101009_0054_4x6
[Source]
By March 1890, the B&O [Baltimore & Ohio Railroad] line between St. George and Cranford Jct. was open to traffic.
By February 1896, the B&O found itself bankrupt. While paying dearly to reach New York, the B&O had neglected its western lines that were now in poor condition. In an attempt to refinance, J. P. Morgan intervened and replaced B&O’s top management. By 1900, the B&O was put under the control of the Pennsylvania Railroad, which made a number of improvements to the road. The PRR allowed the newly-developed New Jersey, New York and Staten Island properties to remain intact. For a short while in 1900 the SIRT operated a B&O connection passenger train from St. George to Plainfield, NJ Within a few years the B&O was profitable again and emerged from PRR control as a stronger railroad.
By the 1910’s, Staten Island was showing its shortcomings in handling B&O freight. Both Arlington and St. George Yards were choked with cars, many awaiting car float transport to West 26th Street and other connections around the harbor. To ease the load on Staten Island by 1912, the B&O again ran through freight into Jersey City on the Jersey Central. Staten Island would continue to be used as well and developed a heavy coal trade for the B&O. Staten Island’s deep water piers never generated traffic of the size experienced along the East and Hudson Rivers except in wartime.
As WW I developed, US railroads were put under the management of the USRA. In April 1918, B&O passenger trains were routed directly into Pennsylvania Station in New York. The move was mandated by the U.S.R.A. to ease the heavy traffic strain on the PRR as the B&O was underutilized.
During 1925 and 1926 Staten Island’s line saw a few experimental B&O passenger runs made to consider options. However, the long boat ride to Manhattan from Staten Island was not favorable for speed. From this point onward, the B&O resolved that if it could not compete with PRR passenger service on the basis of time to Washington, they would better it with quality.
B&O crews did not operate into Staten Island. SIRT crews handled all the traffic to and from Cranford Jct. During WW II, the SIRT exclusively handled all east coast military hospital trains. The Stapleton piers were designated for hospital ship docking. New York was the only east coast Port of Call for European Theatre hospital ships. The hospital trains ran through to their inland connections via Cranford Jct. Some stopped at Arlington to transfer wounded servicemen to a large military hospital on Staten Island. Troop movements, POW trains and war materiel as well crossed the Arthur Kill to and from Cranford Jct. and their appointed destinations. This kept the five mile stretch of B&O track in Union County N. J. busy and shiny. In 1944, the B&O conveyed its Baltimore & New York Railway property to the Staten Island Rapid Transit and dissolved the B&NY The SIRT worked this line with its own as well as assigned B&O locomotives since it was opened in 1890.
Before, during WW II and after, there were a number of special trains beyond the troop movements that were handled by the B&O over its New Jersey track to Staten Island. One pre-war train was a special for Winston Churchill, taking him to a ship at Stapleton for one of his many Atlantic crossings. SIRT provided a shined-up locomotive, sporting polished rods, white driver tires and a white-uniformed engine crew for that movement.
The very last SIRT special was for Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip of England on October 21, 1957. They traveled by rail from a state meeting with President Eisenhower in Washington DC to New York and a ride on the Staten Island Ferry. Their trains (press and royal) left Washington the evening of October 20 for Camp Kilmer New Jersey, traveling over the B&O and Reading Company. The movement was similar to a POTUS (President of the US) with extremely high security and secrecy.
Both trains reached the Camp via Reading’s Port Reading Branch. At the Camp, the trains were reconfigured by dropping the two leading diesel units of each, leaving one unit each for the next part of the trip to Staten Island. This was done for passing over the Arthur Kill swing bridge which had a limited load capacity. The two lead diesel sets were then taken to Cranford Junction via the Reading and Jersey Central to await return of the equipment from Staten Island.
On Monday, October 21 at 6 AM, the 10 car press train left Camp Kilmer over the Lehigh Valley to Staten Island Junction and the SIRT. Exactly one hour later, the 11 car heavy-weight Pullman-equipped royal train followed. Both specials rolled directly and non-stop into a freight yard at Stapleton. It was specially cleaned up for the occasion as was the motorcade’s route along Bay Street to St. George Ferry Terminal. As soon as the Queen’s motorcade left the yard, an SIRT switcher took each train back to Cranford Junction, hauling them in reverse. From Cranford, the equipment of both trains dead-headed to Baltimore early that afternoon.
