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MILITARY RAILROADS
OF THE NEW YORK METROPOLITAN AREA:

BROOKLYN ARMY TERMINAL /
ARMY TRANSPORT CENTER
Owl's Head / Bay Ridge, Brooklyn

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   The Brooklyn Army Terminal (shown above bordered in orange), was formerly known as the Brooklyn Army Base (1918-1959), and was also known as the New York General Depot, and Army Transport Base. 

   The "BAT" is located in the Owls Head section of Brooklyn, and is comprised of 57 acres with the main entrance located at 58th Street and First Avenue.

   Mentioned in the New York Times, is that the government "requisitioned" warehouses and property from Irving Bush, (as part of Bush Terminal) on or about January 1, 1918:

 "He said (Mr. Bush) that the War Department had decided that it needed a base such as the Bush Terminal furnishes and had consequently determined to take it. The facilities of the Bush Terminal will make it possible for the government to concentrate it supplies in the warehouse which are adjacent to the piers where the supply ships will be loaded."

   The Brooklyn Army Terminal was designed by Cass Gilbert (architect of the Woolworth building among other structures). During WWII; the Brooklyn Army Terminal was used as a Point of Embarkation for outgoing troops as well.

   The following photo (looking north) shows the property and structure arrangement of the Brooklyn Army Terminal very well. It should be noted the railroad yard to the right of the photo (running vertical) belongs to Brooklyn Army Terminal. However, the railroad yard at the bottom and the float bridge gantries at the bottom left corner of the photo is the 65th Street / Bay Ridge Yard of the New York, New Haven & Hartford RR / Long Island Rail Road. Bush Terminal is at the top center of the photo.

Brooklyn Army Terminal -1931
Fairchild Aerial Survey Photo
New York State Library archives

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   The Brooklyn Army Terminal is comprised of two huge warehouses and 3 covered multistory piers: Building 'B' (east) and Building 'A' (west). Building 'A' is 980 feet x 200 feet wide and eight stories in height. Building B is 980 feet by 300 feet and eight stories high with an interior court 66 feet wide (with platforms and through tracks).

   Dimensions for the ancillary buildings are as follows: heating plant, 137 feet by 88 feet with 225 foot smokestack and the administration building with a huge cafeteria and kitchen area (204 feet x 64 feet).

   Building 'B' is connected to Building 'A' by three enclosed skybridges 150 feet long allowing matériel to be moved from building to building without being exposed to weather or hindering street traffic.

   Building 'A' is connected by skybridges 260 feet long to the three covered "double deck" piers which are 1300 feet long by 150 feet wide. To the south of the covered piers there was also a single open pier 1300 feet by 60 feet wide, but this pier was not connected to any of the structures.

   The skybridges from Building 'B' to Building 'A' and the skybridges from Building A to the piers are in line with one another, and there are ninety freight elevators in banks of 6, 8 and 10. The elevators are of 10,000 lb capacity so freight movements between structures and piers is quick and efficient.

   Slip dimensions between the piers are 250 feet wide and the piers could accommodate at least 12 ships of 8000 ton capacity at one time, and all could be unloaded within 24 hours. 

   It is stated that within 90 days from the day of opening, the BAT was filled to capacity! A short list of the items housed are: millions of uniforms, overcoats, hats, shoes, thousands of yards of khaki cloth, muslin, and fabric sheeting. Some small arms, medical equipment, and artificial arms & legs.

    There were millions of pounds of bacon, sugar, canned fruits, fish, meats, vegetables, tea, coffee, prunes, beans, candy and other delicacies destined for fighting personal. After the war, a vast majority of these surplus items were released through the Government Public Market.

   Fortunately, almost all of the Brooklyn Army Terminal structures still exists to this day; but the docks have been torn down. The buildings having been converted to civilian & commercial applications, including an annex to a local hospital. 

   The BAT utilized a track layout of modest proportions with a aggregate amount totalling 17 miles, and could house over 1,250 cars of 40' length. The BAT trackage could be accessed by locomotives on the Bay Ridge Division of the New York Connecting Railroad (a joint venture of the Long Island Rail Road and New York, New Haven & Hartford Railroad) at the southeastern corner of it's property.

   The following image is looking south along First Avenue from the main gate. Crossing First Avenue are the skybridges from Building 'B' (on the left) to Building 'A' (on the right). The arched bridge on the right side of the photo led from Building 'A' to the Administration Building.

