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INDUSTRIAL & TERMINAL RAILROADS & RAIL-MARINE OPERATIONS OF BROOKLYN, QUEENS, STATEN ISLAND, BRONX & MANHATTAN

DEVELOPMENT OF THE CARFLOAT TRANSFER BRIDGE IN NEW YORK HARBOR

MILITARY RAILROADS OF THE NEW YORK METROPOLITAN AREA

DOUBLE ENDED RAILROAD WRECKERS OF THE NEW YORK AREA

ERIE RAILROADS' L1 CLASS  "ANGUS TYPE" 0-8-8-0 CAMELBACK

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ABOUT YOUR AUTHOR:

Philip M. Goldstein
updated August 12, 2026

"The Chronicles of a Railfan"

former Canadian Pacific East Region / Freight Main
(now Norfolk Southern Harrisburg Division / D&H South Line)
West Richmondville, NY - 2013
Deborah M. Pickering photo

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Dad at General Motors GP35 Demonstrator at 1965 Worlds Fair,  Flushing Meadows-Corona Park; Queens, NY

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Mom in front of LIRR 35, on a date with my father at Eisenhower Park, Long Island, NY

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Sharon Goldstein photo - August 1970 NKP #759 Lima Locomotive Works c/n 8667 built August 1944

"My name is Phil, I'm a railfan, and this is my first visit to Railfan's Anonymous."    I was born in May 1969 in Brooklyn, NY; and for as long as I can remember; I have always been heavily interested in railroading.    And for the record, it runs in the family. I was introduced to trains and railroading at an early age by my father Stan.    Some fathers played catch or football with their sons... My dad took me to see trains and railroads.        When I was 14 months old, NKP #759, a 2-8-4 "Berkshire" type, formerly from the New York, Chicago & St Louis Railroad (better known as NKP or the Nickel Plate Road) was laying over in Warwick, NY at the Lehigh & Hudson River Railroad shops, after the August 1970 High Iron Excursions along the Erie Lackawanna Main Line.    My mother Sharon took the picture (seen at left) of me on its front coupler being held by my father. Unusually, my Mom liked trains too. Not as much as dad; but enough that she didn't leave him for a guy in Corvette.     As a child, they bought the Remco "Mighty Casey" 6 volt battery powered train set; that a child could ride. Mom contacted the company, and dad ordered extra track, and the "layout" was set up in our huge 16' x 20' living room.    If only they knew where that would lead... And I think Dad did know - and hoped it would!

Being born in Brooklyn, but 6 years too late for the BEDT steam show; I did get to see the BEDT diesels in action on Kent Avenue; as well as New York Dock diesel operations at Fulton, Atlantic and Bush Terminals. I even have recollections of some South Brooklyn Railway action along McDonald Avenue.    Matter of fact, when I was a child; I was fortunate enough to get a ride in a New York Dock RS3 diesel (in background) at Bush Terminal in October 1974.    The crew just pulled up to my father and I, and said "come on up!" And away we went.    Also, about this time, my father built a 4' x 8' HO scale train set for a doctor, who wanted the layout on a folding table configuration for storage. After completion, the doctor decided he now wanted a layout N scale. So the doctor gave me the layout.

Stan Goldstein photo - 1974

New York Dock #55 - - 1975 GE 44 tonner  c/n 31225 - built December 1951 Stan Goldstein photo

In the image at left, here I am standing in front of the New York Dock Railway's Fulton Terminal enginehouse in downtown Brooklyn.    The image at left was taken by my father on April 14, 1975.    I may not have had good fashion sense (checked pants with plaid jacket with a striped engineers cap? - But hey, it was mother buying my wardrobe!).    Fashion faux pas aside; no doubt I have good taste in railroads! And that hair which was also my mother's choice. Classic 70's.    As a result of the Offline Terminals being located in Brooklyn, introduced me to them at an early age.    Therefore, these Brooklyn based offline terminals: Brooklyn Eastern District Terminal; New York Dock's Fulton, Atlantic and Bush Terminals, and even South Brooklyn Railway - they hold a special place in my heart and it is how I came to author the website on their colorful histories.    It was these railroads that gave this website it's start; and as you can tell by my writing, I have remained loyal to their existence.

   By the time I able to use it, my father had gotten me my own 35mm camera. I had a cheap camera before this, until I dropped it. I couldn't tell you what camera this was as I don't remember it at all. My father knew and he's gone.

   So to replace that one, he purchased me a Yashica GTN Electro Rangefinder with fixed 45mm f1.7 lens; and trust me; it came to see plenty of use at railroads and railroad yards up and down the East Coast and Michigan. 

   It was a great beginner's camera; equipped with a red indicator light in the viewfinder for overexposed shots and yellow indicator light for slow. More importantly it taught me the Reciprocity Law, and the Rule of Thirds.

   I have this gaily colored 1970's denim strap for it, that someone could see from a mile away. While most straps were black or brown leather back then, I had this. 

   Now, you have to understand; every railroad I was at, I was always asked by the crew to come up in the cab. This is a kids duty, especially the kid of a railfan. 

   Well, I can't tell you how many steps and ladders and grab irons this camera got bashed into, but it held up. I still have it, dings, dents and all. The viewfinder is loose, the original mercury battery for has been discontinued.. The "leatherette" case is peeling from age.  But, I still have the camera.

In the image at right, I am on the platform in Hollywood, Florida on April 19, 1976; (which makes me 7 years old) catching Amtrak train #93 "The Floridian," with the much maligned SDP40F locomotive on point.    Every spring vacation we drove down the Eastern Seaboard to visit my maternal grandparents in North Miami Beach; stopping at railroad venues along the way.    Florida East Coast and Amtrak. What could be better? And there I am carrying my trusty Yashica.    The engineer was quite friendly on one of the other trains I caught this day, as he threw me down a handful of flimsies (Form 19's) from Seaboard Coast Line, which I still have!    These is what constituted my spring (Easter) vacations from school, for several years.

Amtrak #631 - Hollywood, FL - 1976 EMD SDP40F c/n 74611 - built July 1974 Stan Goldstein photo

April 25, 1976 Sanford, Florida GE U36-B: 4003, 4000, 4002

Auto-Train northbound from the leading domeliner.

Now, for summer vacations; my family spent a week or so, practically every year in Strasburg, Pennsylvania.    Most families go once, maybe twice; then go somewhere else. Not this family. Our first trip took place in 1974, we did the de rigueur stay at the Red Caboose Lodge. Nothing like waking up in the morning to the sound of the steam whistles a half a mile down the track at the enginehouse. Dad and owner Don Denlinger became friends.    After the Red Caboose became so popular that even we could not get reservations more than 6 to 8 months out; so we became regulars at the Carriage Light Motel on Main Street. This was convenient for me because in my early teens, I would walk down the street to the Choo Choo Barn and purchase HO scale cars for my layout at home.    As as us kids got older, mom and my sister wanted a pool to cool off in, so we switched to the Amish Lanterns on 896.     Dad and I would spend the day trackside. Obviously, this meant I was constantly around operating steam locomotives; which as you can imagine, never seemed to grow boring. Matter of fact, this repetitive exposure helped develop my affinity for and a deep understanding of steam locomotives and their operation.    While in Pennsylvania, we would usually shoehorn a day or two at Horseshoe Curve in Altoona, as well as visit the Altoona Yards at night. Here's some little brat in the engineers seat of ex-Erie Lackawanna #3667 in August 1977, patched for the 16 month old Conrail.

Conrail (ex-EL) 3667Altoona Yard - August 1977 EMD SDP-45 c/n 36885 built August 1970 to Conrail #6698 Stan Goldstein photo

   These were the days when train crews saw a kid and said "come on up!" Middle management couldn't care less, and this was an era before frivolous injury claims and soaring liability insurance premiums made management say, "Sorry, can't do it."

   Oddly enough though all the summer trips to Altoona, Dad never seemed to travel the few extra miles to the Gallitzin Tunnels, and I never thought to ask him why. Now with him passed on, I'll never know.

   We were too good to stand inside the 'Shoe, and dad had his favorite spot picked on the rocks on the south (east) slope coming off the curve on the uphill side. Again these were the days the railroads couldn't care less. Now, Norfolk Southern has railroad police regularly assigned to the area, and woe be upon the railfan that gets caught anywhere outside the park and this close to trackside.

