Good job filming this. (They need to restore the Staten Island Railroad into St George from Arlington Yard) The North Shore Subdivision doesn't end at the SI Ferry Terminal in St George, but rather south of Clifton Station at the foot of Willow Ave and Langere Pl, opposite the tracks from Garber's Do It Best Hardware & Building Supplies. (The remains of a coal dump trestle from the time of when the Hawkins Coal co still stand on this property) This is where "Clifton Junction" once was and where the East Shore Line to South Beach diverged from the "mainline". (The St George bound platform at Clifton Station once had an interlocking tower, until it was demolished in the late 1980s) South of Clifton JCT, the Perth Amboy Subdivision began. (Most locals calls the St George - Tottenville portion of the railroad the "South Shore Line") The East Shore Line saw complete abandonment after the elimination of commuter rail service to South Beach on 3/31/1953. The North Shore Subdivision between St George Yard, (where the Empire Outlets Mall and a parking garage now sits ) and Arlington Yard remained open, following the elimination of commuter rail service between St George and Mariners Harbor, east of Arlington Yard. This became a non electrified, non signaled, single track freight only line, until the Staten Island Railroad was abandoned form St George to Cranford Junction on March 9th, 1991. (Proctor & Gamble, the Staten Island Railroad's biggest freight customer, closed their Port Ivory Plant and moved this operation to Mexico) In 1955, both the "Third Rail" and the signal system were removed from both the East Shore Line and the North Shore between St George and the Arlington Stations. (The North Shore became "Dark Territory" between St George and the Arthur Kill Rail Bridge) Sometime around the late 1950s, or early 60s, the Arlington bound tracks were removed from east of Arlington Yard, to the St George Yard. However, a portion of the second main was allowed to remain near the site of where US Gipson had a plant between Jersey St and Lafayette Ave on Richmond Terr. (Now the site of Atlantic Salt) This was used as a siding track, as there were a pair of "trailing point" switches that formed a cross over for the covered cement hoppers that brought the gipson, asbestos and other materials needed to manufacture "Sheet Rock", Plaster of Paris and joint compound etc. (US Gipson filed for Chapter 11 Bankruptcy around 1977 and their Staten Island plant was closed) In the 1980s, the Staten Island Railroad served Proctor & Gamble's Port Ivory Plant, as well as Terminal Lumber in Mariners Harbor, near the abandoned Lake Ave Station. (Historically, this was the site of Arthur Dreyer & Sons Lumber and Coal and there's still a coal silo that stands on the site today) In Elm Park about Granite Ave, was a paper manufacturer called "Cross Sinclair" and there was Nassau Smelting & Refining in Tottenville. Farrell Lumber in Great Kills may have still been a rail customer, along with the Staten Island Advance off of Fingerboard Rd in Grassmere, until the mid 80s. Around the time the Chessie System sold the operating rights of the Staten Island Railroad's freight operations to the New York Susquehanna & Western in 1985. (A subsidiary of Delaware Otsego Corp ) The Right Of Way east of Elm Park was beginning to get so heavily overgrown with weeds, train crews basically had to chop that all up, just so freight trains could get through there. Finally by September of 1989, all freight service east of Elm Park was permantly suspended. This cut off rail service to Nassau Smelting and whatever other industries south of St George that were receiving rail service. And with the complete abandonment of the Staten Island Railroad from St George - Cranford Junction, 3/9/1991, the St George - Tottenville portion of the railroad has operated as an "isolated railroad", severed from the National Freight Rail Network. These tracks on the unused portion of the North Shore are in absolute horrendous shape, that I don't think there was ever any tie replacement projects done on these tracks. There probably hasn't been any tie replacement projects done to these tracks in decades, probably since the late 1950s, let alone any track maintenance! When the North Shore was still active for freight trains, these trains made a lot of noise with all the jointed rail and the freight cars often times displayed the rocking, that was familiar with 1970s era railfan videos.
The North Shore line will never, ever, ever be restored. Staten Islanders need to accept this fact. You’re better off moving to a town that currently has rail service.
@@edwardp3502 With the inflation as well as the rising fuel costs, I would beg to differ. Freight rail is in fact making a comeback in many parts of the country, as lines that were abandoned years ago are being restored. If the tracks on the North Shore were rehabilitated from Arlington Yard to St George, Garber's Do it Best Hardware & Building Supplies and a few other industries would switch back to rail from trucks. This would eliminate a lot of those heavy trucks that normally travel along Bay St, Hylan Blvd etc. If they restored a third of the Staten Island Railroad from NJ to Staten Island in Mariners Harbor and Travis, they could restore it to St George again.
@@joshbenton4080 Freight rail deals in high volume like coal, oil, concrete, etc. There is zero big industry on SI, and nobody is gonna pay hundreds of dollars to have an Amazon package or a few pieces of lumber shipped by three different railroads to end up being delivered the last few miles by truck anyway. Ain’t gonna happen.
