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

COMPREHENSIVE LIST OF TRANSFER BRIDGES AND FLOAT BRIDGES
LOCATED THROUGHOUT NEW YORK HARBOR

1866 - Present

transfer float bridge Hudson / North River, Harlem River, East River, Upper New York Bay, Morris Canal, Wallabout Basin, Gowanus Bay and the Arthur Kill

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Main Index

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Introduction

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   While accuracy is always paramount in any historical compendium; tabulating the dates on each individual transfer & float bridges located within New York Harbor is next to impossible. 

   We consider ourselves lucky just to have compiled what we think is the complete list. This in itself was no small undertaking, what with referencing various issues and decades of Port of New York Terminal Maps, Army Corp of Engineers Port Facilities Maps, aerial as well as local imagery, not to mention many issues of the City of New York Department of Docks & Wharves annual reports. Most of the historical dates are known through newspaper and trade articles, and we may never know an exact date when a particular float bridge was changed out at a particular location, even though photographic evidence shows us different bridges at that location a few years apart.

   According to James B. French's "Development of the Car Float Transfer Bridges in New York Harbor", 1917; the first float bridge installed in New York Harbor was 1866 and was a wood Howe Truss bridge construction supported by a wood pontoon. 

    Further information was located in the (Trenton) Daily State Gazette, November 13, 1866, p. 3:

   As far as known, all float bridges located in New York Harbor between 1866 and 1888 were pontoon supported Howe Truss type. This would soon evolve.

   As the in-depth histories and evolution of the railroad transfer bridge throughout New York Harbor has already been published on a companion page of this website, it is highly recommended you read it here:

   If you have questions, information to submit or to offer corrections, please contact the authors at bedt14@aol.com or crossharbor11@gmail.com

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Using this tabulation

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Data / Information Section

• Float bridges are listed by borough and facility, progressing from north to south or east to west where applicable.

• Each float bridge is listed for each terminal / location. Therefore four separate entries will be found for New York Central West 60th Street.

• This compilation lists all known float bridge locations throughout history, however not all float bridges listed were in service at same time.

• The first column lists the railroad that originally installed the float bridge. Successive operating railroads are (in parenthesis).

• Second column lists the name of the terminal or facility.

• Third column is the float bridge number or name.

• Fourth column is the corresponding street location of the float bridge.

• Fifth column denotes float bridge type. Where more than one is listed, float bridges are listed with oldest or original installation on top, most recent or surviving on bottom.
     See glossary for illustrations of float bridge types:
     Overhead suspension / separate apron also known as double apron;
     Overhead suspension / contained apron, also known as French patent or French type;
     Overhead suspension / swivelling head block also known as Mallery patent or Mallery type:
     Pontoon types did not have overhead electric machinery or counterweight gantries, but some early installations did have a light gantry with chain & sheaves for raising the
     float bridge for light / high riding carfloats. This gantry is listed in the eighth column.

• Sixth column list the dates of service. This is the column that suffers most from lack of information. Most dates are not certain.
     When a left guillemet « precedes a date, i.e.: « 1980 ;  the usage start date is not known but end of service / scrapping date is known.
     When a right guillemet » follows a date, i.e.:    1918 » ; the usage start date is known but the end of service / scrapping date is not.
     When both guillemets « » both precede and follow a date, i.e.: « 1965 » ; the usage start date and the out of service / scrapping date is not known, but visual confirmation of
     the particular float bridge has been recorded in an image on the year listed.
     Blank fields reflect no start or end date known for that float bridge, but confirmation comes via undated image or listing in historical accounting, hence it being listed.

• Seventh column denotes current status. Where blank, float bridge is no longer at location and presumed scrapped.

• Eighth column lists notes, miscellaneous or other pertinent information.

• Rows highlighted in gray denote surviving but out of service or derelict float bridges.

• Rows highlighted in purple denote surviving float bridges, restored cosmetically and preserved.
  