   This pair of images was completely unrehearsed or timed. That train was creeping up the grade maybe doing all of 5 miles an hour. Dad shot them as I waved (thats me in the red shirt - recognize that camera strap yet?) and put down his camera. I picked mine up, turned, and as the locomotive passed dad tripped the shutter. 

Gettin' a wave from the hogger of Conrail 6249 on Horseshoe Curve, PA - August 1977 EMD SD40 - c/n 36905 - built December 1970 as Penn Central 6249 Stan Goldstein photo

Conrail 6035 on Horseshoe Curve, PA - August 1977 EMD SD35 c/n 30423 - built May 1965 as Louisville & Nashville 1202 Philip M. Goldstein photo

   Like I said earlier, Pennsylvania may have been for summer vacations, but spring vacations were for driving to Florida. We stayed once at the South of the Border, in Hamer, SC. After that, our motel of choice was The Thunderbird and located in Florence, SC. Literally right off I-95, the Thunderbird has (and still does) an active railroad line right in front. 

   With our first visit and upon checking in; dad asked the front desk clerk, "Do trains ever run out front?" The clerk replied "Yes, but don't worry, I'll put you in a room away from it, so they won't disturb you." 

   Dad was like, "Oh, no, no, no.. We want the room up front!" A short conversation later; we had our room overlooking the tracks. About 30 minutes later, we were at dinner in the dining room up front; when the clerk came over, and said, "I made a phone call to my brother in law who works at the railroad yard. There's a train due through in about 15 minutes. It's actually running a few hours late." 

   Well, dad and I dropped our forks and ran to the motel room to fetch our cameras, and went trackside. My poor mother was left to explain to the waitress that nothing was wrong with the food (or me) as we simply rushed out out of the dining room; she was simply married to, and had a railfan for a son. 

   After the train passed, we finished dinner, washed up; and dad (with me in tow) drove over to the railyard. The train that passed us was changing crews at the yard and well, guess who got to go up in the cab of yet another locomotive.

   The next morning, we went to the railroad yard and there wasn't much action; but we got to see the steam locomotive on display: Atlantic Coast Line #1031.

   Now, closer to home, it seemed as if my father and I were perpetually at Sunnyside Yards, which is located in Long Island City, Queens, NY. This facility which at that time housed Amtrak, Penn Central and the New Jersey Department of Transportation (commuter rail). 

J. Testagrose photo	We would visit it several times a year and we witnessed first hand the transition from Penn Central to Conrail and the New Jersey Department of Transportation into New Jersey Transit.     We watched those venerable GG1's give way to AEM7's and E60's: "toasters" with "ghetto grates".    Here is a shot of me on the 39th Street overpass which overlooks Sunnyside Yards (before they put up the high walls along the sidewalks); and down in the yard.         Again, there I am with my trusty Yashica GT, '70's era strap and all; as it holds some very fond memories. It really has taken quite a bit of railroad photos.	S. Goldstein photo
By this time in our lives, my father, who part timed at his friend Lloyd Cannon's camera shop "Apparatus Plus" / "Photofaction" on Seventh Avenue in Brooklyn, met and become very good friends with John Testagrose.    John, was one of two brothers to Joe Testagrose - there was James Testagrose and sister Carol. Joe was a prolific photographer of New York City subway scenes and traction equipment in his own right.    John on the other hand was more into heavy rail (but he did trolleys too); and would accompany us on our railfan jaunts into Sunnyside Yard. Following his divorce from his wife Susan; John was "adopted" by, and became an integral part of our family.    I remember many a Sunday morning after John had delivered the morning edition along his route, he'd show up at our house bright and early with a sack of fresh bagels, a couple pounds of cream cheese, lox and pints of Haagen-Daz ice cream. Rum Raisin for him, Mint Chocolate Chip for my father and Chocolate Chocolate Chip for me. Mom was plain Chocolate.     The fact that John was an "on staff" photographer for the New York Post (as well as a newspaper delivery truck driver for them as well), didn't hinder our photography jaunts, I'm sure. John would respond to large FDNY fire responses and scenes within the 5 boroughs to contribute to the newspaper, and I can't help but wonder if his images helped inspire my interest in fire photography.		Amtrak #960 - Sunnyside Yards, Queens, NY - ca. 1979 GE E60CH - c/n: 39538 - built: June 28, 1976 You can see me past my fathers right shoulder standing on some ties) J. Testagrose photo

   During the mid 1980's there was a definite slow down in our railfanning. Matter of fact  there was a definite slow down in all outings. Not so much because most of the railroading in Brooklyn was gone by 1983; but dad went through a mid life crisis beginning in 1985: first my grandmother (my father's mother) passed away after a very short breast cancer diagnosis in March of 1984. I recall a lot of angst in the family, that her doctor had mis-diagnosed her. 

   John helped my father through it, but then in February 1985, John passed suddenly. Being a health food nut, he was diagnosed with a really aggressive cancer and was gone within months. Losing both of them within such a short period of time, took a heavy mental toll on my dad, and he lost a lot of his interest in all hobbies.

   The last entry in his railfanning log book is August 5, 1984 - Branford (Trolley Museum). This was one of John's last railfan trips as well.

   For me, Junior High led into High School. The extent of my railfanning was hanging out next to the Brighton Line tracks at Avenue S - Kelly Park. or upgrading my HO scale train layout with friends.

   I do recall one trip dad and I took - to the Poughkeepsie Train Show.. Afterwards, we went over to the Metro-North / Amtrak Poughkeepsie Station, where we caught one of the Rohr RTL TurboLiner sets pulling in. I distinctly remember the smell of jet-fuel fumes when it pulled in This would have o be between 1989 and 1994, as my girlfriend at the time came with us.

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My time with the Brooklyn Historic Railway Association and Bob Diamond

   By 1993, I was out of high school a couple of years, and now in my mid 20's, I had the pleasure of assisting (the now deceased) Robert "Bob" Diamond in organizing the fledgling Brooklyn Historic Railway Association museum, when it first was getting set up on the Van Brunt Street Pier in Brooklyn, NY. I've got good memories of Bob, in spite of how eccentric he was! 

   He and I met through the coincidence of our both trying to save BEDT #16 from Kent Avenue. From then until and through 1996, I helped hose out the former warehouse on Van Brunt Street of pigeon droppings with a fire hose (and got a hell of a case of contact dermatitis on my legs.) We set up industrial shelving and cataloged street car parts, we ran electrical lighting, and got running and maintained both the generator sets: first, a 4 cylinder Hercules / Winpower (believed to be surplussed from one of the NIKE Missile Sites on Staten Island), as well as the 8V71 super-turbocharged set donated from the LIRR. I learned about diesel engines from an old blind Hyster fork lift mechanic that came by to help get it running. I also installed the muffler and exhaust systems for both of them that Bob scrounged, (so we wouldn't all go deaf.) I helped rewire and restore the lighting in the PCC cars. 

   We used to ferry in diesel fuel from a local gas station in 5 gallon jerry cans in the back seat of his Cadillac Seville. You try filling a 500 gallon day tank with 5 gallon cans. We never did fill the tank up to capacity - we never had enough cash! At best, we get the tank up to 100 gallons.

   I also assisted Bob in rebuilding the wood staircase in the Atlantic Avenue Tunnel, as well as construct cribbing for the cut granite wall we were removing; in anticipated excavation for that locomotive believed to be hidden behind that wall in the tunnel. The tunnel, a constant 59 degrees and high humidity; anything that was wood grew mold within days. So, all new construction we were doing; it was coated with Cuprinol. We had a 55 gallon drum of it donated to us from some chemical company in Red Hook, Brooklyn. Since we couldn't get the barrel down the manhole, to access the Atlantic Avenue Tunnel, we'd siphon off the Cuprinol into 1 gallon gas jugs, and carry them down into the tunnel. 

   We just rolled and brushed that stuff on every square inch of wood we could find, and more than once we'd come up out of the tunnel for a breather all splashed and coated in green. How the hell I don't have six additional heads growing out of my neck, or some degenerative wasting disease, is a miracle to science.  