After WW II, railroads declined in importance, efficiency and traffic. Highway construction aided the decline and the water barriers around New York were making the car float and lighterage business an expensive proposition for the railroads. Equipment was aging across the board for the B&O as well as other lines. On April 26, 1958, the B&O ran its last passenger trains to New York and out of Jersey City. All was typical, full B&O service right to the end. The next day, all B&O rolling stock at Jersey City was assembled into long trains of up to 30 or more passenger and express cars and deadheaded to Baltimore.
In November 1957, an Esso oil tanker collided with the old Arthur Kill bridge, knocking it off its central pivot. With the bridge rendered useless, the B&O immediately transferred all Staten Island freight to Jersey City. Car floats were used to bring Staten Island rail traffic back to St. George. By 1959, a new 558 foot single track vertical lift span replaced the old swing bridge. It is the longest of its type in the U.S. Along with the new bridge, the entire line from Cranford Jct to Arlington Yard was re-laid with new, heavier rail. A three mile branch line was extended from Gulf Port to Travis, along Staten Island’s west shore. This was done for unit coal trains coming from West Virginia to service a new Consolidated Edison power plant. Even late in the 1950’s, the B&O continued to invest in its New Jersey and Staten Island holdings.
By 1973, the Jersey Central closed its car float yard at Jersey City. The B&O then moved its car float freight back to St. George on Staten Island. In September 1979, this car float operation was taken over by the New York Dock Railway and was terminated in 1980. The St. George Yard was essentially abandoned, except for servicing a few isolated Staten Island industries still using rail service.
The interline tariff routing arrangement used by B&O/Chessie to reach New Jersey and New York was ended by Conrail in the early 1980’s, leaving the line completely out of the New Jersey freight market. In April 1985, the operating rights for the tracks between Cranford Jct to St. George were sold to the Delaware-Otsego Corp. of Cooperstown, NY.
Staten Island’s operation had been reduced to one isolated crew working four or five days a week. By October, 1989, the Delaware-Otsego Corp. embargoed the Staten Island North Shore line between Elm Park and St. George. The track in New Jersey was also put out of use for a while following a fire from a box car standing on a wood trestle near the Exxon Refinery. By 1990, all rail freight service to and from Staten Island ceased.
101009_0054_4x6
[Source]
By March 1890, the B&O [Baltimore & Ohio Railroad] line between St. George and Cranford Jct. was open to traffic.
By February 1896, the B&O found itself bankrupt. While paying dearly to reach New York, the B&O had neglected its western lines that were now in poor condition. In an attempt to refinance, J. P. Morgan intervened and replaced B&O’s top management. By 1900, the B&O was put under the control of the Pennsylvania Railroad, which made a number of improvements to the road. The PRR allowed the newly-developed New Jersey, New York and Staten Island properties to remain intact. For a short while in 1900 the SIRT operated a B&O connection passenger train from St. George to Plainfield, NJ Within a few years the B&O was profitable again and emerged from PRR control as a stronger railroad.
By the 1910’s, Staten Island was showing its shortcomings in handling B&O freight. Both Arlington and St. George Yards were choked with cars, many awaiting car float transport to West 26th Street and other connections around the harbor. To ease the load on Staten Island by 1912, the B&O again ran through freight into Jersey City on the Jersey Central. Staten Island would continue to be used as well and developed a heavy coal trade for the B&O. Staten Island’s deep water piers never generated traffic of the size experienced along the East and Hudson Rivers except in wartime.
As WW I developed, US railroads were put under the management of the USRA. In April 1918, B&O passenger trains were routed directly into Pennsylvania Station in New York. The move was mandated by the U.S.R.A. to ease the heavy traffic strain on the PRR as the B&O was underutilized.
During 1925 and 1926 Staten Island’s line saw a few experimental B&O passenger runs made to consider options. However, the long boat ride to Manhattan from Staten Island was not favorable for speed. From this point onward, the B&O resolved that if it could not compete with PRR passenger service on the basis of time to Washington, they would better it with quality.
B&O crews did not operate into Staten Island. SIRT crews handled all the traffic to and from Cranford Jct. During WW II, the SIRT exclusively handled all east coast military hospital trains. The Stapleton piers were designated for hospital ship docking. New York was the only east coast Port of Call for European Theatre hospital ships. The hospital trains ran through to their inland connections via Cranford Jct. Some stopped at Arlington to transfer wounded servicemen to a large military hospital on Staten Island. Troop movements, POW trains and war materiel as well crossed the Arthur Kill to and from Cranford Jct. and their appointed destinations. This kept the five mile stretch of B&O track in Union County N. J. busy and shiny. In 1944, the B&O conveyed its Baltimore & New York Railway property to the Staten Island Rapid Transit and dissolved the B&NY The SIRT worked this line with its own as well as assigned B&O locomotives since it was opened in 1890.
