on this website. To date, almost all of the steam locomotives that operated for these concerns, were of sidetank or saddletank in some configuration or another. The electric "juice jacks" and internal combustion locomotives were as eclectic and varied as one can find: center cab, box cab, steeple cab, and open cab; gas mechanical, oil-mechanical and diesel-electric. These chapters also include, where known and where applicable; the marine equipment (tugboats, carfloats, lighters, etc); and their respective specifications for the companies that operated them.

   For those of you who are just "finding" this page for the first time, this particular website grew out of my primary research topic, the Brooklyn Eastern District Terminal. As I found it difficult, if not impossible, to discuss the BEDT and not refer to the histories and rosters of the neighboring Rail - Marine Terminals, Industrial Railroads and some of the businesses associated with them; this page was created to cover the histories of those companies and their locomotives.

   In searching through the records of various locomotive builders for data concerning the locomotives owned by the marine - rail companies on this website, in turn led me to "discover" small industrial concerns in the New York Metropolitan Area that operated locomotives. So these companies in turn were researched and listed on this website as well.

   While the content of this website was originally concerned with only those railroads operating in Brooklyn & Queens, it gradually expanded over time to include two very small (but old) terminal railroads located in Staten Island that operated some very unique locomotives; and then the Bronx. Finally, I found myself looking for and locating Manhattan based Offline Terminal & Pier Station information, so those pages were created.

   It should also be noted that this website and the information contained on those webpages is constantly evolving, being updated and in some cases, corrected. Revisions are listed by individual page in the "update list" located at the very top of this page.

   As with my BEDT website, I cannot take full credit for all the efforts on this website, and the collaborative efforts of the many people who contributed to this website should be recognized as well. These people and their contributions are listed in alphabetical order in the "special thanks" chapter at the bottom of this page, and I am especially indebted to and grateful for the continuous contributions and assistance from Joseph Roborecky, Thomas Flagg, Ralph Heiss, Jay Held, Ed Bommer and Paul Strubeck among many others.

   Photographs come from a variety of notable "old time" collections; Everett DeGoyler, F. Rodney Dirkes, Harold Fagerberg, Gerald Landau and Frank Zahn to name a few; as well as "modern" collections such as Gene Collora, Tim Darnell, Matt Herson and Dave Keller, among many others; and from the digital archives of the Brooklyn Public, New York Public and New York State Libraries.

   All photographic contributions (specific to the locations covered) are welcome!  Please free free to submit your images to BEDT14@aol.com. You will of course be given due credit!

~ Visitors please take note ! ~

   The collection of images on this website, which continues to grow;
is due to the unprecedented and selfless contributions of the current owners of photo archives.

   These people made their generous contributions to this website in good will, and allowed me to post their images online for the entire railroading community to view and appreciate, in admiration of these Fallen Flag Railroads.

   In return, I strongly request that you please respect the ownership copyrights on those said images.

   Other than that, please enjoy the history and thanks for taking the time to visit this website!

   Don't forget to sign the Guestbook !

Philip M. Goldstein
Margaretville, NY

Preface

   When one actually stops and compiles a list of all the railroads that once operated in Brooklyn, Queens, Staten Island, the Bronx or Manhattan, that list actually becomes quite impressive, and in fact will reflect more operating entities than some states in the U.S. and most countries in the world!

   Normally, when railroads of Brooklyn are mentioned, one tends to either think of the four Rail-Marine terminals, those being the: Brooklyn Eastern District Terminal, Bush Terminal, New York Dock or the Jay Street Terminal.

   Or, one may think of the many steam powered passenger railroads that once operated and that were eventually absorbed into the Transit System. If one thought of Staten Island, the Staten Island Railway (another predominant passenger railroad once operated by the Baltimore & Ohio RR) is forefront in the majority of railfans recollections.

   The Bronx and Manhattan also had offline terminals as well, but these were all operated by the trunk line / Class 1 railroads (As well as dedicated "online" New York Central freight routes running through city streets!)

   Yet in fact there were so many more freight railroads located in these five boroughs, that have hardly been mentioned in contemporary accounts, if at all. This website addresses both the lesser of the known industrial railroads, as well as the more recognized "off line" terminal railroads in the five boroughs.

