The New York Jersey Rail Car Float Operation from NYC to New Jersey
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- čas přidán 1. 02. 2017
- Just south of the Brooklyn Army Terminal in Sunset Park is one of New York City's infrastructure survivors: a floating barge freight train line that runs from the 65th Street Rail Yard to the Greenville Yard in Jersey City across the Hudson River. The New York New Jersey Rail, founded in 2005, is operated now by the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey. Although the line is only four miles long, it serves as a small, but growing critical link for freight in the New York region, and cements the city's commitment to bringing industry back to the waterfront.
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Growing up in the 1960’s in north Brooklyn, I remember those operations well. There was a company called Brooklyn Eastern District Terminal (BEDT) that ran an operation along the east river. My dad used to take me there on weekends. They had the same float operations. I also remember they still had a steam locomotive in operation. Thomas the train cartoon was designed on that model steam train. Ima gettin old!
Yeah they turned that steam locomotive into Thomas the tank engine, This was the old BEDT
Im amazed that they still do these operations! I thought they stopped in the 60’s ! Amazing
This is a rare thing in the United States, only a few operators, like this one, exist. It would not make economical sense to build a bridge and its faster to take the boat than to go around, north, through the city. Even more rare is this Barge technique is one only Barge trains in the world.
i have always been fascinated by harbour ops in nyc . this is the reason the first diesel locos were built because of the tight curves and in some places they had to use windlass switching to get in and out of tight spots . also the diesel loco was used on railways to supply troops during ww1 as they ddint have a firebox to give them away at night . the creaking and groaning reminds me when i wake up.:) great film. thanks :):):):):):)
I live not far from here and have been passing these docks my whole life. I NEVER saw them in operation and always assumed they were abandoned. Thank you SO much for posting this very informative and interesting video.
They actually were abandoned for some time, but the Cross-Harbor Railroad was still in operation: up until recently they were using a different dock, a bit farther north (like around 41-43 Street) and then ran the freights through the Brooklyn Army Terminal and onto the Bay Ridge Line. Now they can access the Bay Ridge Line directly without having to drive the trains down the middle of First Avenue.
(Well I say a different dock. It's the same dock, they've just moved it here. The original 65th Street float bridges, which had sat unused for ages, were damaged in Sandy, so they moved the other one here.)
Vaderd2k federal reserved. So it’s used daily.
Omg. My best friends grandfather was the Captain of the Intrepid tugboat Picking up floats from Gantry park in queens and bringing them to NJ. We would pickup RR cars from Domino Sugar and bring them to NJ. Lots if scrap metal cars etc. He would haul 6 floats on his tug. Amazing memories. I remember being on the tug @6a
This looks like the scene that Crank The Crane puts the engines on the ships where they want to go on a journey from Sodor
Interesting to see that some reailcar floats are still in operation; I though most had been abandoned. Also iInteresting to note how the crews observed the practice of keeping the barge relatively balanced while rolling cars off & on. Nice video! :)
Once upon a time there were a lot of these marine offline terminals in NYC. Especially in the Bronx: Erie Lackawanna, Lehigh Valley, Central of New Jersey and Harlem Transfer Railroad... Interesting operations.
Excellent commentary, I learned a lot of new information about moving railcars by barge
Wow
I didnt think New Yorks City still uses the car floats!! Thanks for posting video!! Learned something today😊
As Harry Lynch used to say,"That's when the boxcars were made of wood and the men were made of iron".
Except I believe this is current operations.
Dont be a Wise Ass @@willrothfuss8470
@@fixedgearfever69 "That's when" means that that was a long time ago. He's not being wise; he's just correcting a faulty statement. Don't be a jerk.
I spent a great deal of my youth around the Sunset Park waterfront and the tracks of the South Brooklyn Railway/ Cross Harbor etc. exploring decorating and hanging out.I have a lotto photos of when they used that weeks float barge at the marine terminal at 39th st also at the other float bridge on the Cross Harbor property before it was taken over by NYNJ rail.