• Rows highlighted in green denote in service float bridges.

• Rows highlighted in maroon denote float bridges of new construction but not yet placed in service.

• Rows highlighted in yellow denote ongoing projects (under proposal, under construction, et al).

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Photo Section

   Arranged in the same way as the data section, by borough, north to south.
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Data List

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State of New York

the Bronx (Bronx County)

Footnotes:

[1]	Oak Point had sufficient space between float bridge 10 and float bridge 5 for an additional four float bridges (two pairs of gantries: 6/7 & 8/9) but these were never constructed, hence the gap in numbering.
[2]	This location would be the first float bridge to be located in Brooklyn.
[3]	Facility was originally military operated, but float bridge operation was contracted to Brooklyn Eastern District Terminal.
[4]	The original float bridge at this location (overhead suspension / contained apron) was converted to pontoon type / plate girder. Overhead gantry remained in place but not used. For as yet undetermined reason this float bridge was not compatible. So a second replacement float bridge was brought in, this one being a pontoon / pony truss. First replacement (plate girder) is believed to be from DL&W Hoboken #3 or New York Dock Fulton Terminal, north bridge. This bridge remains sunk in Wallabout Basin off to side of float bridge gantry. Second replacement is from Brooklyn Eastern District Terminal North 9th Street, which means this bridge was brought to this location post August 1983.
[5]	Facility was originally military operated, but float bridge operation was not contracted out.
[6]	"Private" (non-common carrier interchange) float bridge
[7]	"Private" (non-common carrier interchange) float bridge
[8]	Believed to be the first overhead suspended (non-pontoon) float bridge installed in New York Harbor.
[9]	When the Harsimus Cove facility reached maximum capacity and could not be expanded any further, Pennsylvania Railroad built the Greenville Yard and float bridges 10 through 14. Further expansion took place and one more float bridge was added  at Greenville. This float bridge location fell between the existing Harsimus Cove #9 and Greenville Yard #10 float bridges. This newest bridge was numbered 9½ to keep the bridge numbering sequential.
[10]	Following the 1976 formation of Conrail, Conrail owned the facility, but leased float bridge & carfloating operations to Brooklyn Eastern District Terminal to service BEDT, New York Dock and Baltimore & Ohio St. George facility.
[11]	Two float bridges of unusual design (Arlington Humphrey Mallery type, patent 1903) were installed at Long Island City. The original Mallery design failed to take into consideration certain forces and the float bridges suffered catastrophic counterweight failures. One of these float bridges was rebuilt in 1905, and the second was rebuilt in 1906. Soon after this rebuild however, these two designs suffered additional difficulties and were redesigned once again by James B. French, as his self-contained apron design, patented 1911, but utilized the original Mallery gantries. It is believed that these rebuilt float bridges are bridges 5 & 6. Images in French's book show what is referred to as  the "rebuilt" float bridge matching the gantry construction design of the current #5. Also this image shows #6 with a shorter gantry (part of the original design flaw), but French states this images was taken prior to reconstruction. Current bridge gantries for #5 & 6 are of identical construction. Bridges 1 & 2 were believed to be completely new construction French patent bridges, and 3 & 4 were pontoon / Howe Trusses. But this early numbering sequence is not confirmed. Aerial images studied by Paul Strubeck show an image dated 1924 with a single Howe Truss remaining in #3 position and corresponding empty space where #4 would be. This also means sufficient space existed between 1 & 2 and 5 & 6 gantries for an addition pair of gantries if necessary, but these were never constructed.
[12]	Listed in 1920 New York, New Jersey Port & Harbor Development Commission. Additional information lacking.
[13]	Overhead catenary strung to end of float bridge for electric locomotives
[14]	The Greenville Yard Car Float Transfer Bridge Assembly was first constructed in 1904 in conjunction with the building of the Greenville Yard. In that year three transfer bridges, Nos. 11,12, and 13 were erected. In 1910, transfer bridge No. 14 was added to the south end of the structure, and in 1925, transfer bridge No. 10 was added to the north end of the structure. On January 1, 1931 a spectacular fire destroyed the entire facility. Following the fire, several bridges, aprons, and other components were salvaged and utilized in the reconstruction. In 1943, Bridge No. 9 was added to the north end of the structure and in 1945 Bridge No. 12 was completely rebuilt. The original three bridge transfer structure built at Greenville in 1904 was essentially an improved version of the Pennsylvania Railroad's innovative Harsimus Cove, New Jersey, car float transfer bridge facility built in 1888. The overall plan