In those years; Bob also co-opted my father on one occasion and the three of us went to SEPTA (South Eastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority) in Philadelphia to pick up their donation of a partial spool of solid copper trolley wire.    After the spool was loaded into the back my fathers van,  we were invited to spend the day on the street cars, to which we needed no further enticement or encouragement.    Bob bought a tank of gas for the van and dinner for the three of us, as payment. I remember the restaurant (or rather the food) well; buffalo wings, of which I now know where SEPTA got the power from to energize the trolley wire.

   On another occasion, Bob and I and several other of his acquaintances crammed into a rented car and tooled down I-95 to Amtrak's Baltimore Station to palletize several thousand of the paving stones from the station platforms (that Amtrak was removing and replacing with concrete) for shipment by tractor trailer back to Brooklyn. This took place on my birthday - I literally blew out the candles on the cake, took a bite, kissed my mother on the cheek and ran out the house. 

   The drive down took place in the middle of torrential thunderstorms, five guys crammed into a rented car, windows all fogged up. Bob, never one for splurging; got us a room in a motel that would be best described as a short stay rate motel - rooms by the hour; and a condom dispenser in every room. "Candle light ambiance" was the flare stack of a petro-chemical refinery across the street. Two kings and fold up trundle bed. We pulled in about 11 pm, and we were tired, wet and didn't feel like bitching about it, so we went to turn in. Pull down the blanket, and the mattress is vinyl covered. Sheets were extra as it turned out. To make matters worse, the girlfriend of one of Bob's friends broke up with him the night before, and he spent all night on the phone trying to convince her to take him back. We got little sleep.  

   The next day, we were out by 6 am; by dawns' early light we could make the swimming pool in front of the rooms that looked like a tank of waste right out of the movie "Toxic Avenger." The downpours continued all day long, so here we were, caked in mud, stacking paving stones on pallets and shrink wrapping them in the Amtrak - Baltimore Station parking lot, for the journey back to Brooklyn. The upper management representative of Amtrak that Bob was coordinating with, a real nice guy; took us out to dinner at some high end tavern in the Baltimore business district (someplace where the attorneys and politicians ate in three piece suits slowly sipping on snifters of brandy.) A real high class joint. Talk about pigs in a manger, I'm sure the cleaning staff is still mopping up the mud where we sat. Then we all went back to the reps house for hot showers and the drive back to Brooklyn. I almost seem to recall Bob having to pay a cleaning fee upon returning the car as the interior was caked with mud. 

   On another occasion, Bob, his friend Gregg and I made our way to Long Island Rail Road's Oyster Bay Yard, to hand load 600 "relay" railroad cross ties which were donated to the BHRA, onto flatbed tractor trailers. In July! We had to first build a set of steps out of the ties so we could get level with the bed of the trailer. 

   On yet another occasion, we also picked up some donated rail from the NYCTA 36th Street Yard. But this was an easy trip, as the TA brought over a pettibone mobile crane and picked the sticks of rail up for us. After we got the rail to the Van Brunt Street pier, Bob literally hopped up on the trailer with a pry bar, and shoved the rail off; one acomnig within inches of my feet. It was a close call.

   After we got the sticks of rail into the "museum" (warehouse) we set to bending it for the curve out the door with a rail bending tool lent to us by Amtrak. Bob was no dummy - he did the calculations in his head, marked the rail with chalk at 1 foot intervals and pumped the jack. He took a measurement, pumped a few more times, and measured again. Somehow, by measuring between two fixed points, the radius of the bend was calculated, and that gave us the curve. This went smoothly and quickly, until - we got to one stick of rail that no matter how much Bob put a bend into it; it would ease back to straight. We must have messed with that rail for two or three hours, until it dawned on him to look at the rolling mill marks - it was tempered steel. It was accidentally mixed in with the regular steel rail. That hand pumped 3 ton hydraulic jack wasn't strong enough,  so we had to swap it out for a piece of regular rail on the straight.

   The sacrifices I made for Bob. Family time, girlfriend time. Friend time. I was collecting unemployment for a few months, so I bought dinner (again, always pizza or White Castle!) - I don't know how many times. I bought so many gallons of diesel for the generator set to keep the power on so we could work at night. Bob always promised to pay me back when the grant money came in. He didn't receive that grant money until after I moved out of Brooklyn (1998), so it became my contribution. I was a little pissed then, but looking back now - I think I enjoyed each and every minute there.

   One of my fondest memories with the BHRA was learning how to operate Oslo #3; a genuine museum piece owned by George Hassoldt and loaned to the BHRA. #3 is an overhead electric four wheel trolley built in 1897 by Mann-Schukert in Germany; for use in Olso, Norway. During the time it was on loan to the BHRA, we laid the rail from NYCTA and operated on short section of track within the Van Brunt Street warehouse powered by the SEPTA trolley wire and the LIRR generator. 

   I had started curtailing my visits to the trolley museum at the request of my then girlfriend, who (rightfully) wanted me to spend more time with her. A few weeks later found out, he was giving this family a tour one night, a friend of his that had come by after hours - a father and two pre-teen boys. Bob left the controller handle inserted; kids in the trolley, while he showed the generator set to the father. Next thing he knew, #3 was hauling ass down the track and smacked into the west wall (overlooking New York Harbor) - and smacked it hard. The wall didn't budge, but one of the vestibules of the trolley was telescoped in about 4 to 6 inches. He spent the week repairing the damage on his own, the best he could but not telling anyone. He told me the story some weeks later after he did his best to repair it, but I do know George Hassoldt found out, and was some sorta pissed. (And rightfully so.) I, for all that I was walked up and down about it - it was him that told me to always take the controller handle out to prevent unwanted movement. "I know, I know.." he replied sheepishly. The kids were unhurt, and the father chipped in for some of the cost of materials. But the damage was done.

   After I moved out of Brooklyn, I fell out of touch and involvement with Bob. However, it was around 2008 or 2009 that I needed to contact Ben Schaeffer to use a picture of his on this website - and I knew Bob knew him, so I called Bob out of the blue. We caught up, reminisced and told me what happened to him and why he simply "disappeared" (he became addicted to pain meds and moved out to Jersey in a depression.) Basically everything we put together in the Van Brunt Street warehouse, plus stuff he later acquired and was in storage in the Brooklyn Navy Yard; was either scrapped by the city or donated to other transportation museums. 

   I have also been at one point or another, to some degree or another; involved in the cosmetic restorations of Brooklyn Eastern District Terminal #14 (Ulster & Delaware RR Historical Society) and #16 (before and after it went to the Railroad Museum of Long Island, Riverhead, NY.) But nothing was as memorable as working with Bob.  

Movin' Upstate in '98

   In September 1998, after my grandfather passed; my father and I sold our Brooklyn home, and moved to our second home in Margaretville, NY; making it our primary residence. 

   Neither he nor I were railfanning too seriously during this period - Dad still didn't feel like it, and the nearest railroads were over an hour away: Conrail in Kingston, NY, Canadian Pacific in Oneonta, NY; and to be quite honest, I didn't even know about the New York, Susquehanna & Western. 

   We would check out the Kingston or Oneonta yards on our trips shopping, but we didn't make "dedicated" railfan trips. Dad was always saying we should go check out Starrucca Viaduct, which was rather close to us; but we never seemed to actually go and do it. 

   What my father did get into, was buying railroad memorabilia. He was a Pennsy fan, in love with the S1 class #6100 6-4-4-6 Duplex. If it had the 6100 on it, he went after it: Grif Teller calenders, advertising, photos. Dad was also heavy into collecting railroad china and silverware. At first he didn't specialize in any one pattern; but eventually focused on Pullman; and then focused on Pullman memorabilia - blankets, linens, napkins, antimacassars (head rest covers), uniforms, silverware the works. We had a folding wood sink salvaged at one point from an old Pullman car, cast iron baggage racks, I think we even had a red velvet seat cushion at one point. Acquiring these items, would take us to railroadiana auctions, and to the Madison-Bouckville NY multi-field flea market. We picked up a Pullman Indian Tree butter pat dish, that I fell in love with $75. One trip, I didn't go with dad on; he procured the 4 compartment divided plate from another collector and drove all the way to Maryland to get it, because he wasn't trusting the mail system with it. 