   All of the terminal railroads covered on my websites, are known as "offline terminals". The accepted definition of an "offline terminal" is such that a railroad terminal with no physical rail connection to the mainland rail network of the United States, is considered "offline". The only method of freight car transfer to and from the mainland rail network to these terminals was by carfloat.

   Until December 2008, this website did not cover the "offline" terminals operated by the Class 1 railroads:

Trunk Line / Class 1 - Offline Freight Terminals

   While the Harlem Transfer has been covered on my website for some time, largely due to the fact it was originally a joint venture (shared facility) until 1906, when at such time it was purchased outright by the Delaware, Lackawanna & Western Railroad. But even after this occurred, it had been operated as wholly owned subsidiary of its own accord and identity. The design of the Harlem Transfer Company, which it shares in most degrees with two other Bronx facilities; is unique in the fact that is has a circular freight house and concentric circular access trackage.

   Save for that one facility, all the other Class 1 offline terminals had been intentionally omitted from my website. This decision was made for the most part, because I felt that with the plethora of information already published both in bound form and on the internet, and with so many leisurely and professional historians working on the histories of the Long Island Railroad and the Baltimore & Ohio / Staten Island Railway, as well as the other Class 1 railroads, I would be duplicating efforts already undertaken. I eventually realized this was an error on my part.

    In fact, there did not appear to be an overwhelming amount of published material on quite a few of these Class 1 terminals located outside of Manhattan. In my opinion, detailed histories of Pennsylvania Railroad's North 4 Street Terminal, and the Delaware, Lackawanna & Western Railroad's 25th Street and Wallabout Terminals (all of which were located in Brooklyn); were practically non-existent and desperately needed.

   I also found a severe lack of information on the web of the Lehigh Valley and Erie Railroad facilities in the Bronx. The Central Railroad of New Jersey's Bronx Terminal has received a bit more publicity (being the subject of Tim Warris' model building website); but an actual dedicated history on that Central Railroad of New Jersey Bronx Terminal was not to be found either. In the process of researching the Pennsylvania North 4th Street Freight Station, an early and short lived Baltimore & Ohio offline terminal was discovered at North 1st Street!

   I also did not intend to create a page on the shared Wallabout Union Freight Station operation (Pennsylvania, New York Central, Lehigh Valley and Baltimore & Ohio Railroads) or the Wallabout Station of the Erie Railroad. Both of these facilities are kind of odd balls, as they were pier stations only; with no trackage or float bridge. Carfloats would simply be moored to the pier, and freight and commodities removed directly from the freight cars to the pier sheds. But their contribution to railroading history in Brooklyn was without fanfare until now.   

   Therefore, with the dedicated assistance of Joseph Roborecky, Paul Strubeck, Ralph Heiss, Jay Held and Tom Flagg and many other contributors, these two pier stations and three Class 1 Offline Terminals located in Brooklyn and three Bronx Class 1 Offline Terminals were researched, images located and now pages have been created and added to this website detailing the histories of these eight locations.

   All told, there are now thirty-five pages concerning the histories and operations of Industrial & Terminal Railroads in Brooklyn, Queens, Staten Island & the Bronx & Manhattan!

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Trunk Line / Class 1 - Online Freight Terminals Not Covered

   For the time being, the following locations in New York will remain to be omitted from this website for the following two reasons:

      a. These rail marine / carfloating terminals were technically connected to the mainland United States rail network; and / or
      b. They have been extensively covered in printed and internet publications.

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   Those locations being the:

      ¹  via the Hell Gate Bridge
      ²  via Sunnyside Yard and the East River Tunnels or over the Hell Gate Bridge
      ³  via the Arthur Kill vertical lift bridge to New Jersey
      ⁴  via several bridges crossing the Harlem River

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   Again, even though I had no intention to cover online terminals in the New York Metropolitan Area, I came across several interesting photographs of New York Central Freight Service (street running albeit "pre-High Line") in New York City. As I feel the photos are historically important, so I have included those images on their own page strictly as a photo album. You may view those images here. 

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   If you should desire information on those first three locations above, I highly recommend these three resources:

      1.   Steve Lynch's & Dave Keller's "LIRR website", and the books:
      2.  "The New York Connecting Railroad" by  Robert C. Sturm and William G. Thom, as well as
      3.  "New York Harbor Railroads in Color, Volumes 1 and 2", by Thomas Flagg.