   Those tracks in the foreground lead to Bush Terminal. The NYNH&H / LIRR 65th Street yards (out of view) are past the Army Terminal buildings in the background:

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Trackage & Locomotives

   The following schematic, shows the Brooklyn Army Terminal trackage (in green) in relationship to the other railways in the area: Bush Terminal (in red) and  the NYNH&H / LIRR Bay Ridge Division (in brown) and via the Bush Terminal, the South Brooklyn Railway (in blue).

   Please keep in the mind the schematic is not to scale, and is a composite representation of all the railways and industries in the area throughout the twentieth century, although not all industries may have operated at the same time as others.

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   One of the buildings constructed at the BAT: "Building B" incorporated two indoor tracks with platforms 740 feet long  for a total capacity of 50 cars. This structure was also equipped with three overhead cranes with a clear height of 101 feet.

   The staggered platforms (balconies) seen on the left and right sides of the following two photos allowed for cranes to pick up or deliver items from various levels without interference from the floor above. The indoor trackage was covered by a glass skylight permitting operations in the daytime without the need for artificial light and in all types of weather, as well as to maintain security for "sensitive" or secret matériel:

Brooklyn Army Terminal - January 10, 1945
"These freight cars are being unloaded in 'the well' of one of the huge Army Transportation Corps warehouses
at the Brooklyn Army Base Terminal [located on Second Avenue from 58th Street to 65th Street],
an installation of the New York Port of Embarkation."
US Army Signal Corp photo
Brooklyn Public Library archives

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Brooklyn Army Terminal - October 1949
"Off-loaded freight from box cars being hoisted up to jutting loading platforms at Brooklyn Army Base."
Andreas Feininger photo
Life Magazine archives
added 21 Dec 2008

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   Some research for this chapter by Paul Strubeck, reflects that the majority of car movements within the BAT were administered to by the motive power of the Long Island Rail Road.

   According to Joe Roborecky, when New York Dock assumed operations of Bush Terminal in 1972, the NYD leased trackage rights from the City of New York of whom now owns the BAT property. The City of New York purchased the BAT property from the federal government in 1981.

   The builders records of the Plymouth Locomotive Works, show a 3 1/2 ton Model HL - Type 2 36" gauge locomotive, construction number 3213, built 5/17/29; being sent to the BAT from Raritan Arsenal, NJ. This locomotive is not marked for export either. Until this locomotives usage at the BAT can be proved or disproved, I have listed it for reference.   

   As all trackage as constructed and in place within the BAT, is of standard gauge width, it is left to ponder why a narrow gauge loco was sent to the BAT, unless there was a narrow gauge trolley system set up in one of the warehouses.

   Coming to light in December 2009, is a revealing notation on Long Island Rail Road track maps drawn by Robert Emery. I happen to be referencing the Bay Ridge Branch maps in my research on some of the industrial customers along that route, when I happeend across the notation:

   "All tracks within fence - property of U.S. Army, who does own switching with its diesel loco"

   Below is the map and I have highlighted the notation and the fenced area:

R. Emery map
courtesy of S. Lynch
added 16 Dec 09

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   The following photo is from the Brooklyn Army Terminal history archives. It is undated and looking north. It shows a GE 80 tonner on the left track and a Ingersoll-Rand (which can be determined by the square shape of the nose and headlight mounted on top of the hood), on the right track. The Ingersoll without any doubt is of the Bush Terminal locomotive stable, but the 80 ton could be military owned or Bush Terminal.

   As Bush Terminal did not obtain their 80 tonners until the 1950's, we must then conclude if this is a Bush Terminal 80 tonner, then the picture was taken in the mid-1950's. If that is an Army locomotive, then the photo could very well have been taken before then.

   In either case, all evidence points to the fact that Brooklyn Army Terminal did indeed have a locomotive on premises to switch cars in their railyard.

added 25 Oct 2008

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Brooklyn Army Terminal Locomotive Roster

Locomotive Footnotes

[a]	Fate - Root - Heath / Plymouth Locomotive sales records indicate this locomotive was ordered by the Raritan Aresenal, Metuchen, NJ, and shipped to the Brooklyn Army Base, Brooklyn, NY.
[b]	Fate - Root - Heath / Plymouth Locomotive sales records indicate these two locomotives were ordered by the War Department, Washington, DC ansd shipped to the New York Port of Embarkation, Bay Ridge Station, Brooklyn, NY. These locomotives may have been for export to an overseas military facility.
[c]	Fate - Root - Heath / Plymouth Locomotive sales records indicate this locomotive was ordered by the War Department, QMCUSA, Washington DC, and shipped to Port Quartermaster, U.S. Army, Brooklyn, NY; Renumber 7426, Camp Claiborne, LA; for sale via WAA (War Assets Administration) 2/1946

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