   As for auctions, we were regulars at the Red Caboose Lodge in Strasburg, PA. Dad, also had a penchant for "dollar boxes" if it was paper and no bidder, dad would bid a buck. We came home with boxes of old calenders, blank forms, scratch pads, unused office supplies, promotional give aways.  While he could sit for hours for the duration of the two day auction; I would get up, walk down to and go hang out at the Strasburg RR platform; or one year I decided to walk the tracks from Red Caboose Lodge to Lehman Place and back again. About 6 miles round trip. In the humid summer afternoon, walking on ties. By the third train to pass me; the conductor asked me at Groffs if I wanted to hop aboard, no charge for the ride back to Red Caboose, but I politely refused - I was going to finish the trip walking. And I did - I got back just as the auction was ending.

My father passed away on 05 October 2007. Rest In Peace Dad! I ♥ U.

   It is every railfans sworn duty to try and finagle a cab ride as often as possible. In this modern litigious society, corporations frown upon it to the point of even issuing penalties for crews; so such opportunities rarely occur on spur of the moment, but they do. That is, unless you either know someone higher up in the food chain or you are just exceptionally lucky, of course. At least one (usually the later), but often both applies to me. 

   So, not to be overlooked are the numerous "discreet" cab and hi-rail rides I have received from active duty employees on my local Class 1's and 2's, even if it was only from one end of the yard to another. I won't go into details to protect the crews from possible disciplinary action, but these guys were friendly enough, remote enough and close enough to retirement that they didn't give a shit; and knew how to make a rail enthusiast smile, and they have my utmost gratitude. Inward facing cameras in the locomotive cabs really put the kibosh on this form of enjoyment. 

   In addition to the New York Dock cab ride mentioned above when I was a child, I have also had the pleasure of numerous -publishable- cab rides as I got older as well: at least one cab ride in almost every piece of motive power of the Delaware & Ulster Railroad: ALCo RS36 #5017, ALCo S4 #5106 & #1012, GE 44T #76, and Brill M405. With their acquisition of NYO&W #116, I will now have to try to get a cab ride in that if I ever get back there.

   When the Catskill Mountain RR acquired ex-LIRR 407; which operated at the LIRR rail-marine terminal in Long Island City, Queens; I was all over it like fly on molasses. I have also been fortunate to have had a cab ride in Catskill Mountain Railroad #407 [ALCo S1]. This ride actually means a bit to me than others, as this locomotive is as close as I'll ever get to an operating former carfloating / rail-marine terminal locomotive, due to the fact that:

1. This locomotive is an ALCo S1, and the Brooklyn Eastern District Terminal used the identical model locomotive for its carfloating operations after 1963 through closure in 1983,
2. #407 itself was used in carfloat drilling for the Long Island Rail Road at Long Island City Freight Terminal (just a few hundred feet upriver from the BEDT Pidgeon Street Yard)
3. As #407 was still equipped at that time with "eared" knuckles on her couplers (used for float bridge / carfloat interchange operation - it's the little things);

Catskill Mountain Railroad #407 - Phoenicia, NY - September 26, 2010
ALCo S1 c/n 70936 - built June 1946 (ex-SIRT #407, exx-LIRR #407)
Earl Pardini, President and Chief Mechanical Officer of CMRR and myself.
J. Tanksley photo

   Now my "hunting grounds" in Upstate NY were not as convenient to my home, like in Brooklyn; it was a hour drive to either the CSX River Subdivision (which took over the Conrail River Line) in Kingston, NY or Canadian Pacific Freight Main in Oneonta, NY. So on shopping trips, the family usually shoehorned an hour or two of railfanning, when my step son Joe and I would sit trackside while the ex- and Joe's brother went shopping.

   Eventually this wasn't enough, so with a stepson who is a railfan, it was the inevitable question on Thursday or Friday evenings, "Dad, can we go railfanning this weekend?" Did you finish all your homework?" "Yeah." And so, we started venturing trackside more and more often. (And on Monday night, come to find out he did not finish all his homework.)

   About 2005, I created the first page of this website: the Brooklyn Eastern District Terminal. Through its creation and publication, I meet Paul Strubeck, another Brooklyn Waterfront Railroad fan. Paul and I would meet up in New York City and photograph what was left of Bush Terminal and Fort Tilden, a military railroad in Queens.

   Then also through the website, I meet Joe Roborecky (a retired BEDT engineer). I conduct an telephone interview, and our friendship blossomed from there. I start driving to North New Jersey to railfan with "little Joe" (step-son) and "big Joe" (Roborecky) at New York Container Terminal (adjacent to former Procter & Gamble Port Ivory plant which we were researching) and Arlington Yard, Staten Island; little industrial railroads in Elizabeth, NY; along Amtrak Northeast Corridor, Conrail Shared Assets Operation Lehigh Line, Chemical Coast Secondary and the Port Reading Secondary; as well as New Jersey Transit. 

   In what seemed to be a replay on history - only I was the dad and Joe was getting the invites up to the cab. One memorable day in 2005, Big Joe, little Joe and I were railfanning the CSAO Arlington Yard, North Shore Line (NOSL) in Staten Island. This was a railroad yard where both solid waste and intermodal shipping containers from the New York Container Terminal were picked up by CSAO crews and taken over the Arthur Kill Vertical Lift Bridge into New Jersey for other destinations. 

   As we were pulling in, we saw a pair of light locomotives entering the yard via the Travis wye track. The scanner crackles:, <name redacted>"You want to make that kid smile?" "You bet" comes the reply. The conductor waves us over. The engineer yells down, "The kid likes trains?" Little Joe answers "You bet!" "Well.. Get him up here! Dad you come up too!" Introductions were made, and the engineer (who's name shall remain unpublished); said to Llittle Joe, "You think you can run it?" (A cab visit is one thing - operating the locomotive is a whole other matter!) 

   Little Joe (and I were like) "What!?!" "Yes sir! We've got MS TrainSimulator on the computer at home with the RailDriver console, and I know a little!"

   Well, the engineer says, "Take a seat." And the hogger proceeds to give Little Joe a crash course in ES44 locomotive controls. The Conductor takes the opportunity to munch' on his lunch. After 10 minutes of familiarizing Little Joe with the controls, the engineer gets the call on the radio that they are going to drop the AK Bridge for his return trip to New Jersey in 30 minutes. The engineer confirms, and says to Joe, "Ok, three toots on the horn, we're going to back down and drop the conductor at the cars. And yes, the engineer stood over him; telling him which lever to go where, reverser out of neutral to reverse, then release the locomotive brakes, and throttle up to notch 1. Little Joe, like he'd been doing it for years, didn't miss a step.

   Joe backs the engines down about a 1/4 of a mile. The conductor swings down, (as do I) and Joe backs the locomotive down for the hitch. The conductor makes the connections, Joe brings up the air, and the engineer has him bring the train forward, back to their starting point and to take the slack out. All told, about a half mile of running, one way with a load of about 20 solid waste cars. 

   Ok, ok, he never got above Notch 1, and had a qualified engineer standing over him; but still - Joe did something that I had never been asked to do! At best I got to blow the horn. Joe swings down and "Dad!!! I did it!" 8800 horsepower at his fingertips! 

   The AK bridge drops, and we bid goodbye to the crew; two blasts of the horn, and off they went. I look at Big Joe, Big Joe looks at me, and we're just like in total shock over the events. Wow. Little Joe is lit like a lighthouse. He talked about it all week at school. One the boys in his class tried calling bullshit (you know how kids are); and I sent Little Joe in with prints of the pics (I was still shooting film at the time). That shut that kid up. 

   My horizons closer to home slowly broadened: with little Joe, we worked our way up and down the CSX River Subdivision, on the Canadian Pacific Freight Main from Richmondville Hill to Harpursville Trestle. That was our turf. 

   My father passed away in October 2007. I inherited his vast railroad collection; and this and my railfanning led me to collecting Employee Time Tables and Track Maps of the lines to scope out the best locations - convenient to a road, usually at the exit of a curve with a good view and within reasonable reception range of a Defect Detector. 

