| Posted by xBNSFer on April 13, 2020 | |
Thanks Greg, a great catch. Never though there would be big road freight power like that on Staten Island. A few things: I know it's been called as much elsewhere too, but the "North Shore LINE" is NOT a "branch." It is part of what was, once the SIRT was completed in various pieces, part of the "main line" of the B&O owned SIRT, and the piece that connected it to the national rail network via the AK bridge to New Jersey. There were "branches" as well, including the South Beach line (part of the electrified commuter lines up until 1953) which left the South Shore Line at Clifton and went to South Beach (Wentworth Avenue being the actual end of the line), the Travis Branch which went from the Arlington Yard to Travis (freight only, to serve an oil storage tank farm at Gulfport and the Con Edison power plant in Travis), and the Mount Loretto and West Shore spurs, one to serve the Mount Loretto Children's Home (until about 1950, non-electrified) and the other built to provide transport of materials for the construction of the Outerbridge Crossing (which was built in 1928) which left the South Shore Line at Pleasant Plains and Richmond Valley, respectively). North Shore Line commuter trains did indeed end in 1953, after the City of New York, in its infinite stupidity, basically ran the privately owned SIRT trains out of business by subsidizing BUSES at about 1/2 the cost of the trains. B&O pushed to end ALL service at that point, but NYC agreed to subsidize the South Shore Line service, the North Shore Line and South Beach Line became "freight only" and "abandoned," respectively, following the termination of commuter service in 1953. The North Shore Line was single tracked, and all signals and third rail were removed. The B&O sold the SIRT to NYC's MTA in 1971, retaining trackage rights for freight service over the St. George to Tottenville SIRT line. B&O reached its Staten Island operation via it's "proxy" roads, the Reading and CNJ. After Conrail took over, there continued to be a tariff in place for the movement of B&O traffic to Cranford, NJ where the B&O owned Staten Island line began. After Staggers deregulation, Conrail ended this tariff in the early 1980s, leaving the Staten Island operation isolated from run-through connection from Chessie System (which ultimately became part of CSX Transportation in 1986). With Staten Island freight traffic in decline and access to it becoming more difficult and expensive for its owner, the operating rights were leased to Delaware Otsego in April, 1985. At some point after the DO takeover, I saw their NYSW EMD switcher (#120) near Clifton on the SIRT South Shore Line running light (didn't get a pic), but don't know if they actually had any customers on their South Shore Line trackage rights or if it was some kind of inspection trip. In any event, any potential service beyond St. George didn't last long. DO/NYSW embargoed the North Shore Line east of Em Park (just far enough to switch Cross Siclair on Lake Ave, which was reached by a spur off the main line near Morningstar Road) in 1989. Last North Shore Line freight customer was Terminal Lumber on Union Avenue; I have pics of a boxcar and centerbeam flatcar in Terminal Lumber taken in September of 1989. Track was obviously "in use" up to Van Pelt Ave (near the abandoned Mariners Harbor station), and was becoming overgrown with vegetation beyond that point. Beyond Elm Park, totally overgrown and disused by 9/1989. Also have a pic of a boxcar right near the Cross Siclair spur switch near Morningstar Road that was sitting there by itself, possibly off the rails. There was no engine stuck east of it, so I think they had done a "gravity drop" down the Cross Siclair spur to the main line. Don't know what ultimately became of it, but the rust and vegetation on the Cross Siclair spur indicated it hadn't seen service for some time by then (also September 1989). By that point, DO/NYSW customers included Proctor & Gamble in Port Ivory, serviced right from the Arlington Yard, the aforementioned Terminal Lumber, and maybe some remaining outgoing coal from the ConEd stockpile and Visey Paper, both on the Travis Branch and also served right from the Arlington Yard. Biggest customer by far was P&G. The P&G Port Ivory plant closed in 1991, and the last DO/NYSW freight left the Arlington Yard in March, 1991. The AK Bridge was locked in the "up" position, and freight operations on Staten Island were then absent until 2007, when the Howland Hook container facility near the Arlington Yard and the garbage transload facility in Travis began to receive rail service over the rehabilitated portions, including this short stub of the North Shore Line that provides room for switching the Arlington Yard.
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| Posted by dfc99 on April 14, 2020 | |
Very nice. Rare to see NS equipment operating in NYC.
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Dfc99, The train runs at minimum 5 days a week, sometimes on the weekend and almost always has NS equipment.
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