and design of the Greenville facility was a result of a study made by a committee of PRR line officers consisting of J. T. Richards, chief engineer maintenance of way; L. H. Barker, assistant chief engineer; R. M. Patterson and Wilson Brown, superintendents. The actual design and construction was under the direction of W. C. Bowles, assistant engineer of construction and F. C. Richardson, principle assistant engineer, both of whom reported to William H. Brown, chief engineer of the PRR. The "remarkable development in the machinery of the transfer house" was principally the work of F. L. DuBosque, assistant engineer of floating equipment for the PRR at Jersey City. DuBosque worked closely with the engineers and machinists at the Steele and Condict Company of Jersey City who built the lifting machinery. The other contractors involved in the project included Henry Steers, Inc. of New York City, builders of the foundations, steelwork, pile racks, bridges and aprons; the Cooper-Wigand-Cooke Company and the R.P. & J.H. Staats Company of New York, erectors of the transfer bridge superstructure and the transfer machinery housings. Following the completion of the Greenville yard, a detailed article on the facility, focusing on the state-of-the-art transfer bridge arrangement, appeared in the journal Railway Age. The article provided several photographs, plan and elevation drawings, and detailed drawings of the important mechanical components, and the reader is referred to that report for specifics about the facility as it existed prior to its destruction by fire in 1931. In 1910, to meet the increase in freight traffic along the line, a fourth transfer bridge, No. 14, was added to the south end of the group. The bridge, apron and superstructure work was contracted to Lewis F. Schoemaker & Company, Schuylkill Bridge Works Division of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Virtually all aspects of the structure and equipment were identical to the previous bridges. The sheet metal transfer house which sheltered both superstructures under one roof was of wood framing and matched the earlier structure. The apron for this bridge was rebuilt in 1919 following a new design which strengthened the floor and hinge connections. In 1924 plans were drawn for the addition of Bridge No.10 to the north end of the group which was built and completed in 1925. The new construction required the removal of the existing pile ice fence and construction of a new and longer fence slightly further north. As with Bridge No. 14, Bridge No. 10 blended in seamlessly with the older adjoining structure, and other than minor improvements in the strength and capacity of the structure, it was essentially a mechanical twin to the others. On January 1, 1931 at 4:30 pm, a fire broke out on the wooden superstructure over transfer bridge No. 10 during the loading of a car float with twenty five cars belonging to the New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad. A short circuit in an electric motor was ultimately blamed for the fire. High winds fanned the flames and within fifteen minutes the wood frame transfer house enclosing the two bridge suspension structures was completely engulfed in flames. The fire spread rapidly to the bridges and four car floats below. One injury, a fractured ankle, was sustained by an employee who was trapped by the flames and jumped down a burning stairway to escape. Three clerks, one of whom turned in the first alarm to the Jersey City fire department, managed to escape with their personal belongings and their typewriters. The fire department responded with nine pieces of equipment but as their were no roads out to the transfer bridges, hoses and firemen were loaded onto engines and tenders and taken by rail the one mile out to the fire. Twenty tugs and fire boats rushed to the scene from around the harbor and began pouring a deluge of water on the fire while more than fifty firemen fought the blaze from the shore side. As the fire continued to spread, a second alarm was sounded bringing more Jersey City firemen and equipment to the scene. Three blazing car floats were pulled out into the bay and extinguished, sustaining various amounts of damage . The just loaded NYNH&H car float and its load of cars was also pulled free and extinguished but was considered a total loss. The spectacular blaze, visible from other shore points around the Bay, raged out of control for two hours and threatened to spread to other shorefront structures along the heavily built-up Jersey shore. The fire was extinguished after two more hours of heavy firefighting. The total loss was estimated by the Pennsylvania Railroad at between 500,000 and 1 million dollars. Three hundred men were initially out of work, but within two days were put to work on the repair work or at the other PRR yards in Jersey City. The fire destroyed the entire superstructure of the transfer bridge facility as well as most of the machinery. Several of the wooden Howe truss bridges and the aprons were completely destroyed. The railroad salvaged and reused many of the components in order to get one of the bridges operating as quickly as possible. With the Greenville bridges completely out of service, the PRR immediately began rerouting freight cars