   I was already very knowledgeable and adept with radio scanners having been a fire buff in Brooklyn; and I learned that a defect detector was a good heads up of an approaching train. So I added a scanner to the railfanning "kit" as well as installing a tuned roof mount antenna (for better reception) and auxiliary speaker set up in my Suburban to pick up and listen to railroad transmissions, defect detectors and EOT's in noisy environments.

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Low Point

   In December of 2011, my mother made an early wedding present of the house I was living in, to my fiance and me. We needed to renovate two rooms to make the into bedrooms for the boys, which were now teenagers; and they really did need their own rooms. We needed the house for equity. Planning for the renovations were started, and we solicited estimates. We took out a home equity loan for the work. 

   In was July 2012; when I found out my (now ex-) cleaned out the home equity bank account loaning money to her perpetually broke sisters, "loaning" the older of them first and last months rent and one months deposit; for an apartment (she got evicted the week before) and loaning additional money to her younger sister for a moving van as her husband was being transfered to a different army base; as well as taking her mother out on a shopping spree. I never saw this coming. 

   To make matters worse, when I found out about it and confronted her about; we argued - words were exchanged and she decides to spend the weekend at her parents house; taking Joe and his brother with her. Ok, a little time apart might be what we needed. On Monday, she comes by without the boys, to tell me she's not coming back. She also decided I was no longer needed in her life - the kid were 14 and could look after themselves or her mom and dad could watch them. In her rationale, she graduated from her registered nurse classes and the local hospital wasn't going to pay her what she now thought she was worth. 

   Worse than that, was she prevented Joe and I from talking to one another. Trust me, I tried. This more than devastated me, and was a low point in my life. Gathering up the papers she left, I found several emails to a male pen pal - where she tells him "she has a house, a new car, a new vegetable garden (that me and boys built for her) - but strangely, no mention of a fiancee or boyfriend. I look at the date of the emails - they were four months old - about the time we got approved for the home equity loan. 

   Blindsided and betrayed are not strong enough words, and the word I do want to use are not heard in polite society.

   The very lowest point of my life came in September 2012 - I'm stuck without a job, trying to pay back a home equity loan that I didn't see any money out of, my sister getting married on a cruise ship, that neither I or my mother could afford to pay my fare. Actually there's more to it than that. My sister was supposed to get married at a upscale venue local to us in upstate New York as my mom was a contributing factor to the finances. 

   About six weeks prior to the event, my sister and her future husband decide to get married on the cruise ship they met on. Ok, nothing wrong with that - but you need a passport. I didn't have one. It takes weeks to get one. Plus a fee for expediting a rush process. I don't have the money. Mom doesn't have the money - between the wedding, the cruise fare for herself, my sister and my sister's best friend - mom's tapped out. She tries to put me at ease by telling me "she needs me" home to take care of her house and cats while she's gone, and of course me idling around two empty houses with constant reminders of a past life. Pictures of the kids hanging everywhere.. Mothers Day Cards Fathers Day Cards, all pinned to the wall. 

   After the wedding and cruise, to add insult to injury, my mother calls me to say now she's staying in Brooklyn with my sister an extra week. Yeah. Fine. Whatever. I go to make lunch, and there's cat pee on the stove. It's peculiar what the breaking point turns out to be. 

   I'm not ashamed to say it, I called my mom, unloaded with both barrels on her for leaving me in this state, unload on my sister for changing her marriage plans from a local event to a cruise and not giving me enough time to get my passport; and said, fuck it; I was "done" (suicide threat) - I had sufficient sleeping pills, and that was it. Nothing mattered anymore. I hung up. 

   My mother tried calling back, but I would not answer the phone. My mother called a local friend, who in turn called the New York State Police, and the trooper on duty that took the dispatch, knew me from my previous employment, and when he heard my name, he came running. Mostly out of duty, but also as an acquaintance. We talk, share our life's tragedies and he gets me to realize, no matter how bad my life is at the moment, someones got it worse. We sat and talked for about an hour on my front porch. He looks up at me and says, "Still want to take your life? 

   I realize, sheepishly no, I don't. He says, "Good, I'm no longer an immediate danger to myself." We call my Mom, he tells her he's got me calmed down, but it would be better if I wasn't alone. So mom says, "well, if he drives down to Brooklyn, he can sleep on the couch, and I'll come home on Monday as she originally scheduled." So, I shake hands with the trooper and he gives me his personal cel phone number, and tells me no matter what, to call him if I start thinking like that again. I pack a bag, call another friend to feed my cats and my mothers; and off for Brooklyn, I drove.

   Trooper Richard Cece, where-ever you are; my sincerest, most heartfelt thanks and my hat is off to you Sir. You threw me a life jacket in my well of despair, drowning in my own pity.

   I get to my sisters apartment about 3 hours later, and I turn the weekend into an eating binge - I had been trying to lose weight to make myself more appealing to the opposite sex. But to hell with it -  all my favorite restaurants for breakfast, lunch, dinner, midnight snack. Chinese breakfast (siu mei!), Brennan & Carr roast beef sandwiches (Roll 'n Roaster doesn't come close) for lunch, Three Star Diner on Avenue U for dinner, and White Castle for midnight snacks, Carvel Ice Cream. This is augmented by a visit to Chiffon's Kosher Bake Shop for a few pounds of sweets: chocolate bell's (cupcakes), rainbow cookies, chocolate dipped hamentaschen, seven layer cake. Fresh bagels from the bagel shop on Coney Island Avenue. The food was not a solution, but it was a distraction and a comfort from my life's potholes and all things I could not get living Upstate NY.

And then Ms. Texas comes along

   I come in the following evening, and I find an email waiting for me. Someone looked at my profile on OKCupid; that I had put up a few months before, after... you know; and in desperation. 

   Deborah came across an the personal ad I had put up and sent me a message. We started emailing back and forth, then progressing to talking on the phone. I was honest where my life was at that moment and what just took place that weekend, and she took it in stride and was supportive. I thought, either she's compassionate or really desperate. Who cares? We were cautious, sticking to instant messages for about a week, but we hit it off. She had her pain; and I was still licking my wounds by my ex's betrayal, so by her insistence we took our time. The drawback? I lived in New York and she lived in Texas. How did she find me? She couldn't stand the rural cowboy red-neck mentality and so she was looking out of her "zone" for a "city" boy. 

   My friends, once they learned of my situation, also rallied around. Paul and Joe (Roborecky) and now John Sala as well, an old teen-age friend (that at one time was possibly going to be my brother-in-law - as he and my sister were living together in Brooklyn!) John is one of my oldest existing friends, from my days in Brooklyn.

   When Big Joe's neighborhood of Manville, NJ looked like it was going to get flooded out worse in Superstorm Sandy in 2012, than it did in Hurricane Irene in 2011; he evacuated and came to stay with me for "a few days". After all, I had the spare bedroom now, with the ex- and kids gone. Big Joe lived in a second story apartment, so he wasn't worried about damage or losing his belongings, but being stranded without access to shopping or power. The last flooding to hit Manville, the Army had to evacuate residents who chose not to evacuate in high water troop carriers and they were overwhelmed. With Sandy, he learned there was 3 feet of water just down the block and a foot of water on his doorstep and the basement was flooded of his apartment house. He wound up staying with me two weeks, while the landlord pumped out the basement and had mold abatement and repairs performed. 

   Despite this company, I was not a happy person. My friends tried their best to distract me with, you guessed it; trains. Paul rather, got me involved in restoring the Lehigh Valley "Cornell", a old railroad tugboat he was involved with; and Joe Roborecky, after he returned to his home, was always inviting me down to Jersey to railfan.

   John drove all the way from Missouri that winter to spend time with me going railfanning. I owe it to him, to finally drag me out of my house and head for Starrucca finally. We even took my mom along for the ride.

The Bound Brook "Irregulars"- Occupy Bound Brook

   As Joe Roborecky was also a retired New Jersey Transit engineer, and a Designated Supervisor of Locomotive Engineers (DSLE), and a BLE (Brotherhood of Locomotives Engineers & Trainmen) Union Chairman; big Joe knew everyone. He was a regular staple on the platform at Bound Brook, the next town over from where he lived; and where Jersey guys (and a few girls) got together for railfanning. Here, the Port Reading Secondary and the Lehigh Line split (or merge - depending on which direction you are going), and the adjacent NJT Raritan Valley Line next to it. 