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Contradictions in Data & Opinion

   I also think is bears mentioning that every so often, a contradiction in data surfaces. Research from one publication or author contrasts with information from another.

   Naturally, on occasion; it becomes very difficult to determine the truth. I know after many exchanges of dialog with other historians, it can become confusing. I assure you, I have taken the utmost care to reiterate that data accurately. Therefore in cases of contradictory data, both versions are usually listed with my notes.

  Only where and when I state that text or information is of my opinion or hypothesis, is information not conclusive.

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Definitions

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   As for definitions, some readers might find themselves asking what is the difference between an "industrial railroad" and a "terminal railroad". There are now actually four distinct categories of freight railroads discussed within this website:
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Offline Terminal Railroads.

• Companies operating locomotives and an offline freight terminal, with marine - rail interchange (carfloating) capacity:
  Brooklyn Eastern District Terminal;  Brooklyn Dock & Terminal;  Brooklyn Wharf & Warehouse;  Bush Terminal;  Jay Street Connecting;  New York Dock;  Harlem Transfer; Pennsylvania Railroad North 4th Street Freight Station;  New York, New Haven & Hartford Railroad North 1st Street Freight Station; Central Railroad of New Jersey Bronx Terminal;  Erie Railroad Harlem Station;  Lehigh Valley Bronx Terminal; Baltimore & Ohio Railroad West 26th Street Freight Station;  Lehigh Valley Railroad West 27th Street Freight Station;  Erie Railroad West 28th Street Freight Station; Pennsylvania Railroad West 37th Street Freight Station
  

• Companies operating locomotives and a freight terminal, without marine - rail interchange (carfloating) capacity:
  Atlas Terminal,  American Dock & Trust;  Pouch Terminal;  South Brooklyn: G & R Packing

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Industrial Railroads.

• Companies operating locomotives in a dedicated industrial or construction capacity:
  Astoria Light, Heat & Power;  Brooklyn Ash Removal Company;  Degnon Contracting / Degnon Realty Terminal Improvement;  Goodwin - Gallagher Sand & Gravel;  Procter & Gamble;  Queens Subway Apartment & Loft Building Corp.

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Pier Stations

• Railroad companies operating freight houses on piers for the removal of freight directly from a carfloat or lighter (no float bridges, team tracks or locomotives):
  Erie Railroad Wallabout Station; Wallabout Union Terminal (combined operation Pennsylvania, New York Central, Lehigh Valley, Baltimore & Ohio and Central Railroad of New Jersey), various pier stations on the Hudson & East Rivers;

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   With that being stated; any readers who might have questions, comments, suggestions, information or contributions are more than welcome to contact me:

Philip M. Goldstein
(845) 586-4672
bedt14@aol.com

   Now, without further delay; I present to you Industrial & Offline Terminal Railroads of Brooklyn, Queens, Staten Island, the Bronx and Manhattan...

A Glimpse of the Way Things Were

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   It is the year 1870. Ulysses S. Grant is in the White House after being elected president following a successful victory in the Civil War. Walrus mustaches are popular among men, and tops hats are in. The Department of Justice is created as a government agency. The Army Weather Bureau is created, and this would become the National Weather Service and the current Cape Hatteras Lighthouse is placed in service. The transcontinental railroad celebrates it's 1 year anniversary. There are no electric lights and either the mail or the telegraph is the means of communicating long distance, (even though a gentleman inventor by the name of Alexander Graham Bell is tinkering with acoustic telegraphy, which in a a few years yields a device that will eventually become known as the telephone).

   In New York City; the Statue of Liberty does not exist and just north, Ellis Island, known then as Castle Garden, is beginning to bustle with freshly arrived immigrants looking to become Americans. North Manhattan is wild forests. Staten Island is similar with a smattering of farms. Brooklyn and Queens are highly developed the closer you get to New York Harbor, but the eastern edges of Brooklyn & Queens are what would be considered "rural", and farmland dominated the view. Long distance travel, primarily via horse drawn wagon; is beginning to give way to the railroads. But, horse drawn carriages and small steam locomotive drawn street cars were the way to travel anywhere out of walking distance within the city.