Before, during WW II and after, there were a number of special trains beyond the troop movements that were handled by the B&O over its New Jersey track to Staten Island. One pre-war train was a special for Winston Churchill, taking him to a ship at Stapleton for one of his many Atlantic crossings. SIRT provided a shined-up locomotive, sporting polished rods, white driver tires and a white-uniformed engine crew for that movement.
The very last SIRT special was for Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip of England on October 21, 1957. They traveled by rail from a state meeting with President Eisenhower in Washington DC to New York and a ride on the Staten Island Ferry. Their trains (press and royal) left Washington the evening of October 20 for Camp Kilmer New Jersey, traveling over the B&O and Reading Company. The movement was similar to a POTUS (President of the US) with extremely high security and secrecy.
Both trains reached the Camp via Reading’s Port Reading Branch. At the Camp, the trains were reconfigured by dropping the two leading diesel units of each, leaving one unit each for the next part of the trip to Staten Island. This was done for passing over the Arthur Kill swing bridge which had a limited load capacity. The two lead diesel sets were then taken to Cranford Junction via the Reading and Jersey Central to await return of the equipment from Staten Island.
On Monday, October 21 at 6 AM, the 10 car press train left Camp Kilmer over the Lehigh Valley to Staten Island Junction and the SIRT. Exactly one hour later, the 11 car heavy-weight Pullman-equipped royal train followed. Both specials rolled directly and non-stop into a freight yard at Stapleton. It was specially cleaned up for the occasion as was the motorcade’s route along Bay Street to St. George Ferry Terminal. As soon as the Queen’s motorcade left the yard, an SIRT switcher took each train back to Cranford Junction, hauling them in reverse. From Cranford, the equipment of both trains dead-headed to Baltimore early that afternoon.
After WW II, railroads declined in importance, efficiency and traffic. Highway construction aided the decline and the water barriers around New York were making the car float and lighterage business an expensive proposition for the railroads. Equipment was aging across the board for the B&O as well as other lines. On April 26, 1958, the B&O ran its last passenger trains to New York and out of Jersey City. All was typical, full B&O service right to the end. The next day, all B&O rolling stock at Jersey City was assembled into long trains of up to 30 or more passenger and express cars and deadheaded to Baltimore.
In November 1957, an Esso oil tanker collided with the old Arthur Kill bridge, knocking it off its central pivot. With the bridge rendered useless, the B&O immediately transferred all Staten Island freight to Jersey City. Car floats were used to bring Staten Island rail traffic back to St. George. By 1959, a new 558 foot single track vertical lift span replaced the old swing bridge. It is the longest of its type in the U.S. Along with the new bridge, the entire line from Cranford Jct to Arlington Yard was re-laid with new, heavier rail. A three mile branch line was extended from Gulf Port to Travis, along Staten Island’s west shore. This was done for unit coal trains coming from West Virginia to service a new Consolidated Edison power plant. Even late in the 1950’s, the B&O continued to invest in its New Jersey and Staten Island holdings.
By 1973, the Jersey Central closed its car float yard at Jersey City. The B&O then moved its car float freight back to St. George on Staten Island. In September 1979, this car float operation was taken over by the New York Dock Railway and was terminated in 1980. The St. George Yard was essentially abandoned, except for servicing a few isolated Staten Island industries still using rail service.
The interline tariff routing arrangement used by B&O/Chessie to reach New Jersey and New York was ended by Conrail in the early 1980’s, leaving the line completely out of the New Jersey freight market. In April 1985, the operating rights for the tracks between Cranford Jct to St. George were sold to the Delaware-Otsego Corp. of Cooperstown, NY.
Staten Island’s operation had been reduced to one isolated crew working four or five days a week. By October, 1989, the Delaware-Otsego Corp. embargoed the Staten Island North Shore line between Elm Park and St. George. The track in New Jersey was also put out of use for a while following a fire from a box car standing on a wood trestle near the Exxon Refinery. By 1990, all rail freight service to and from Staten Island ceased.