Staten Island Gets A Budd. In the early morning hours of July 27, 2023, MTA NYCT Subway's in house crew moved R-32 3389 (Budd, 1964) from the South Brooklyn Railway/NYNJ Rail interchange at the South Brooklyn Marine Terminal in Brooklyn, New York to the MTA Staten Island Railway (SIR), where the car will be used for work service. The passenger roster of SIR is comprised of 75 foot long R-44S/ME-2 and 12 ex-NYCT Subway R-44s (St. Louis Car Company, 1971-1973) cars that were "imported" after being retired from the subway and adapted to SIR service. The work fleet includes 2 cabooses (607 and 620) and RD422, an ex-IRT rider car (51'6"), thus making this the first 60'6" car on thee rails on the island. The new shop building at Clifton was opened in December 2022, a new home for the current fleet and the planned 75 car R-211S order when it arrives. Using the "front door" as intended, the car was brought directly into the shop. The car is being slowly winched on to the trailer under the watchful eye of the crew with the Freedom Tower in the background.
A continuously growing album of photos that IMHO reveal the awesome and seldom-seen beauty of the railroad world from the dimming of day to dawn's early light! From dusk to dawn, trains roll on! (I'm still finding gems of sunset-to-sunrise surprises!)