through their Jersey City and Harsimus Cove transfer bridge facilities and the Lehigh Valley Railroad's car float terminal also in Jersey City. Within days of the fire, the American Bridge Company of Trenton, New Jersey was contracted to rebuild the entire transfer bridge facility and supply three new plate girder main spans and aprons for Bridges Nos. 10, 13, 14. The fact that the transfer bridges were rebuilt essentially identical to the old bridges is testimony to the soundness of the original design. The major changes that were made were in the interest of fireproofing the facility and included the elimination of wood framing in the superstructure; the building of two separate sheet metal "sheave houses" around the upper level of the bridge and apron superstructures; and the building of separate sheet metal operators houses at the second level between the bridges. The result was a more open facility with outside steel stairways and exposed structural steel framework instead of the one main "transfer house" which had sheltered the whole operation. In October 1939 the New York Bay Railroad Company (the division of the PRR which operated the carfloating and transfer bridges) authorized the complete rebuilding of bridge No. 12, including the replacement of the last remaining original wood Howe truss bridge dating from 1905. It is not clear from the plans whether the truss bridge was still in service at the time. As WWII expanded in Europe the reconstruction plans were put on indefinite hold. Following America's entrance into the war, demands to move carloads of war material across the bay to the Navy Yard and other facilities in Brooklyn, Long Island and the northeast increased dramatically and the decision was made to instead build a completely new transfer bridge (No. 9) at the north end of the facility. Construction of the new bridge could proceed with less interference with the operation of the other bridges. Following the completion of Bridge No. 9 and its placement in service on November 9, 1943, work on the rebuilding of bridge No. 12 was begun. The rebuilding of Bridge No. 12 totaled $185,000 which included a new steel plate girder main span, a new apron span, superstructure strengthening and underpinning with 132 new greenheart pilings, new concrete footings, and a new sheet pile and concrete abutment for the shore end of the main span. Machinery was also upgraded including a 10 h.p. General Electric/Lingerwood mooring winch; a 15 h.p. Clyde capstan; new counter weights of cast iron, steel and concrete construction, two weighing 42,000 pounds for the apron and four weighing 54,000 pounds for the bridge; two GE 100 h.p. operating motors. a 440 volt control panel; a control desk; motor brakes, lifting screws, counter weight cables and sheaves. Bridges 9, 11, 12, and 14, manufactured by American Bridge Co. of Trenton, New Jersey Bridges 10 and 13 manufactured by McClintic Marsh Co. of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. HISTORY OF THE GREENVILLE YARD CAR FLOAT TRANSFER BRIDGE ASSEMBLY HAER No. NJ-49-A
[15]	Unique  pontoon supported "composite" design of two outer steel plate girders with steel lattice truss up center.
[16]	Following the formation of Conrail in 1976, (which wanted no part of rail-marine operations), carfloating for B & O St. George from Greenvile, NJ was contracted to Brooklyn Eastern District Terminal Upon the merger of Brooklyn Eastern District Terminal and New York Dock, New York Dock commenced carfloating to and from St. George until the yard closed in 1980.
[17]	The location for the pontoon float bridge was towards the north end in the "old" Wallabout Basin with outshore end facing south. After the Navy Yard was expanded, the overhead suspended contained apron was placed in the "new" Wallabout Basin, (which was further east), and with the outshore end of the transfer bridge facing north
[18]	1956 aerial seen in "Hoboken's Lackawanna Terminal", by T. Scull 1/15/1964 aerial seen in "Jersey City's Hudson River Development" by C. Caldes
[19]	11/1975 aerial by T. Flagg
[20]	Referencing B. Schaffer images & info, the steel gallows used to install Bush 1 bridge on 6/1978 came from DL&W Hoboken Terminal.
[21]	Following Hurricane Sandy on 27 October 2012, the Greenville Transfer Bridges suffered significant damage including severe underscouring of the support pedestals and a barge being driven into 10 Bridges' support towers. Following several engineering surveys, the damage sustained was too extensive to consider repair and the gantries razed on 17 November 2012.
[22]	Bush 2 pontoon float bridge relocated to Greenville to expedite resumption of carfloating service following Hurricane Sandy Ocotber 2012.
[23]	Historical records reflect a total of four transfer bridges installed at St. George. Review of the 1924 aerial map show three, and by the 1951 aerial map, one remaining. Where the fourth bridge was located exactly is unknown, but presumed to be north of the McMyler coal dumper that was located north of northern most transfer bridge in the 1924 aerial.
[24]	According to the revised 1965 (published 1966) US Army Corp of Engineers Data on Piers, Wharves & Docks - Port of New York and New Jersey, Volume 2, Part 2; carfloating to and from Oak Point ceased in 1965.