   Long Island (which is comprised of Kings [Brooklyn], Queens, Nassau & Suffolk Counties), and Staten Island (Richmond County) were truly isolated from the mainland US. There are no bridge or tunnels spanning the East or Hudson Rivers. The Brooklyn Bridge would not be opened until 1883 and the Manhattan, Williamsburg, Queensboro or George Washington Bridges would not be built until many years after that. There are no Holland, Lincoln or Queens Midtown Tunnels. The only way to transport anything to these locations was by water: either by ship, boat, lighter or barge. If you found it necessary to go from Brooklyn or Queens to Manhattan, or from Staten Island or New Jersey to Manhattan, you would have to take a ferry. The waterborne vessels of this period are powered either by wind and sail or primitive steam power and coal is starting to increase as the fuel of choice for furnaces and boilers, which are used for heat or propulsion power.

   The "second" industrial revolution is underway in earnest, and the mass production of consumer goods is taking hold. To get the raw materials, commodities and items from the mainland to Long Island, everything was shipped by water from New Jersey to Manhattan and Long Island. Today, it is difficult to envision this isolation with the myriad of bridges, highways, and tunnels (and gridlock!) linking Brooklyn, Queens and Long Island with the mainland.

   As a result of this waterborne traffic, many dockside terminals and warehouses were built around the New York City proper for storage. The large mainland trunk line (or known later on as Class 1) railroads had their own equipment and properties; namely: tugboats, lighters, barges and ferries to bring these commodities to and from various mainland railroad points around the NY Harbor. To get the commodities to the New Jersey shoreline; many railroads, their locomotives themselves powered by steam, have built a vast network of tracks radiating towards the New York area.

   In the pre-float bridge days, freight had to be manually transferred at the docks and wharves from newly arrived trains to barges and lighters (a lighter is essentially a barge with a enclosed structure on it, similar in design to a one room warehouse). Of the lighters that carried products that need to be kept chilled, (i.e.: milk, meat, fruits and vegetables), these lighters were insulated (usually with double walls filled with sawdust) and were equipped with roof hatches for the loading of ice to be carried on board.

   This was a time consuming and back breaking method, of having to unload a freight car on the dock, load it onto a lighter or barge, transport the lighter cross-harbor out of New Jersey, then unload it. Then repeat the process again for the trip back. It also required vast labor pools. There had to be a better way...

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The Development of Carfloats & Float bridges
(or how to get freight cars from here to there by water)

   To better understand the success of the Offline Terminal railroads, we need to discuss the unique method of getting the freight cars to those terminals. It is too easy to think in simplistic terms that the railcar was merely placed by the railroad in front of the business, to be loaded or unloaded.

   One needs to remember that until 1916, there was no rail link to Brooklyn usable by freight trains (The Long Island Rail Road tunnels under the East River were not designed for freight service). Even by todays standards, the expedient way to ship a freight car to Brooklyn from the mainland of the United States (west of the Hudson River), remains to be by carfloat. The other alternative is having the freight car go as far north as Selkirk Yard near Albany, and then cross the Hudson River, head south, to eventually go through the Bronx and over the Hell Gate Bridge to Fresh Pond yard in Queens, only then to be routed further south into Brooklyn. This process is known in railroader's parlance as the "Selkirk Hurdle".

   As you can now understand, this routing is very time consuming and adds a great distance of travel, and could add at least one days travel time to the freight being transported. More often than not, it would take two or three days, taking into account the switching of cars from train to train, and assembling and readying that train to head south.

   Also keep in mind, only the New York, New Haven & Hartford Railroad / Long Island Rail Road jointly operated Bay Ridge Terminal, and through interchange there, the Bush Terminal; could receive freight cars via this route after 1916, as the Hell Gate Bridge wasn't completed until that year. As such, even the NYNH&H / LIRR had to carfloat their freight into Brooklyn prior to 1916. But Palmer's Dock / Brooklyn Eastern District Terminal, New York Dock and Jay Street Connecting Railroads would not have this advantage, and have absolutely no physical track connection to any other railroad throughout their histories. So, getting those railcars to Brooklyn was the problem that these railroads faced.

