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St. George bus platforms, etc.......
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NEW YORK OMNIBUS 2629
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PostPosted: Sun Apr 28, 2019 9:40 pm    Post subject: St. George bus platforms, etc....... Reply with quote

Fellows:

From my early/mid-1960's childhood days through adulthood, I well recall the bus platforms and approach ramps at the St. George terminal.

I visited the terminal far too many times to count over the years; my last visit, however, was in 1997.

A few questions.....

1: I remember the modernistic "control tower" built in to the facility, which was on the western end of the bus lanes, if I recall correctly.

I would guess that this was used by BoT/NYCTA/MTA dispatchers; what were this tower's functions, and is it still in use today?

2: Adjacent to the bus approach ramp at the terminal, I remember the ramps that were used by automobiles and trucks that were waiting in long lines to board the ferryboats to Manhattan and 69th St., Brooklyn.

The 69th St. boats have been gone since late 1964, and the SI boats stopped carrying vehicles after 9/11.

Do these ramps now provide access to parking areas? (again, as I've said, I have not been in the terminal area since 1997)

I remember taking a photo of the old boarded up toll booths that served the 69th St. ferry, back during the summer of 1985.

I would guess that they are also long gone by this time.

As a kid, the only buses I remember at the St. George terminal were Old Looks and MACKS, many eons ago.

Thanks for any info (or photos) you might share......

"NYO"

*I still remember the large signs reading "NEW YORK FERRIES" and "BROOKLYN FERRIES" guiding motorists and truckers to the appropriate staging lanes.......
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N4 Jamaica




Joined: 16 Apr 2007
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PostPosted: Mon Apr 29, 2019 11:39 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

June 25, 1946 -- A huge fire destroyed the wooden St. George Ferry Terminal, which had been built about 1897.
June 8, 1951 -- The replacement fire-resistant terminal replaced temporary platforms of the SIRT and provided the current bus ramps.
---
Like you, I have not been there in the past ten years. In comparing old photos, to the west of the current bus ramps was a flat area with a single metal-awninged terminal that became a taxi loop. That is, it appears that the fire of 1946 consumed the ferry slips, ferry building, and railway platforms, but not the flat area where streetcars, buses, and taxis deposited and received patrons over the decades.
---
I am positive that Dad brought me on the S.I.R.T. in intervening years, 1946-1951. Sometime in that period, a road switcher brought a fan trip from St. George to the CNJ in Cranford, and presumably back to Communipaw. I was on that trip, and someplace I may have low-quality snapshots.
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traildriver




Joined: 26 Mar 2011
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PostPosted: Mon Apr 29, 2019 12:44 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

https://www.google.com/maps/place/St.+George,+Staten+Island,+NY+10301/@40.6433483,-74.0734546,413m/data=!3m1!1e3!4m5!3m4!1s0x89c24e2d036da2fd:0xab5d623d4291a9f6!8m2!3d40.6427017!4d-74.0799469


Click on the little 'satellite' box for view...
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N4 Jamaica




Joined: 16 Apr 2007
Posts: 855
Location: Long Island

PostPosted: Mon Apr 29, 2019 12:59 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

How George Law was canonized and St. George got its name.
Article in New York Times of May 26, 1929.
https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1929/05/26/91798618.pdf

I am fairly certain below is a view of the St. George Terminal showing in the foreground the entrance to the ferry to 39th Street Brooklyn and thereupon the Church Avenue streetcar. The photo might be the Manhattan terminal. According to Wikipedia, the Manhattan to 39th Street ferry ceased operation in 1935, while the route from St. George to 39th Street ceased operation with the 1946 fire. Photo linked
https://images.app.goo.gl/gBDvBPch9kwrJpyZ7
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NEW YORK OMNIBUS 2629
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PostPosted: Mon Apr 29, 2019 2:02 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Fellows:

Thanks for both input and images; much appreciated! Wink

I well remember that old canopied area last used by taxis; that, I know, has long since been demolished.

The pre-1946 St. George terminal had separate concourses for the different SIRT routes; the electric trains to South Beach and Tottenville used the platforms that were on the eastern side of the terminal, whereas the platforms for the Arlington trains were separated from the "main line" platforms, and reached by a passageway.

That tragic 1946 fire could have resulted with a far greater loss of life, if it started only a few minutes earlier.

The blaze erupted just after the departure of the 1:45PM boat for Whitehall Street; the blaze spread so quickly that the boat due in at 1:55 could not dock.

Regarding the 39th St. ferry, when service was eventually resumed, the boats, the "modern" Electric Ferries, ran now to the 69th St. pier; the boats used thst Brooklyn pier until service was curtailed in late 1964 (given the daily gridlocks on the VZ today, that ferry line would make for a valuable alternate route!)

After the 69th ferry stopped running, the NYFD based a fireboat in one of the old slips (Marine Co. No. 9); I also remember the Coast Guard was also based at St. George, using the old Lighthouse Department depot facilities, before they moved to Governors Island in the late 60's.

Back in the early/mid-60's, Mom and I would often talk a walk from the terminal down to the Department of Marine & Aviation's SI ferry maintenance base (Pier #7, Tompkinsville) to see the ferries moored their, awaiting repairs (I took photos of the old pier back in 1985; I know it has now been gone many years)......