That was really cool!
EXCELLENT VIDEO! VERY WELL EDITED. GREAT WORK, and artistic in the shooting locations & view points. What idiot gave this a thumbs down !??
Maybe those down-voters get seasick easily?
People do not want to see what this Liberal platform sends them to watch, so they give the video a thumbs down so they don't get these sent to them.
Invested in this back in the 90's and lost a small fortune when they went bankrupt.
That sucks.
A fascinating bit of operations!
really liked this.
Never realized the "choreography" needed to load and unload those barges. Excellent.
Cats01 dancing ?
For those who may not know, the 2 gondolas directly in front of the engines are known as 'handles'. Locos are not allowed to ride the 'slip' due to their massive weight, so the handles are used to push/pull loads (cars) on /off the barge, loco never atop the slip.. And, of course, the slip is needed to compensate for low and high tides..
Greetings from a landlubber out on the Left Coast. This is too cool! I've never seen this kind of operation before, and this is RR history in living life. My modeling eye is in overdrive! Thanks, man. SPGhost
The left coast had LOTS of float operations, and I believe they still do.
Terrific. Must be a lot of twisting of the barge to cope with as different lines get filled and emptied.
Very little twisting, if they did, they wouldn't float very long...
Tugboats are like floating locomotives.
They are but much more powerful
@@christherailfan5851 no kiddin
This was a very informative video as I’m in the process of detailing my car float on my N scale model railroad. Will refer back to this video many times.
That’s really cool. Awesome work. Thankyou
Thats neat and tidy compared with the old New York Cross Harbour Railroad back in the 90s.....
Amazing they still do this almost unique
Like the music reminds me of a film
That was so awesome to watch and thank you 😊
Nice Video
Very cool operation, would love to watch in person!!
Such a unique operation.
I also thought this operation was a thing of the past. Thanks for posting.
I USED TO PLAY THERE when I was a boy. Mike Ferguson F; Also played stickball on 49th ST 1948
Well done!
What a neat operation!
Great video
Awesome!!
Interesting video.
That was definitely interesting I never knew they did that👍
Fascinating.
I recall the days when New York harbor was filled with railroad owned ferry boats and railroad owned tugboats towing railroad barges carrying freight cars as well as railroad lighters (railroad owned barges carrying different types of freight) throughout the harbor. Glad to see a railroad finally putting to use the old 65 street yard and float bridges that N.Y,City rebuilt over a quarter century ago. The original Bar Ridge yards, float bridges's and the Brooklyn Terminal handled and transferred thousands of tons of freight as well as thousands of military personal during the 20th century.
I was wondering how they connect the bardge tracks to the land railroad tracks. Now I see they connected by sliding huge steel bars into the bardge.
Gerald City: BARGE
Thankyou for the video. Q - is the barge listing at 1:44, or just a camera angle since it doesn't seem to correct at 2:42? I've played this at quarter speed in the hope it is more like prototypical speed... am I right? Certainly is a going concern with all that traffic.
This has to be one of the last rail barge services in the county
Gonna ride that one day.
Interesting!!!!
This looks like the scene of Top Hat with his car floats Frank and Eddie from TUGS
That was fascinating. If Google maps is correct it looks like it's still in service.
I assume the two freight cars (with extra weight in them) attached to the locos ensure that the locos don't have to traverse the sloped rail as they probably don't handle such changes in slope....?
1:18 every weekend when there not working they always forget to turn that locomotive off
_they're_ not working
Thanks for sharing. That was a great video.
Do they need to adjust or make allowances for tide changes?
The ramp floats up and down like a boat dock as the tides change.
Not a bit. They have multiple cars sitting idle on spur tracks just for that purpose. If a train car starts getting wonky while it's getting loaded, they let it tip over the side or push it off in the water once it leaves the dock. Then they back in again and load a duplicate car from the siding. The railroad just writes the car off as rust damaged.
