Freight to VD Yard?

While hauling the Barclays Center and that Mall's trash out from VD to Jamaica isn't a bad idea,most of this is waste food scraps,used drink cups,
etc,this stuff tends to turn ripe(smell) real quick when the weather gets warm. While a slow trip with the SW-1001's,it would need to done
on a daily basis,you could use gons(low sided) with tarps to keep the trash in or flat car mounted industrial grade trash compacter
dumpsters(like Wal*mart uses). Metro North hauls trash out of GCT daily along with recycling materials with flat cars with dumpsters mounted on.

Tell the NMBY's to "go scratch" the RR was here 1st.

While the current track layout cannot support it now,it might be time for NY State's AG office to invesagate the contractor that created this
"nightmare" thats now VD yard.

railfan365 wrote:

hrfcarl wrote:

jayrmli wrote:The Barclays Center is an arena. They are in the entertainment business. They are not in the trash or waste business. Trash would get picked up by a waste company (such as Waste Management), an then shipped out in a manner most economical to them.

LOL True, but the Center and Mall both generate plenty of trash, so guess the question is: do they produce enough to make pick up via rail worth while? Doesn't the mall already have a connection (Track 1) from its basement where dumpsters might be loaded onto rail cars? IIRC, WM uses rail to transfer trash out of NYC, so replacing trucks with rail cars.

You remember correctly. The mall has a basement area with a large double door that opens onto Track 1. It would be a capitol idea to get trash out of there and the arena on a daily train, the major questions being whether the line can handle trash hauling cars for one, and what type of locomotives would move that train. (Plural on locomotives because there's no turn around provision there).

Once again, assumptions lead to ridiculous speculations. Those double doors that you see off track one in FBA station lead to a machinery room for the HVAC system for the STATION and it is railroad property, NOT property of the mall and arena above. There is NO access to any portion of the mall and/or arena through those doors (I have been back there and through them many times). There are also crew facilities, storage rooms, locker rooms, offices and the FBA MTA police interconnected with those doors and passageways. Even if there WAS a way to access the mall and or arena to load trash into rail cars on track one, WOULD YOU WANT EMPLOYEES LOCATED THE SAME PLACE THERE WAS TRASH STORAGE!! I doubt you would want to work their either.

Additionally, how would you load trash into rail cars (plural) through one set of 8 foot wide doors?? There is no platform or access to other then a small portion of any one rail car spotted on track one. There is a gap of at least 8 to 10 feet between said doors and any rail car in that location.

Do you know why trash is removed from the mall and arena by truck?? BECAUSE IT HAS TO BE!!!

Everyone: I am surprised that no one mentioned the biggest obstacle to operating any freight trains on the Atlantic Branch:

There are weight restrictions over the elevated structure from W of ENY thru Nostrand Avenue and only the 100 series SW1001
locomotives meet those requirements and more then likely there are weight and clearance restrictions on freight cars that
can be possibly used...and I agree that VD Yard can not accommodate any extra train traffic as was posted...

MACTRAXX

haven't seen this much railfan pie-in-the-sky on this forum in a long time A+ thread.

Dump The Air wrote:haven't seen this much railfan pie-in-the-sky on this forum in a long time A+ thread.

Amen... No $$$, no customers, no freight volume, no interest, no room, and no one cares (except....)

Meat house tracks were still there when I hired on, but the meathouse was abandoned by then. they were on the west side of flatbush ave terminal, north if you go by RR directions. near where the current crew facilities are.

What was at one time:
McCauley Potato Co Warehouse Vanderbilt Ave Yard 06/1959 Courtesy Photo/Archive: Art Huneke

It would be very interesting to have a current photo of this location view, yes?

same area now..

Nice, Doc. To add to the remarks about the present yard being smaller than promised, IIRC, the arena was going to be on a platform over the yard. Then came having it built on the ground in the middle of the yard.

Where the people are gathered behind the basketball court on the right of the hoop, is pretty much where the MP 54 was in Nyandw's picture.. how things have changed! I call this Picture... VD yard..Pretty soon the Islanders will be skating there too! I almost moved to that area when I got divorced, wish I had done it, area is coming back nicely.


In this video, at the very beginning you can see trains in the yard, and at the very end if you look closely, you can see an M-3 behind the building in the upper left of the picture.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NUvqlkIGl8U