   Our friendship led to us railfanning the Conrail Shared Assets Operating areas together; checking out local industrial railroads; so he introduced me to and become involved with the "Bound Brook Irregulars" - Brian Kincaid, Gabe Ruffi, Steve Usalj and Janice Fix, Mike Tierney and his father Bill; Nick Gagliardi, Joe Aziz, Chris Urban, Thomas Healy, Duncan Mara, John Wilson, Matt Mancuso, Laura Johnston and Zach Ryan; and so many more people. If I forgot your name, please don't take it personally! 

   I became an "irregular" too, and could be counted on to attend the get-togethers. Since Joe was an former employee, he insisted on my wearing hi viz when railfanning. Now, I know some railfans deride this practice, under the assumption those who wore high viz "were pretending to be railroad employees" or "posers". 

   But Joe, being a retired employee himself, had a different perspective; if the train crew can see you, you're not the threat or risk that a common trespasser was, you know the type: walking along the tracks, ear-buds in oblivious to the surroundings; or intoxicated and not aware of an oncoming train. Someone wearing hi viz wasn't trackside to shoot or throw rocks at the train. You were obvious. Conspicuous. Ergo, you were not a threat or a risk. And so, I wore hi viz. As I put on weight, I outgrew the vest, and just took to wearing a hi viz shirt (or sweatshirt) and shorts. Now I could be obvious, and not a "poser" (not that I really cared what others thought of a railfan wearing safety vest.) 

   The guys at Bound Brook weren't judgmental at all, and they bestowed upon me the nickname: "the High-Lighter" and I did my best to live up to it.

November 2013
"The Bound Brook Irregulars" - November 2013 I've been adopted. Conrail Shared Assets Operations - North Jersey District / Lehigh Line Bound Brook, NJ photo by J. Roborecky	"The Bound Brook Irregulars" Joe Roborecky is on right wearing his NJT vest. Conrail Shared Assets Operations - North Jersey District / Lehigh Line Bound Brook, NJ photo by P. M. Goldstein
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"The Bound Brook Irregulars" - November 2013 Conrail Shared Assets Operations - North Jersey District / Lehigh Line Bound Brook, NJ photo by J. Roborecky
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June 2014
June 2014 photo by P. M. Goldstein	June 2014 photo by Deborah M. Pickering
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June 2014 photo by Deborah M. Pickering	Empty Chairs. We all ran to the other end of the platform for something. photo by Deborah M. Pickering
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June 2014 photo by P. M. Goldstein	June 2014 photo by Janice Fix
June 2016
Joe Roborecky photo by P. M. Goldstein	Steve Usalj and ? photo by P. M. Goldstein
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Zach Ryan - June 2016 photo by P. M. Goldstein	James Wilson - June 2016 photo by P. M. Goldstein
. Joe Roborecky and I - June 2016
Doing my best to be inconspicuous, and failing miserably - June 2016	"Hi, I'm Joe Roborecky and I'm running for BLE 373 Secretary - By the way, have you paid your Union Dues?" Like I said - Joe was retired NJT. He knew just about everyone.As the Raritan Valley trains would pull in, he'd saunter over to see who was working the throttle.

   A lot of those youngsters are now working for one of the railroads. New Jersey Transit, or Norfolk Southern or even the New York Susquehanna & Western. Funny how I watched them grow up in a few short years. Just a bunch of good people, good railfans that gathered irregularly at the Bound Brook platform of New Jersey Transit / Conrail Shared Assets Operation.

   Also about this time, I become reacquainted with Joe LoGiudice, another friend from my younger days, but he was from Upstate NY and we had met hanging out in Fleischmanns, NY on Saturday nights at Roberts Auction. We bumped into each other on the Catskill Mountain Railroad, the summer before, where he was now the volunteer dispatcher there; but his regular employment was with the New York, Susquehanna & Western as a both a dispatcher and Designated Supervisor of Locomotive Engineers (DSLE). He told me to come over to Binghamton and he show me the sights.

   I began making the drive to Binghamton (about an hour) to meet up him for lunch or dinner; and hanging out about the "Susie Q" shops and offices. He was also a licensed pilot and knew people at Binghamton Airport, so went there on occasion to schmooze.

   He eventually became the NYS&W Northern Division trainmaster, on occasion even filling in on the Southern Division at the same time; and so from 2011 through 2018 (even after I moved to Texas); if there was something special moving on the Susquehanna or on an adjacent railroad, I knew about it happening 5 minutes after the executive / middle management meeting / phone conference concluded. Special moves, vintage equipment be hauled, bridge testing, and of course - hanging out in the office and riding the high rail truck inspecting the crews. 

   I am indebted to all these people, and others; for keeping me out of a grave during a very low point in my life. But I'm getting ahead of myself.

   By Spring of 2013, my life was improving. I wasn't turning handsprings, and I was no longer morose. Deb and I were in regular communication; even to the point of Skyping every night.

   I started putting in time on the tugboat, making a few bucks, learning the ropes figuratively and literally. I took the ex to court and had her name stricken off the deed so she could'nt get the house.

   Deb had agreed to train up to New York to meet me in March 2013. Why by train you ask? Because I was paying for the ticket! So she agreed to the trip despite it curtailing her time with me: 3 days train travel north, 3 days with me, 3 days train travel south back home. 

   But she had never traveled long distance by train in her life either, and it is something one must experience at least once in their life and she was willing to try it. Flying, it's not. But first, I had to promise her mother that I would axe-murder her! So, I put my mom and her mom on the phone, and my mother did her best to alleviate Deb's mom of her concerns - if I hurt Deb, my mom would kill me. Painfully and slowly.   

   So, Deb traveled up to Chicago on the Texas Eagle, met her step sister for dinner; then back to Chicago Union Station to board the Lake Shore Limited for Albany-Rensselaer.  where I would pick her up the following day on March 18. She arrived safe and sound and on time. Well, the chemistry and intellect was there; and she met my mother, (who approved of her greatly and guaranteed her safety!) and so we embarked on a long distance relationship. 

   We took turns visiting one another - every 10-12 weeks, one of us would go to the other.

   Now, you may be wondering why am I baring my soul like this? Because like isn't all Dr. Pepper, Skittles, and railfanning. I'm human and I have frailties. And other people have them too. And if my experiences can help them through their tribulation, that is not such a bad thing, is it?

Railfanning - "Troisième partie" (Part 3)

Me, I always traveled by Amtrak. Even if it was a trip to Manhattan, if I didn't feel like driving, I took Amtrak. I had the time.     I already had ridden the Cardinal after helping Paul drive out to Indiana. I brought a pocket camera and scanner and a change of clothes.    My first trip to Deb I coached it, and I improved upon my travel kit. I brought my cameras and a duffle bag of clothes. I realized what shortcomings there were, and I adapted, I overcame, I improvised. The dining car had last call at 9 pm; and the cafe car closed at 10, so I brought snacks. I put together a binder of Employee Time Tables and track charts of the entire route.    I loaded all the corresponding radio frequencies into the scanner, in geographical order so I could follow the journey.     My OCD got the better of me, and I was logging engine numbers, car numbers, train crew names; station arrival times, minutes of delay, cause of delay; departure time; you name it - I logged it.     My seat was rigged for sound. A portable power strip with a long cord, so if I didn't have the window seat, I had power for the computer and scanner. Noise canceling headset, a suction cup shower rack for holding snacks and scanner stuck to the window; a small clip on, plug in fan (the more crowded the car the hotter it was); and an eyemask for actually trying to sleep instead of scoping out the scenery.     This became my regular "kit." I can honestly tell you, on more than one occasion, I helped the car attendant and assistant conductors out with information; as well as my seat neighbors listening in for themselves that the majority of delays really weren't Amtrak's fault but that of the host railroad. Defective Detect detectors, frozen switches, dropped signals; and letting local switching jobs have priority of over passenger service.