   This dilemma had been solved a many years prior, by the invention and development of the carfloat and float bridge or transfer bridge. (The names "float bridge" and "transfer bridge" can be used interchangeably, but for continuity I will use the more colloquial term "float bridge" in this website). In order to load and unload the railcars themselves from the carfloats, the carfloats would be moored to the device known as the float bridge.

The history of the the first railroad car transfer bridge in the United States, reflects that it was built in 1838 under a joint venture by the Camden & Amboy and Baltimore & Potomac Railroads to provide car ferry service across the Susquehanna River at Harve De Grace and Perryville, Maryland.    While the idea of carrying railroad cars on top of barges across a body of water had already been tried and utilized in different manners in various parts of the United States, it was a hap hazard affair with apparently no standardization among the different users. Historical records reflect in one case, single cars would be mounted on a barge transversely (across the short end)!    The improved or "modern" method of transferring railroad freight cars via carfloat and float bridge, as we know it today, has been attributed to John Henry Starin. After studying medicine and dabbling in veterinary pharmaceuticals and politics, he relocating to New York City at age 31. At this time, he turned his attentions to harbor freight handling, and became well known for his lighterage services for the railroads located in the New York Harbor area.

John Henry Starin (1825 - 1909)

   As principal owner of Starin City River & Harbor Transportation, many references reflect that he became especially involved with the freight handling, lighterage and carfloating operations of the Delaware, Lackawanna & Western Railroad. He also was significantly involved in the lighterage for the New York Central & Hudson River, Morris & Essex and Central of New Jersey Railroads. By the late 1800's; Starin's marine fleet consisted of over 125 tugboats, lighters, steamers, barges and other assorted pieces of marine equipment.


   So total was his recognition for his development of the carfloat / float bridge freight car transfer method, even a paragraph of his obituary in the New York Times dated March 23, 1909; reads:

   "He originated the idea of transporting freight cars on floats, and was very proud of this achievement..."   

  This might be a bit of an overstatement however, as it should be noted from historical references, that car ferry service preceding the development of car floats. Car ferries, from my understanding, appeared to be predominately for the transport of passenger cars, while carfloats were simple utilitarian affairs for freight cars.

   The first float bridge to be constructed in the New York Harbor area for car float service of freight cars was of the pontoon type and built in 1866, (however float bridges for car ferry service predate this application). According to Tom Flagg, the first carfloating in New York Harbor was not actually used for ferrying cars in interchange, but instead the carfloat (loaded with cars) was moored next to piers (called pier stations) along the Manhattan shoreline, where the freight cars could be unloaded and reloaded without the freight cars themselves ever having to be removed from the carfloat.

   When the freight cars were unloaded (and likewise loaded with items to be shipped) they were the carfloated back to New Jersey and unloaded over the same float bridge(s) that had loaded the carfloats in the first place. This was different from the process elsewhere, where the cars were moved from place to place by car ferry.

   It is unfortunately not stated which railroad built these first pontoon type float bridge(s). But by the early 1880's, the Pennsylvania Railroad had constructed a 100' wooden Howe Truss bridge suspended by heavy iron chains run over sheaves supported by wooden frames at their at Harsimus Cove, NJ rail facility. This gave the PRR a 150 car per day car floating capacity, utilizing three track carfloats with a 14 car capacity.

   A float bridge is basically a bridge span anchored and hinged to land on one end, and hung over the water on the other. The end over the water could be supported by an overhead gantry, as in the case of the Separate Apron or Contained Apron types, or supported by a pontoon in the water which kept it afloat by buoyancy.

    If you would like to learn how carfloats were "moored" to the float bridges, and the proper procedure for such, please see Carfloat Mooring Procedures.
   
   As the railroads saw the advantages of carfloating, it rapidly gained acceptance and use. Lighters by the way, weren't totally obsolete, as some railroads still maintained "pier stations" along the waterfronts, where there was insufficient room for a rail terminal and float bridge.
   
   Thankfully, Lowell Palmer recognized the usefulness of carfloating, and as discussed on the Brooklyn Eastern District Terminal page of this website, he would install his first float bridge on the Williamsburg waterfront in 1876. According to both Tom Flagg's previous research and my own, it is understood that Palmer had in fact constructed the first float bridge for use by a Brooklyn rail terminal, and in all likelihood, the first float bridge for an offline rail terminal anywhere east of the Hudson River.

