BusTalk

[W.B. Fishbowl]

[NEW YORK OMNIBUS 2629]

[NEW YORK OMNIBUS 2629]

Here's a rare photo showing a group of ex-SIRT ME-1's being floated over the BMT rails in Brooklyn from Staten Island (at the time of this photo, the harbor was still criss-crossed by many railroad carfloat routes)........

https://www.nycsubway.org/perl/show?87049

(courtesy: nycsubway.org)

[NEW YORK OMNIBUS 2629]

Like so many other classes of "Tee-Yay" rolling stock, over the years, the iconic "Brightliners" also "rode the floats" to connect to "home rails".......

https://www.nycsubway.org/perl/show?4744 *

https://www.nycsubway.org/perl/show?4976

(courtesy: nycsubway.org)

*Thankfully, the old LIRR float bridge gantries seen here are still with us today, even though the yards they they served is no longer..........

[NEW YORK OMNIBUS 2629]

By the time of this 1975 photo (taken at Tompkinsville) the old ME-1's were gone, and the new R-44's are now providing all service.

Note the classic B&O position light signal at right.........

https://www.nycsubway.org/perl/show?47117

(courtesy: nycsubway.org)

[NEW YORK OMNIBUS 2629]

These R-46's are awaiting being floated over to "Em-Tee-Yay" rails, awaiting a cruise across the harbor, at the (E-L/ConRail) waterfront yards) in 1977, just south of the E-L passenger terminal at Hoboken.

On the right, across the old "barge canal", you can see a number of ex-DL&W "Wickerliner" MU's, which would not be retired until 1984 (my first train ride was aboard a train of these iconic relics, way back in 1960!)

The old freight/float yard where these R-44's are seen no longer exists......

https://www.nycsubway.org/perl/show?120258

(courtesy: nycsubway.org)

[NEW YORK OMNIBUS 2629]

"THE VICTOR AND THE VANQUISHED" (Tompkinsville, 1973)

Here we see a forlorn string of retired ME-1's, just recently replaced by the new R-44's, silently awaiting the torch as a train of new R-44's heads down the line to Tottenville.

By this time, so much of the old SIRT was already gone, including the grade crossings and chalkboard train designation signs at the SIRT concourse at St. George.

I felt a deep sense of loss at the retirement of the old ME-1's; Mom, in later years, used to say that we probably rode the ferries and the SIRT more than a lot of Staten Islanders ever did!

Ahhh, what memories........

https://www.nycsubway.org/perl/show?21956

(courtesy: nycsubway.org)

[NEW YORK OMNIBUS 2629]

Here's an interesting "mystery" SIRT photo taken at St. George, showing the old terminal which burned down in 1946.

The SIRT electrified in 1925; wooden open-platform coaches (similar the the "El" cars of the day) were hauled by Camelback engines.

In this photo, we see a steam-hauled train (another can be glimpsed at the platforms, awaiting departure) departing St. George.

Note the old wooden "main line" coaches; I have no way of knowing for certain, but this might have been a troop train heading for the deepwater piers at Stapleton and Clifton.

During the War, I have read where special ferry runs would be operated from Brooklyn, where enlisted men would transfer to a troop train at St. George.

Note, also, the semaphore signals; in the background, the slips of the 39th St. Ferry (abandoned in 1946, at the height of the St. George terminal fire) can be glimpsed, and the easternmost ferry lay-up slips.........

https://www.nycsubway.org/perl/show?115368

(courtesy: nycsubway.org)

[NEW YORK OMNIBUS 2629]

This photo (also taken at St. George) might have been snapped the same day as the previous photo.

This one-car ME-1 train, most likely, was on a South Beach run........

https://www.nycsubway.org/perl/show?115373

(courtesy: nycsubway.org)

[NEW YORK OMNIBUS 2629]

For comparison, here are interior views of a BMT "Standard" and an SIRT ME-1.

The similarities and differences are, in both views, quite evident.......

https://www.nycsubway.org/perl/show?115319

https://www.nycsubway.org/perl/show?6426

(courtesy: nycsubway.org)

[NEW YORK OMNIBUS 2629]

As noted earlier, the SIRT abandoned passenger service to South Beach and Arlington in 1953.

These two views show the Arrochar station area on the South Beach branch.

The former SIRT cut and ROW were long ago filled in, with debris from the construction of the VZ Bridge.

Today, only the oldest SI residents (and rail historians) would know that, 70 years ago, an electric rapid transit line once operated through here.....

https://www.nycsubway.org/perl/show?24720

https://www.nycsubway.org/perl/show?21970

(courtesy: nycsubway.org)

[NEW YORK OMNIBUS 2629]

A most unusual train indeed was the "clearance test train", seen here in 1970, situated on the rails that once were used by SIRT's Arlington trains, at St. George.

This highly-unorthodox consist was used to test clearances for the R-44's, that would be replacing the old ME-1's within a few years.

Here, we have a "customized" prewar IND car transformed into a "clearance test car", along with a sister IND car, along with several ME-1's.

Note, also, the Old Look which has just left the terminal......

https://www.nycsubway.org/perl/show?1847

(courtesy: nycsubway.org)

[NEW YORK OMNIBUS 2629]

Here's the "clearance train" again, this time at the end of the line (Tottenville)........

https://www.nycsubway.org/perl/show?1857

(courtesy: nycsubway.org)

[W.B. Fishbowl]

I seem to remember that test car also used on the NYC subway system itself, to prepare the R-44's for the IND lines to which they would be assigned.

Mr. Cudahy seemed to suggest in his books that a few 'Em-Tee-Yay' higher-ups had friends in the Electric Railroaders Association and this was a factor in them making the so-called "brilliant" decision to increase car lengths to 75'. Which seemed to make out better in Staten Island overall.

I had been on those SI R-44's a.k.a. ME-2's. Once in their original state (in 1975) and twice after GOH. Guess how I preferred them.

[NEW YORK OMNIBUS 2629]

W.B.:

Regarding the "clearance test train"

According to Stan Fischler's "UPTOWN, DOWNTOWN"........

".......R-1 car #192 dated back to the earliest days on the IND. Mechanics first cut the old car in half, and then welded in what appeared to be an Erector Set midsection, extending the car's length to 75 feet, the projected length of the new cars........"

"......the TA mounted 'whiskers' at the front, center, and rear of the old IND car. Whenever the whiskers touched an obstruction, the circuit closed, a buzzer sounded, and a bulb lit up on the panel board......"

"......most of the obstructions (on the subway lines) involved concrete catwalks on curves, as well as stanchions, light fixtures and wires. 119 obstructions in total were found on the subway lines....."

"....the TA spent $400,000 to correct these obstructions, paving the way for the new, 75-foot R-44's....."

"NYO"

"......