   I was traveling so damn often, I got to know my crews: 

• Amanda Welsh (Texas Eagle engineer, St Louis - Chicago); 
• Anthony Clemente - (service car lead, Texas Eagle "It's not "wata", it's "wat-ER!" )
• Stephanie, the cafe car counter person on the Texas Eagle; 
• Mildred Stalling; passenger services manager at Chicago Union Station; 
• Jacob, an assistant conductor on the Lake Shore Limited; 
• Head Conductor Paul Jones (Lake Shore Limited),

   And they got to know me. Jacob one day, had turned down his radio to talk to a passenger, and another crew member was calling him repeatedly with no answer; I saw him at the end of the car and motioned to him "radio" - and he looked at his radio - I saw his eyes go wide and he gave me a thumbs up. Whoever was calling him on the radio thought he got hurt or was left behind, because he wasn't answering. 

   Deb's time constraints in regard to limited time off from work, meant flying was better for her, Deb, didn't know it, but she had railfan in her.  

   I can say most spouses will do something once or twice to appease their spouse. But Deb, would not balk at hanging out trackside with me - cold or warm; we would make a day of it and then go out for a nice dinner afterwards. More than once. Matter of fact, every time we were together. She enjoyed it. 

   She would try to time her visits during one of the scheduled Bound Brook get togethers. We'd go meet up with Joe Roborecky; and hang out with the Bound Brook Irregulars.

CSX Albany Division / River Subdivision Flatbush Avenue grade crossing & yard Kingston, NY	CSX Albany Division / River Subdivision Connelly, NY
Canadian Pacific Freight Main Richmondville, NY	CSX Albany Division / Selkirk Yard "Ben's Bridge" Selkirk, NY	Amtrak / New Jersey Transit - Northeast Corridor - Linden Station

   On several occasions we would conjoin our visit periods and we would take an Amtrak sleeping car together twice between visits. Deb throuoghly was amoured with the style of travel. 

"First Classing" it on the Amtrak #22 "Texas Eagle" - 2014
Whatta shit eatin' grin...
Deborah M. Pickering photo

   I will say this, Deb infected me (not that way you degenerate!) - with a sense of acceptance of who I was. Damaged goods, but damaged in a good way. In a wanted way. A respected way. She loved my corny often ill-timed, warped sense of humor. 

"Oooh look a heritage unit!!" Canadian Pacific - Kenwood Yard, Abany, NY CP 7303 in D&H Livery .	"It's 6 am - where the hell is everyone???"
It's the Big Boy! But not the one you want to chase!	Only me.

   Even in Texas, where everything was new to me; she would not hesitate to spend the day trackside with me or visiting museums: Galveston... Teague... Temple... if their was a railroad museum, we found it and visited. My departure day, we'd leave a little early and spend a few hours as Dallas Union Station and do some railfanning before my train arrived.

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   There is nothing like cab riding a steam locomotive. I vaguely recall riding a steam locomotive as child, but I cannot be sure of when or where. Doubt it was Strasburg. Perhaps Steamtown in Vermont perhaps or Morris County Central? I cannot say for sure. 

   But, in September 2013, I had the very distinct pleasure of riding in the cab of Texas State Railroad #316 (4-6-0). Texas heat is just a tad more bearable (or maybe unnoticeable!) in the cab of steam locomotive. If one is going to roast, you might as well enjoy it!

   Deborah, had purchased the cab ride for me as a "first anniversary" present. By the way, we celebrate two anniversaries: One when first started talking - September 10, and when we first actually met - March 18. 

   This cab ride for me worked out to her favor as well, because it was the last run of the day and after we arrived in Palestine, the crew invited her up as well for the run to the enginehouse, as well as an impromptu tour of same.

That your girlfriend? Yup! What's she doing on the ground? Didn't think there was enough room in the cab for two riders... We can make accommodations! Get her up here!	Hold on! . . . .	Wind blowing in her hair as we ride back to the enginehouse . . . .

Texas State Railroad #316 - Rusk, Texas - September 21, 2013 4-6-0 "Ten Wheeler" - ALCo-Cooke Works, 1901	Texas & Pacific #610 "Will Rogers" 2-10-4 "Texas"  T&P I-1AR class Lima Locomotive Works - c/n 7237 - June 1927	Texas Southeastern #22 GE 70 tonner - c/n 32569 - April 20,  1956
Deborah M. Pickering photos

Deborah at Texas State Railroad;
Rusk Depot, Texas

There is another reason I moved to Flynn, Texas - and Deb says (half jokingly), it wasn't because of her - it is because her home is directly next to and within 100 feet of the BNSF Houston Subdivision - former Burlington-Rock Island Line.    It's a regularly used secondary freight route - mostly directional running from Dallas to Houston. Literally day and night - trains. Railfans pay good rental rates for the bed and breakfasts next to railroad tracks: "The Tunnel Inn" in Gallitzin, and "The Bridgeview" at Rockville, PA.    Well, this is the view from my front porch. (The chicken wire is to keep our indoor cats from getting hurt.)    I'm also wired for sound: I've installed a 50 foot antenna mast attached to the house, properly grounded for lightning; with a tuned 160-162 mhz "Traintenna" on the top; plugged into my scanner via high end RG-6 quad-shielded coax cable.    Plugged into the scanner earphone jack is three sets of amplified computer type speakers - one set on the front porch, another set in the living room over my desk, another set in the bedroom.    Texas is a hell of a lot flatter than Upstate NY. On a good cool evening with great atmospherics; I have picked up as far away as Shreveport, LA (190 miles) and Beaumont, TX 163 miles. Houston at 122 miles or Dallas at 145 miles is "regular reception" listening. I honestly keep those frequencies shut off, to cut down on chatter. My local lines: the BNSF Houston, DFW and the Conroe Sub; as well as Union Pacific Hearne, Bryan, and Navasota Subdivisions run 24/7 on my scanner. It's not too overwhelming.

Deborah M. Pickering photos

Canadian Pacific #2816 - Beaumont, TX - May 25, 2024
4-6-4 "Hudson" - Montreal Locomotive Works - c/n 68535 - built December 1930
P. M. Goldstein photo

• the "Great Race Across the Southwest" tour in November 2019 - and its northbound leg (Hearne to Palestine) took it within 10 miles of my home going through Jewett!)
• again in 2021 (which I didn't chase it at all), and then to make up for that;
• spent a month chasing it in 2024 on its "Heartland Of America" tour: (sb) Mexia to Seger to Hearne to Valley Junction; getting serviced in the Mumford Yard; then southbound Mumford to Navasota; and again northbound from Millican to Bryan, and then day Bryan to Ennis to Waco.
  

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Photography Equipment

   Railfanning usually (but not always) involves an interest in photography, and I am not precluded from this.

   As for my photographic equipment, after my Yashica GT mentioned above, I eventually graduated to an Olympus Pen-FT 35mm Half Frame SLR with 50-90mm f3.5-4.5 zoom lens around 1980 or so. Unfortunately, as I grew older and graduated high school; my interests matured and changed, (work, women and muscle cars) and I drifted away from railfanning in 1983 with a coinciding hiatus in photography as well.

   In 1995 however, I developed an interest in NASCAR Winston Cup Racing and my manual focus Olympus body just was not cutting it for high speed action photography. So, I purchased my first autofocus SLR: a used Minolta Maxxum 8000i. I added two 7000i's to the camera bag over the next few years. But from the get go, my used camera salesman, Paul Truly (for both the sake of his commission and my image quality) convinced me to always invest in better lenses. 

   So, as a result; I purchased higher end / professional, fast focal ratio lenses: Minolta 50mm f1.4, Tamron 70-210mm f2.8 SP LD IF, Minolta 85mm f1.4 and so on. The very best I can afford - but always used.  These better lenses allowed me to dabble in modeling photography, and apparently my skill was satisfactory enough to attain a position for a friends son for a modeling contract at Ford for Children Modeling Agency. I turned down an employment opportunity with them, as well as a position of forensic photographer with the New York City Office of Chief Medical Examiner. Hindsight is 20/20 and I regret not taking either of those positions.

   In 1999, and after I relocated to upstate New York the previous year, I became a member of a pit crew for a friend's DIRT Motorsports 358 Modified racecar. By proxy, I became the "team photographer" as well as some freelance photography work at Accord Speedway, when the regular track photographer wasn't available.