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Page Index

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Railroad Operated Pier Stations & Inland Freight Stations

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   In all honesty, I never intended to create pages on the Pier Stations or Inland Freight Stations. My sole page on these facilities regarded those Pier Stations located in Wallabout Basin in Brooklyn. However, after expanding my research into the Class 1 offline terminals in Manhattan, images began to creep into my collection. Therefore as of April 2009, you will now find a page on pier station facilities located in Manhattan. After all, it was only fitting I refer to those pier stations in Manhattan since I squirrelled away several images of those pier stations that I locating in the various archives.

   It must also be remembered, that almost any pier could receive freight via carfloat. As such, a great majority of piers on West side of Manhattan handled freight in some way or another, so I had to differentiate between the railroad operated piers and those of the many shipping lines in Manhattan as well. Also, most of the fruit and produce wholesalers had one or more piers on the Hudson and / or East Rivers, therefore station carfloats could be found next to a pier that was not a railroad operated pier station and have not been included. In any event, pier stations on the Hudson and East Rivers, were very ubiquitous to say the least and were not often photographed. Therefore even the small amount of photos I have acquired, should provide some enjoyment to the interested reader.

   It was then in doing some quick research on those pier stations (for pier dimensions), that I learned the railroads had "inland" freight stations as well. These were nothing more than multi-story warehouses located some blocks from either the pier stations or offline terminals. Photos of these are what I consider "rarest of the rare". There were not many of these inland freight stations and both data and images are scarce, so I have included these as well on the page.

   The following link will take you to a page showcasing a collection of images taken throughout the Twentieth Century of Railroad Operated Pier Stations and Inland Freight Stations that were located in Manhattan:
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RAILROAD OPERATED PIER STATIONS & INLAND FREIGHT STATIONS OF MANHATTAN

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Miscellaneous Freight Railroad Images of New York City
(historical & present day)

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   This page is dedicated to images of Freight Railroad Operations in the City of New York, that do not specifically apply to my areas of interest, but are of significant importance to be archived.

   While most are images of the New York Central Railroad street operations in Manhattan, prior to the construction of the "High Line", there are also present day images of the freight operations at the New York Container Terminal in Port Ivory, Staten Island. This is significant due to the fact that it incorporates use of a historical railroad landmark, the Arthur Kill Vertical Lift Bridge.

   Also included are a few images of the current operator of Bush Terminal in Brooklyn and Greenville, NJ; that being New York New Jersey Rail.

MISCELLANEOUS FREIGHT RAILROAD IMAGES OF NEW YORK CITY
(HISTORICAL & MODERN ERA)

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List of Miscellaneous Locomotives, Owners & Operators
in Brooklyn, Queens, Staten Island & the Bronx

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   The following is a compilation of firms listed in the various builders records I have acquired, that were located in Brooklyn, Queens, Staten Island and the Bronx, and are shown to have received, owned or operated locomotives. In two or three circumstances, I came across firms shown on property tax maps (Bromley, E. Belcher Hyde) that show trackage.

   It should be noted, that with the industrial railroads that I have listed above, those had some significant data or history records in one form or another that I have been able to compile, and this information made it feasible to create a separate page on that company. The owners below however, have no such recorded history of operations, and so until such a history is found, they are relegated to a simple list.

   Frankly, there are dozens if not hundreds of locomotives listed in the builders records for firms in Brooklyn, Queens and Staten Island, NY; and I have only located one entry for the Bronx. Also, when I first started this venture, I was informed that some of those locomotives may have indeed operated in Brooklyn and / or Queens, others may have simply been registered to an owner or company that was located in Brooklyn or Queens, but the locomotive may have actually been used at another location.

   One of the things I took note of when reviewing the expanded this list below (which now includes the locomotive models and dates of acquisition), is that the majority of dates of acquisition are in the 1920's, prior to the Great Depression, with extremely few entries dated afterwards. Whether there is any real correlation between the fall off of locomotive purchases and the stock market crash of 1929, remains unknown.

   Also, there were many machinery equipment suppliers and brokers located in Brooklyn (and Queens, Manhattan, etc), so some of those locomotives were actually purchased by one of these brokers and resold, i.e: to a plantation railroad in South America, a quarry railroad in Manitoba, etc. These locomotives marked for export  or lease are excluded altogether.