How are the rail barges held so steady for loading & unloading? I see how they are locked at the shore end but what about the rest of it? I can see the waves yet the barge is motionless. Is something supporting the barge to hold it in place?
*How* do they adjust the height of the barges to match the onshore tracks??? Could come in too low, too high, etc. This video failed to clarify that. Only showed the bars connecting barge to the shore...
Never heard of this.
This is where tugs takes place New York and NJ
That’s because there still is no rail bridge or tunnel connecting New Jersey and NYC. Because Christie said it was too expensive. How much will it cost now genius.
Actually, there are rail tunnels between NJ & NYC. The problem is that there are only two tracks through the Amtrak tunnels into Penn Station, and those tunnels are more than a century old. The plan is to build two more tunnels to ease passenger train access to Penn Station. AFAIK, no freight traffic uses those tunnels.
There are two other rail tunnels under the Hudson River, but they are the PATH subway trains from Jersey City to lower Manhattan and from Hoboken to midtown, with no connections to other rail lines.
a little narration would have added a lot to the video.............where the cars came from, what the loads were and where they were headed for ,,,,,,,,,croxton ,,,,,,oak island or what and final destination............
Frank & Eddie the car float barges.
Curious to know how much that floating weight with those rain car on top pretty cool to see
Probably over a thousand tons of water displaced
Each 100 ton rail car when full weighs 263,000 lbs-200,000 load + 63,000 car.
Top Hat! The barge needs assistance!
the barge is listing a little
1:44 Seeing the barge list to one side like that looks hilariously sketchy.
I was under the assumption that this art was lost forever
Old school for sure in the video they use 2 btugs for saftey The old days iot was staem tugs and up until the 60s diesel electric 1600 hp sigle screw tugs.
How do they adjust for height as it changes?
Robert Heinkel Those giant wheels.
There's a connecting float bridge.
To float the cars over to Manhatten Island?
Hi. Any chance we can use this video and song for a video we're putting together. Let me know.
Yes, help yourself and others. Take it with good tidings and be blessed my friend. Don't hold back. This is yours to enjoy and share. This is on a public platform and no one can tell you otherwise. Do you think looters and rioters _ask_ if they can "use" something?
Top Hat the Railway Tug.
Dock Railway. Goods Engine.
If u go to historicaerials.com and go to New York, you can see how almost the entire New Jersey coast facing towards Manhattan andused to be rail yards
seems expensive
i boat on the hudson into newark bay, i dont know of any existing docks in Jersey, the old days, edgewater to weehawken waa loaded with them, i thought i saw the twin towers in one frame, this may be old
Just an FYI, you can clearly see the Freedom Tower in the background every time they show the two large black wheel, specifically at 9 seconds in.
They can shackle prisoners to the floor of prison train cars and float them out to Riker's Island
They need a bigger island for the illegal invaders now.
Could do without the music. Lake Michigan car ferries were more impressive in their heyday of operations.
You got to be kidding me, this is so antiquated, and costly I don’t believe they’re still doing this. Try using a railroad bridge and having more cars delivered would be less pricey. They don’t get that many cars on those barges to make it worthwhile.
The idea here is to use as much fuel as possible. The _carbon footprint_ helps make greener plants and trees. It's all part of _Beautify the World_ by Grenchen Thumpberger.
How many fimes have they flirted with the idea of building a tunnel to carry rail freight traffic between NJ and Brooklyn. It would probably cost a fortune in todays money.
They're always talking about it
There actually was/is a plan to tunnel under the NY Bay to connect Jersey City to the Bklyn Bay Ridge Branch (it's to be a 4-track configuration) to move goods via freight thru the city more efficiently. Given today's building costs it would take billions to do it. However, there are aporoaches that were built for the project that are sealed over in that yard if the city should ever get the budget to construct the tunnels.
@@QNative2012also, to one of the queens railcars as well.