"NYO"
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N4 Jamaica




Joined: 16 Apr 2007
Posts: 855
Location: Long Island

PostPosted: Mon Apr 29, 2019 2:13 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

A photo of the passenger drop-off area "in the 1950's." I remember it as the base of the zoned taxicabs I never used.
---
Still, there is a chance this was the old streetcar and bus terminal also. In the past hour, I have been unable to locate a photo of that terminal, but such photos are around somewhere.
---
Photo at link below.
http://www.secretstatenisland.com/stgeorgedropoff/
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NEW YORK OMNIBUS 2629
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PostPosted: Mon Apr 29, 2019 2:15 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

In this 1955 view, we see two NYCTA Twin Coaches near the old 39th St. ferry terminal.

Look carefully and you can see that the abandoned terminal was equipped for upper deck loading; the 69th St. ferry, on the other hand, had no provisions for upper deck loading, as the boats were designed primarily to carry motor vehicles.

With the "Electric Ferries"-type diesel-electrics, foot passengers boarded via the main deck, and then ascended to the upper passenger cabins via a covered stairwell.

Mom and I rode these distinctive green ferries many times, back in the day........

http://bus.nycsubway.org/perl/show?3958

(courtesy: bus.nycsubway.org)


Last edited by NEW YORK OMNIBUS 2629 on Mon Apr 29, 2019 2:31 pm; edited 1 time in total
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N4 Jamaica




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PostPosted: Mon Apr 29, 2019 2:28 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

The photo linked below is dated 1945. Note the buses around the edge. I think the autos in the center are taxis.

https://statenisland.pastperfectonline.com/photo/D4B4BEDF-BFAF-487F-8C78-011932762283
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NEW YORK OMNIBUS 2629
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PostPosted: Mon Apr 29, 2019 2:28 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Here is an interesting photo showing the SIRT approach tracks and platforms at St. George, sometime prior to the 1946 fire.

The one-car SIRT ME-1 train was more than likely a South Beach train; also, note a "City" ferryboat in the background; also, you can just barely make out the slips for the 39th St. boats; many of the "city" ferries were maintained here at that time.

Look closely on the far left and you will see a steam-hauled train; I'm only guessing that that might have been a troop train, bound for the deepwater piers at Stapleton and/or Clifton, making connections with a troop transport......

http://www.nycsubway.org/perl/show?115369

(courtesy: nycsubway.org)
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N4 Jamaica




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PostPosted: Mon Apr 29, 2019 2:35 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

And this 1937 view of the bus turn-around.
https://statenisland.pastperfectonline.com/photo/F9CAE6DE-C7D9-454F-BE6A-178447063683
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NEW YORK OMNIBUS 2629
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PostPosted: Mon Apr 29, 2019 2:48 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

(Note the Old Look heading west from the St. George terminal in this 1970 view)

This was when the SIRT was preparing f;or the eventual delivery of the R-44 cars, which would replace all of the venerable 1925 ME-1 cars; note the old IND R-1 car that has been rebuilt into a clearance tester, at the head of a cut of the old ME-1's........

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

(courtesy: nycsubway.org)
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NEW YORK OMNIBUS 2629
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PostPosted: Mon Apr 29, 2019 2:50 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

N4: GREAT stuff!!!! Very Happy

Talk about "time travel"........ Wink

"NYO"
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NEW YORK OMNIBUS 2629
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PostPosted: Mon Apr 29, 2019 2:56 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Early construction for the new St. George terminal; a 69th St. ferry can be seen in the background.

Also notice the old SIRT interlocking tower (then serving the Tottenville and South Beach trains) which was later replaced with a new tower......

http://www.nycsubway.org/perl/show?21937

(courtesy: nycsubway.org)


Last edited by NEW YORK OMNIBUS 2629 on Tue Jan 03, 2023 4:25 pm; edited 1 time in total
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NEW YORK OMNIBUS 2629
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PostPosted: Mon Apr 29, 2019 3:00 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

NEW YORK OMNIBUS 2629 wrote:
Here is an interesting photo showing the SIRT approach tracks and platforms at St. George, sometime prior to the 1946 fire.

The one-car SIRT ME-1 train was more than likely a South Beach train; also, note a "City" ferryboat in the background; also, you can just barely make out the slips for the 39th St. boats; many of the "city" ferries were maintained here at that time.

Look closely on the far left and you will see a steam-hauled train; I'm only guessing that that might have been a troop train, bound for the deepwater piers at Stapleton and/or Clifton, making connections with a troop transport......

http://www.nycsubway.org/perl/show?115369

(courtesy: nycsubway.org)


* Note the B&O Camelback hauled-passenger train pulling out of St. George; this looks to be the same train seen on the far left in the earlier photo I had posted the link too.

Again, with SIRT passenger service long electrified (1925), I am guessing this was a troop train (also, note the string old wooden coaches, no B&O lettering).........

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

(courtesy: nycsubway.org)
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NEW YORK OMNIBUS 2629
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PostPosted: Mon Apr 29, 2019 9:02 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

A rare 1940's-era view of the western end of the St. George terminal area, showing a string of SIRT ME-1's being washed down; the cars are on the tracks that connected to the SIRT's Arlington line.

On the right can be seen the original streetcar/bus/taxi approach ramp and canopies; note also the early diesel switcher and the old B&O coal tower.............

http://www.nycsubway.org/perl/show?115372

(courtesy: nycsubway.org)
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