   What does it take for a name on this list to "make the big time" and get its own page? Photos and / or documents of course! If and when data on some these companies makes itself available, you can be sure it will be listed on its own page.

   For now, here is a list of firms that are listed in the builders records as being in Brooklyn, Queens and Staten Island and show as to having received locomotives, or in some cases a property tax (Belcher - Hyde, Bromley), or fire insurance (Sanborn) map shows trackage for that firm. I have listed the pertinent data for each locomotive where known.

   Please note, this list does not include the recipients of steam or other locomotives for passenger use.

Locomotive Footnotes

[a]	Sales records show this locomotive being shipped through the Brookyn Eastern District Terminal, Brooklyn, NY
[b]	Sales records show this locomotive being shipped: Pidgeon St Station, Brooklyn, N Y (the BEDT Pidgeon Street Station / Terminal was located in Queens, but the BEDT main offices was Kent Avenue, Brooklyn) equipped with 20" wheels and Westinghouse V53 motor
[c]	Mason - Hanger won the contract to bore and construct the Fulton Street subway tunnel under the East River for the 14th Street line. These five 6 Ton ESB locomotives were shipped to the Fulton Terminal (of the New York Dock Railway), Brooklyn, NY. Another five identical Whitcomb 6 Ton ESB locomotives were purchased as part of this contract (for a total of 10 locomotives) and delivered to Pier 16 & 17, East River, New York, N Y; presumably so that boring could commence from both sides of the river and meet under the center of the riverbed. equipped with 20" wheels and Westinghouse V53 motor
[d]	trade in - $400 for Oakdale locomotive equipped with 20" wheels and Westinghouse V53 motor
[e]	equipped with 20" wheels and Westinghouse V53 motor
[f]	this unit believed to have been brought in by BEDT and used in Jack Frost Sugar Refinery @ Pidgeon Street, Long Island City. equipped with 18" wheels and Westinghouse V54 motor
[g]	this locomotive was transferred to the Phelps - Dodge subsidiery Nichols Copper Smelting in El Paso, TX.
[h]	according to Jay Reed, this 21" gauge might be "Hunt gauge", a special system where the wheels are put on the axles so that the flanges are on the outside. However, this is not confirmed.
[pm]	trackage shown on property maps, no locomotive data found in builders records.

   ESB  = Electric Storage Battery

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Reference Number Chart

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Like what you see? Suggestions? Comments?

Click here to sign the:

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Bibliography, Resources & Suggested Reading:

Please note, I am not responsible for inaccuracies published by other sources.

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Special Thanks To:

   It has to be stated for the record,  I cannot take sole credit for this website and contents.

   The associated pages within, would not be possible without the generous assistance and contributions from many avid railfans of the Offline Terminals, railroad and locomotive historians, desecendants of owners or principals of the industrial railroads, as well as those representatives at repositories where information and photographs are stored.

   I have listed, in alphabetical order, those who have given their time and assistance in searching catalogs and locating and contributing images from their vast files:

And to those stingy, selfish, greedy image buyers who run up the prices of images on eBay
and then refuse to share those images, (you know who you are!)
   I wish there was a way to prevent you from referencing this website!  

Why should you benefit from this research, if you are unwilling to contribute to it?

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Rail Marine Information Group Website

Rail Marine Ops (the forum for RMIG)

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Website Dedication

   It is with great honor that I dedicate this website to the memory of Francis "Frank" George Zahn. I never had the pleasure of actually meeting Frank, but I knew of him and his extensive railroad archives. The railfan community suffered a significant loss with his passing.

   His wife Lillian was gracious enough to allow me access to Frank's archives and to procure his vast collection of New York Industrial & Terminal Railroad photos (Brooklyn Eastern District Terminal, New York Dock, Bush Terminal, American Dock and Atlas Terminal), so that he and his photographs may be remembered and kept in the public eye.

   So in recognition for her graciousness, I found it necessary to see to it that we all remember Frank for his selfless contributions to the railfan community. Henceforth, this website is now dedicated in his memory...

Francis "Frank" George Zahn February Twenty-Third, Nineteen Hundred Twenty Five June Eighth, Two Thousand Eight

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