Seeing these R44s go that fast is really blowing my mind. Sorta reminds me of the R42s running on the Sea Beach express in the early 80s, with the short underpasses and the uneven tracks. Those Bklyn express runs were really fast back then.
Really great video. The train hit some good speed on the express run to Great Kills. All types of running - elevated, street level, subterranean. Lived in St. George for a few years, never had to use the train and always drove around the island. Didn't realize how much distance there was between the stations. Looks like the trains could get up to at least 50 between local stops and maybe 60 on express runs.
The stations are mostly one mile apart except between Clifton & Grasmere, which is about 2 miles. When I was a kid, Grant City was still a grade crossing. That was up to about 1968 or 69. That was the last one. New Dorp was still a grade crossing up to about 1963 but I was too young to remember that.
Beautiful video, excellent job wish all rail videos were as good. Unbelievably updated and maintained rail road, the powers that be have every right to be proud. When they say express they mean express, realize that the footage was speeded up but still. Judging from the time of year and shadows it looks to be about 3: to 4 PM and it is amazing that many people were waiting on the skipped stops to be traveling to the end of the line Way back in the early 50's my buddy and I took the line to the end and returned (why because it was there?) and there were actually cows and small truck farms there. boy has that changed. Great job keep it up
Apparently you haven’t been around the whole New York City Transit system. S.I.RailWay has more of a feel of the PATH system or one of those small commuter rail shuttle trains with the 2 to 4 car units.
@@morganlimes The MTA is soon going to retire all their old Staten Island railway cars.. After nearly 50 years of revenue service i think it's time for them to go..
Road this line a million times, these cars are done, have been for a decade. They are being replaced this year with R211's I remember when they replaced the MUE cars of the B$O, these cars have run longer than those did. 1926-1973, 1973-2024.
One thing from my kid days was the SIRT trains used to be only 3 cars. This was up to at least the 1980's. Then all the stations had to be extended to fit five cars. Great Kills, for example, used to end where the foot bridge crosses over the tracks at the south end. The Bay Terrace platform used to end where the electric switch boxes are, also at the south end. That station used to have a weird configuration where the stairs went down at the end of the platform and there was a path between the two tracks so you'd be walking along side the train as both you and the train left the station. Now that's all part of the raised platform. Also, up to the late 70s, when I was attending Tottenville High School, the Princes Bay station was still made of wood.
Princes Bay also had stairs on the Tottenville bound side at Waterbury Ave. Also a waiting room on St. George bound side that was boarded up as long as I remembered it Pleasant plains also had the wood platforms.
@@morganlimes At Grasmere they also tore down the old brick station house and replaced it with a newer, modern one. I'm not sure it's an improvement. Arthur Kill is a replacement for two old stations, Nassau & Atlantic. Grant City & New Dorp, at least, were built long after the 1930's. Both were grade crossings up to the 1960's. I remember Grant City being a grade crossing when I was about 7 or 8 years old, which would be 1967-68.m The old New Dorp station, which was replaced when the grade crossing was eliminated, was moved to Richmondtown where it can be visited nowadays. I've seen them working on it so I guess it's being restored.
It is a rough ride Lol The train sways side to side and bounces up and down the whole time even on completely straight sections. You're right about bringing headphones too because it's pretty loud even from the interior of the train
I rode the Staten Island Rapid Transit back in the glory days with the old cars that you could open the windows in hot weather. Conductors collected the fares. They didn't go this fast, but the sounds were awesome. Where was your camera mounted? I like the station names on the time bar. Too bad others don't do that on their videos.
Back in the day the conductors used to "skim" the fares and keep their share of the pocket change. My mother pointed this out to me one day when I was still a very small child. She said "watch this" and pointed out the conductor selling tickets that had already been ripped off the pad, meaning they had been used already by previous passengers and "retrieved" by the conductors after the ride was finished and many passengers would just leave their tickets on the seats. This was back in the late 60s. Typical NYC petty graft. The fare in those days, if I recall correctly, was 20 cents.
They have 4 of those Locomotives those were #778 & #779 #776 & #777 are usually outside the Clifton Maintenance Shop or sometimes at the St. George the Staten Island Ferry Terminal
Seems like SIR got rid of their older style signals. The last time I rode this train was back in high school going to Tottenville from 2000-2004....lol
how does this work since its using the same track as the local no express track, is there a large time gap between the last train and this one that allows it to bypass so many stations and not smash into a local in front of it?
Express leaves terminal first with local departing right behind it. Trains run every 15 mins during am/pm rush, which gives trains enough leeway not to catch up to train in front of it.
@@ProjectArjunThe SIR cars are not technically subway cars. They are modified to FRA standards due to the road being a common carrier line , not heavy rail transit.
I quickly placed it at the tip of the floor thats outside of the train at the terminal before the train operator got into the cab that way i dont get questioned haha
@@edwardp3502 I was onboard the train that day and when it got to tottenville I just waited for the operator and conductor to leave. She actually noticed it and was laughing about it with the conductor about what a camera is doing there Lol. They then left down the ramp exiting the station and then I simply retrieved it.