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Photo Archives

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Bronx

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Queens

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Brooklyn

Brooklyn Eastern District Terminal - North 5th Street - Brooklyn, NY - July 123, 2008 Since scrapped. P. F. Strubeck photo added 03 May 2012

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Brooklyn Navy Yard - unknown Pony Plate Girder - April 28, 2012 Possible ex-DLW Hoboken #3 P. F. Strubeck photo added 03 May 2012

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New York Dock - Fulton South (2nd) - Brooklyn, NY - May 20, 2011 P. F. Strubeck photo added 03 May 2012

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New York New Jersey Rail - Bush 2 (2nd) - Brooklyn, NY - December 05, 2011 (ex-New York Cross Harbor / ex-New York Dock). In service. Now at Greenville. P. F. Strubeck photo added 03 May 2012

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New York Cross Harbor - Bush 1 (2nd) - Brooklyn, NY - April 24, 2008 (ex-New York Dock, ex-DL&W Hoboken #1) P. F. Strubeck photo added 03 May 2012

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New York City Economic Develpment Corp. - 65th Street / Bay Ridge - Brooklyn, NY - December 05, 2011 New 1999. North bridge (left in photo) in service by New York New Jersey Rail. P. F. Strubeck photo added 03 May 2012

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Manhattan

New York Central - West 69th Street (Contained apron / French) - Manhattan, NY - April 20, 2012 P. F. Strubeck photo added 03 May 2012

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New York Central - West 69th Street (Pony Truss) - Manhattan, NY - May 13, 2009 P. F. Strubeck photo added 03 May 2012

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New York Central - West 69th Street (Composite Howe / Pony Steel Truss) - Manhattan, NY - May 13, 2009 P. F. Strubeck photo added 03 May 2012

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Baltimore & Ohio - West 26th Street - Manhattan, NY - April 28, 2012 Preserved, not active. P. F. Strubeck photo added 03 May 2012

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Independent Subway Line - 207th Street Yard float bridge - unknown date T. Flagg archives via J. Teichmoeller

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Staten Island

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New Jersey

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