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Newark bay, NJ abandond car fairy

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Newark bay, NJ abandond car fairy
Posted by CNW_4009 on Sunday, July 1, 2018 11:31 AM

At the south end of Newark bay, NJ south of shooters island  there are several abandond car ferries, Just  west there is a large open space, and west a intermodel termanal with and a old dock at the end. What rr or rr's owned this complex?

     Thanks.

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Posted by CNW_4009 on Tuesday, October 1, 2019 3:34 PM
Refreshing.
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Posted by tree68 on Tuesday, October 1, 2019 7:09 PM

Rails in that area are currently shown on topo maps as Staten Island Rapid Transit (SIRT).  At one time, I believe SIRT was a subsidiary of the B&O.  

Topo maps from pre 1940's show B&O west of Arlington Yard, and SIRT east.

 

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Posted by Overmod on Tuesday, October 1, 2019 9:20 PM

[url=https://www.openrailwaymap.org/?lang=en&lat=40.643333&lon=-74.159722&zoom=12&style=standard]Here is the OpenRailwayMap view of the railroads involved in that area.

B&O has the only direct rail connection to Staten Island, via a large lift bridge over the Arthur Kill built in 1890, which in the years immediately preceding the economic collapse of the early 1890s was very significant as a prospective link to an all-rail service to New England competitive with the new Poughkeepsie Bridge Route (most likely via a tunnel under the Verrazano Narrows very close to where the bridge currently runs).  When this did not 'eventuate', the primary use of track was for local passenger service, electrified after the Kaufman Act, starting in 1923 or 1924, and massively and expensively grade-separated -- this is the part of SIRT that comes to mind to most people.  The passenger service remaining after a couple of decades of 'superior' bus operations were 'outsourced' to the New York government in 1971, but they kept some freight running into the early Nineties.

Freight service would have likely technically been B&O, although I suppose the piece of track 'dedicated' to the Arthur Kill bridge approach would only have been used to access Staten Island and therefore be shown as owned by SIRT -- perhaps for tax or political purposes.

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Posted by chutton01 on Wednesday, October 2, 2019 10:25 AM

Just to add.
There are indeed several retrired RR car ferries stashed among lots of other superannuated marine equipment along the yards of the North Shore of Staten Island, as visible here in Google.
Here's a link to the wiki entry on ExpressRail (Staten Island) - the old Arlington yard, ExpressRail being a partnership with the PANY&NJ. Also the Travis branch is used for "trash" trains from the NYCDEP Sanitation transfer station by Fresh Kills.

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Posted by CNW_4009 on Wednesday, October 2, 2019 5:31 PM

So thats what I saw.  What RR did these belong to?

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Posted by CNW_4009 on Wednesday, October 2, 2019 5:33 PM
What RR did these belong to?
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Posted by gregc on Wednesday, October 2, 2019 6:28 PM

have looked at an older topographic map from historicaerials.com?   the topos usually identify the RR

 

greg - Philadelphia & Reading / Reading

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Posted by Flintlock76 on Wednesday, October 2, 2019 7:26 PM

Maybe I can help.

Looking at a 1961 map of New York Harbor terminals, and a 2007 Northeast railroad atlas.  Due south from Shooter's Island on Staten Island is the Staten Island Rapid Transit mentioned by Overmod.  Due north are the Elizabeth Port Authority and Port Newark piers, those large open spaces I think you're referring to.  They were  served by the Jersey Central and are now served by Conrail Shared Assets.

The only other railroad structure close to Shooter's was the Jersey Central's Newark Bay Bridge, demolished in the 1980's.

Due west of Shooter's on the mainland was Elizabethport, also served by the Jersey Central, now abandoned.

And that's pretty much it.  Hope that helps.  

The derelict car barges?  They could have belonged to any of the railroads who operated in the area.  Considering the shape they're in now it's impossible to tell.  And those railroads were, are you ready?  The...

B&O

Reading

Jersey Central

Lackawanna

Erie

Lehigh Valley

New York Central

Pennsylvania

Considering all the 'roads that operated in the Greater New York area you can see why at one time it was a railfans heaven!

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Posted by gregc on Wednesday, October 2, 2019 8:16 PM

greg - Philadelphia & Reading / Reading

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