   In 2003 or so, my interests in railfanning were rekindled, and I also became even more serious about my camera equipment. I upgraded to a Minolta Maxxum 9 (with vertical grip) in 2008 and purchased a Minolta 28-70 f2.8G to accompany it. But, I remained a stalwart film user. Come hell or high water, I was going to be dragged screaming and kicking into digital photography era. That, wouldn't take place until 2010, well after mostly everyone else

   I made the switch to digital, and I started with a Sony ɑ350, which utilized all my high end Minolta lenses. By 2012, I added a Sony ɑ700 to the camera bag. About that same time, while I was railfanning on the Poughkeepsie Railroad Bridge (it having been converted to the linear park "Walkway Over The Hudson"), my Minolta 28-70 f2.8G "committed suicide" by jumping out of my camera bag and onto the concrete deck. Unfortunately, it was not salvageable.

   I replaced it with a Tamron 18-270mm f3.5-6.3 Di II PZD for "all in one" portability, but in the end I found I could not live without low light capability of a fast lens and went back to a two body system. So in 2015, I purchased a Sony ɑ900 Full Frame DLSR. All my DSLR's have a vertical grip mounted for extra battery capacity and vertical controls. But, I found a lot of my older Minolta lenses would not function on the ɑ900, so I packed them up.

   At this time, I also commenced in updating my lenses either because of this, as a result of age or as stated above; attrition. So, I retired my trusty Tamron 70-210 f2.8 and 85 f1.4 and bit the bullet and shelled out for a Sony 70-400 f4-5.6 SSM GII. This body / lens combination became my workhorse.

   As stated, I went back to a two body system, and also have a Sony 16-50mm f2.8 coupled with the ɑ700 (APS-C), and the Sony 70-400 f4-5.6 SSM GII paired with the ɑ900. 

   For some odd reason, ɑ700 began giving me metering issues. Lapse forward to September 2023, and the final Full Frame Sony A-mount DSLR appears to be the ɑ99ii. With it holding a high resale value in the second hand market, unfortunately; more than I am willing to spend. So, I purchased a gently used Sony ɑ99V with a Sony 28-75 f2.8 (SAL2875). On a whim, I decided to try the ɑ99 with the retired Minolta 85 1.4, and wouldn't you know, it works! So, that lens as well as the other f1.4's came out of retirement. 

   The ɑ700 has been reunited with the Tamron 18-270mm f3.5-6.3 Di II PZD and now kept in the car for emergencies.

   I am not so serious about videography, and shoot it when as the situation requires. I started with a Flip Mino I found, and moved up to a Sony HD-CX440 Handycam for the situations that require zoom, but most of the time I just video on my iPhone 8. Both mounted on tripods of course. The Sony a99V also had built in HD video, so I have using that.

   Another on my interests is Astrophotography, and for the Total Solar Eclipse of 2024; I purchased a third generation Minolta 600mm f4 APO-G (high speed focusing).

   I have compiled a table of photography equipment I have acquired over my lifetime:

denotes in use

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   I am also extremely fortunate that my fiancèe Deborah is almost as interested in railfanning as I am, and whom I might add very conveniently lives next to the BNSF Red River Division / Houston Subdivision in Flynn, Texas!

   This allowed me to get away from my local roads CSX, CP, NYS&W and NS here in New York; and catch some UP, BNSF and KCS in action on their turf; as well as all the interesting industrial operations down there. That is, before I moved down there full time!

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Collecting

   My railfanning interests have extended further from just taking images of trains to the point I now collect current & obsolete Employee Timetables as well as Track Charts for the locations of my railfanning. 

   I am also an ardent collector of railroad memorabilia & ephemera from the railroads that operated where I have lived near (Brooklyn, NY; Margaretville, NY; and now Flynn, TX) including but not limited to: New York City Transit System, and now the Trinity & Brazos Valley and Burlington-Rock Island Railroads.

   Before moving down to Flynn permanently, I would take Amtrak between Texas & New York and "let someone else do the driving". This allows me to shoot the trackside industries and shortlines along the route, not to mention railfanning Chicago during layovers and between trains.

   On occasion I will splurge and rent a sleeper instead of coaching it!

   I am a member of National Association of Railroad Passengers (NARP), and I am a strong advocate of AMTRAK, and passenger railroad transportation as a whole as well as freight railroads.  

    I continue to be an avid railfan and I am constantly exploring and visiting new locations to add to my "list" as well as scratch off items on my "bucket list". 

   These locations can reviewed below in my list of the railroads, locations and railroad museums I have either visited, photographed, and in some cases had the opportunity to ride as a passenger.

   Again, my railfanning images & videos (as well as other topics) are shared on Flickr, YouTube and Railroad Picture Archives, as well as many diverse groups and pages on Facebook:

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   Currently, as a result of my research and this website, either in part or in whole; has found its way to serving the public through the following agencies, publications and preservation groups, either by contribution or consultation:

• "Accidental Playground", D. Campo
  
• Classic Trains Magazine: Fall 2017 issue: "What's in a Photograph? Erie's Harlem River Freight Station, circa 1940" (in collaboration with Jerry Pinkepank)
  
• "Diesel Railroad Tugboats - Volume 1", P. F. Strubeck
  
• Erie Lackawanna Historical Society "The Transfer"
  
• "Greater Gotham", Mike Wallace; Oxford University Press
  
• Liberty State Park, History of the NY Region
  
• "30 Years of Garbage", June Gonzalez; Peel Here Productions
  
• "Metroliners", B. Goldberg & D. Warner
  
• New York State Office of Parks, Recreation & Historical Preservation; Marsha P. Johnson State Park (former BEDT site)
  
• New York Susquehanna & Western RR Technical Society 2018 annual calendar
  
• New York Times
  
• Normangee Star: December 19, 2018 issue; BNSF derailment in North Zulch, TX
  
• Northeast Corridor Infrastructure & Operations Advisory Commission
  
• Phoenicia Times: October 14, 2004; inaugural crossing of State Route 28 by Catskill Mountain Railroad, in Mt. Tremper, NY
  
• Railfan & Railroad: February 2019 issue; photos & roster of George H. W. Bush funeral train; UP Navasota Subdivision; College Station, TX
  
• Steiner Studios
  
• Society of Industrial Archeology, Roebling Chapter: Greater New York & New Jersey area
  
• Surface Transportation Board, Office of Environmental Analysis
  
• Tampa Review, University of Tampa 
  
• "Tracks of the New York City Subway System", by Peter Dougherty
  
• Tugster, A Water Blog
  
• Urban Oyster Tours
  
• Whitney Museum of American Art, Whitney Museum of American Art 
  
• WABC-TV Channel 7, New York
  
  
• numerous symposiums, presentations, clinics, discussions and articles presented by both prototype and scale model rail enthusiasts,
  including Railway & Locomotive Historical Society, National Model Railroaders Association and others
  
  
• and while I cannot find the email or remember the title, Arcadia Publishing requested use of my material for one of their Images of America books (if you find it or my name please let me know!).
  
  

    In addition to the research of, and collecting photographs and memorabilia from Brooklyn Eastern District Terminal, my other railroad related hobbies and interests include:

• history, research and collecting memorabilia of Industrial Railroads & Locomotives that operated in Brooklyn, Queens, Staten Island, Bronx and Manhattan; NY;

• history, research and collecting memorabilia of Military Railroads & Locomotives that operated in the New York Metropolitan Area;

• scratchbuilding HO scale locomotives of BEDT and Erie L-1;

• "weird" camelback style locomotives: i.e.: Erie L1 0-8-8-0 camelbacks and the St. Clair Tunnel Co. 0-10-0 sidetank camelback are two of my favorites)

• collecting memorabilia from Trinity & Brazos Valley Railway and Burlington - Rock Island Railroad.
  

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   Currently, my full time occupation (unpaid) is research and historian of Industrial & Terminal Railroads of Brooklyn, Queens, Staten Island, Bronx and Manhattan; and as a result, maintaining the websites and page associated with this research. 
 

   Other times, when funds and time permit; I can be found chasing trains and since relocating to Flynn, Texas in November 2017; I find myself doing some freelance photo journalism for local newspapers.

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Should you find the need to contact me, please feel free to email or call me:


bedt14@aol.com

(845) 707-9290
(936) 396- 6103

newyorkcentric.info