What a strange train! Skips the first 11 stations and then runs Local the rest of the way. Do they have other trains that do just the opposite - run Local to Great Kills and then go Express to Tottenville?
These express trains only run in rush hour. The express train will leave, say, at 5:30 and skip all stops to Great Kills. From this video it takes about 15 minutes to reach Great Kills. A local will leave at about 5:35 and stop at all stops and terminate at Great Kills. It will take about 28-30 minutes to reach Great Kills. At Great Kills, there's a switchover and the local train switches to the north bound track and returns to St. George.
It feels like 60 - 65 because of all the bouncing and swaying but in reality I think it's 55 at the maximum it reached because I do think these trains also have their speed limited
Oh, she will. If you’ve seen and ridden her eldest sister, Baby R211A (she’s currently an Andromeda), you’re gonna love it when Baby R211S runs along this line.
Yeah I know a relative that didn't even know there was a train there 🤣 but most people sort of do know it's there but just never ever use it since it covers such a vague area of staten island and the buses are much better for getting to your destination. Also there was zero people at Jefferson Avenue
@@morganlimes I always tell people who are thinking of moving to Staten Island not to live anywhere where the train isn't conveniently available. Bus service stinks on Staten Island. The trains are pretty reliable.
Hi, they only run them weekdays during the morning and afternoon rush hours. There's also A st. George express service but that one only runs in the mornings
I'm confused: the platform is at the right-hand side of the train when you're walking to the front, but when it departs, the platform is on the left. Did you take the other train?
The whole intro thing was actually just a last-minute idea I had when I returned back to St. george. That's why it was kinda sloppy, which also explains why the platform switched sides
When's the timeline for these to be replaced?? Soooo many flat spots on these wheels just pounding these tracks. Plus I'm looking at certain track sections thinking "it's so straight, what gives 🤔"... Then I remembered, it's the cars themselves 🤣!!
Since only one r211 set has made it to NYC and still isn't done testing after over a year I predict that these won't be getting replaced until 2024 the earliest. And yes these cars are in very rough shape lol
There’s a good amount of spacing between each station, unlike in Manhattan, where stations are literally a block away from each other; You can practically wave at someone at the next stop, and they’ll most likely wave back.
That's because the train has to make a mandatory stop before entering the station like when stopping at a stop sign while driving. I think this has to do with the fact that a train derailed in tottenville after it hit a bumper block because it didn't stop on time
it used to be 60mph 10 years ago but since the the r44s are detoriating more and more they have since reduced to 50 but on this day it felt about 45 - 50. But yeah it still bugs me that I completely forgot to screen record the train speed from my phone application and then add it to the video :(
This is a railroad. The 211's will crap out very quickly under these running conditions unless they were specially built and equipped. You have salt air, all outdoor use in all weather conditiond, long runnig distances at full speed. The SIR needed a version of a railroad car, not a subway car.
I've seen comments on some videos saying that the R211 staten island version has some differences in comparison to the subway version specifically built for the conditions that you have listed, but not too sure about that. The R211A's have already crapped out and 90% of the fleet is out if service right now. I'd imagine it's going to be worse when they start running on the SIR if no special design changes were made and it's just a copy of the R211A lol
@@morganlimesThe SIR 211's I've seen look like a subway car. Hope they are beefed up. Still, MTA should have used the LIRR model or the MetroNorth model for the new cars.
@@cats0182 If they're like the R44's, the car itself will be pretty much identical to the subway cars, but the carriage underneath will be a railroad carriage, like the LIRR. The SIRT is classified as a railroad not a subway so the cars are modified for the heavier duty they face.
🤔 Let’s see long running conditions, Salt air, outdoor use…. Hmmm The large New York City Transit has all of that and the trains are used wayyyyy more on NYCT than SIRW. Long Island RR is very different than the little S.I. Railway. PATH and S.I. Railway is more alike.
@@jaymorgenthal9479 Cars have been bought and paid for already. MTA can tap into the hundreds of millions of dollars it takes in from Verrazzano Bridge and other tolls to keep them running.
This guy is reckless running past platforms like that! What does he think he is on, the LIRR or Metro North? Last I checked, rapid transit operations forbids passing a platform at more than 15 mph! He's lucky a TSS didn't board his train, or he'd be out of service and given 30 days in the street.
@@iitrapezoid_8243 Yeah, this is pretty much standard. You do get a nice sensation of their speed when you're on the platform an one goes by, especially at stations with a center platform like Grasmere or Bay Terrace.
Did you know that the Boston metro is the most unsafe metro currently and the federal government is about to temporarily take it over to fix its safety issues
I'm pretty sure they're literally too big for any of Boston' railway lines, and they be totally useless on the Commuter Rail network unless they electrify the lines.
