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Staten Island North Shore Tour Diary.
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It's a wonderful brisk autumn afternoon
as we pile into the stealthy RabbitMoble and bounce on down the road,
across the bridge, and into NYC's forgotten borough, Staten island.
Ah yes, Staten island. a suburban part of the city known largely for
it's upper middle class white folks, occasional inbreds, and the one
of the only man made structure visible from outer space: the infamous
Staten island landfill
Indeed, Staten island is far closer to the industrial wastelands of
north jersey than NYC proper. It's population is largely off balance
though - centering on the southeast and middle of the island, leaving
the north shore which shares a coastline with the north jersey refineries
and industry, a bit more secluded.
Which brings us to the first stop of the tour: the abandoned north
shore SIRTOA tracks.
The SIRTOA is Staten island's subway. Today, is consists of one active
line, stretching along the island's southwest shore all the way up
to it's northern tip, where one might catch the ferry across the harbor
and dock at the tip of southern Manhattan. From this location, St.
George, the tracks are abandoned on the north shore, proceeding west
to the Authur Kill Lift bridge and New Jersey. AK drawbridge, as obscure
as it is, has the highest virtical lift of any drawbridge of it's
variety. Too bad the line is unused.
The tracks here were originally built by the B&O railroad, which
was later merged with other lines to become the current large CSX
railway. CSX sold the line to the city in the 80's, which had a shortline,
the NYSW, move freight on the line. Freight traffic eventually dried
up with the closing of a Proctor and Gamble plant, but the howland
hook marine terminal and con ed's decision to use oil instead of having
coal received by rail for one of it's power plants. Thus, around 1990,
the line was shut down (ironically leaving the SIRT tracks 'land-locked'
with no connection to any outside railroads.
The line is still largely intact, however. There are even some abandoned
subway stations which harken back to the B&O days. These stations
have not been used in many, many years - perhaps as many as 40 or
50. All that is left are the platforms, as one can see in the photos
to the above left.
The story does have a slightly happy ending, however. A recent ballpark
built on a former rail yard at St. George left provisions for trains
to move from the north shore tracks to the SIRTOA. One track has a
platform to connect to the ball park, while the other has extra height
to allow potential freight moves.
Indeed, the howland hook terminal has reopened, and CSX has been named
the operator for this freight line couches again. While that only
means that sometime in coming years freight will again cross the authur
kill bridge, it does not mean the rest of the line will be restored,
as howland hook is at the end of the drawbridge... it is still a glimmer
of hope for what was once a thriving rail line.
Proceeding west, we arrive at the edge of howland hook, and find an
abandoned, chard coffee shop. There's no reason to step inside, unless
you want to get some carbon samples. Wise guy cops pull and comment
that no one is home.
We turn south, and follow the authur kill a bit, through marshlands,
industrial roads, and long lost roads that lead us to the olde Travis
branch of the railway, which extended south from howland hook to con
ed' plant just north of the landfill. Here we find all the glories
of the north jersey cesspools right here in NYC - marshlands, tracks
knocked out of wack, substations, and a lovely couch by the tracks
to use as a photo prop.
As interesting as this may be, we pile into the car and decide it's
high time to check out another lost wonder of Staten island: sea view
hospital...
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