Wednesday, November 20, 2022 – DAYS OF CONTRAST: SUPPORT, PIZZA AND GOOD NEWS ON TRASH
FROM THE ARCHIVES
WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 30, 2022
A TRIBUTE TO THE WOMEN OF IRAN AT THE
FDR FOUR FREEDOMS
STATE PARK
THE 846th EDITION
HILLARY CLINTON SALUTES IRAN’S WOMEN ON THE ISLAND
Former US Secretary Of State And NY Senator Hillary Clinton Visited Roosevelt Island FDR Four Freedoms Park Today To Support Opening Of Eyes On Iran, Woman Life Freedom Art Exhibit
A NEW LIFE FOR A FORMER TROLLEY BARN.
After shopping at Dollar Tree on Northern Blvd., I was in need of lunch.. With three loaded shopping bags I headed for the closest place for lunch. It was THE RAIL YARD pizzeria, just across the parking lot.
Located in the former site of a Pizza Hut, this locally owned neighborhood pizzeria had a neighborhood feel. Jimmy, the owner was schmoozing with the patrons and the Coca Cola salesman when I arrived. He seemed to know every person who entered and it was fun to be in a real neighborhood joint.
We discussed trolley cars and the RIHS trolley car kiosk along with local Sunnyside history. Jimmy has been a lifelong resident and we had a fun time while I had a slice and Diet Coke.
Jimmy told me that he acquired the spot in 2020 and it took a year to restore the brickwork and other elements from the original use as a trolley barn. Only the tower of the barn remains but the decor of old photos and real bricks and beams bring back the old days of trolley cars traversing Northern Blvd.
Time to return to the island after a fun trip to historic Queens.
Judy and Jimmy at a photo composite mural of Northern Blvd. in the 1910’s
TROLLEY BARN HISTORY FROM
© 2020 The Juniper Park Civic Association Inc.
Trolleys were not Jay Gatsby’s speed as he raced his yellow roadster along Northern Blvd. past a cathedral-like structure with imposing twin spires. The Cathedral-like structure was the Woodside carbarn.
The Woodside carbarn, located at the southwest corner of Newtown Avenue and Northern Blvd, was built by the New York & Queens County Railway at a cost of $150,000. The New York & Queens County, about to acquire Steinway Lines Railway in 1896, was in need of carbarn facilities with enough space to house trolleys of both New York & Queens County and Steinway Lines. The Woodside carbarn was the largest carbarn in Queens.
When the New York & Queens County and Steinway Lines Railway (reorganized as the New York & Queens Railway), went bankrupt in 1922, and lost control of the Steinway Lines, the Woodside carbarn continued to house Trolleys of both New York & Queens and Steinway Lines. An oddity of that arrangement was that the Calvary Cemetery Line, (now MTA Q67 bus), not directly connected to other New York & Queens routes, thus needed permission from its Former subsidiary, Steinway Lines, to use its tracks for carbarn moves.
The Woodside carbarn fire
On June 24, 1930, a disastrous fire occurred at the Woodside carbarn (below). The blaze broke out during the night and caused tremendous damage. One Steinway Lines revenue car #629, plus one workcar, were destroyed.
The New York & Queens suffered far more damage: 24 of the older wooden ‘300’ series cars, and 10 of the modern Birney Safety Cars were destroyed along with some others. The whole east end of the carbarn had been gutted out and beyond repair (below, left). The blackened wall was torn down and what was once an enclosed space was made into an open space. The fire crippled New York & Queens lines as only 25 cars were left to maintain service. In its dire need, New York & Queens rented cars from the Jamaica Central Railway and the Department of Plant structures. By a stroke of good luck, 2 newly bought cars from the defunct Auburn & Syracuse Railway lying in the yard waiting for painting, escaped unscathed. The New York & Queens pressed these cars into service the very next morning with their old colors and numbers unchanged. Without these cars the New York & Queens could not have maintained service.
Looked at from the perspective of years the carbarn fire was not a complete disaster. Thirty-eight of the burnt-out cars were old and worn and due for replacement anyway. The fire hastened the process and helped the riding public get newer and faster equipment. The New York & Queens sustained barely any financial losses, for the insurance on the burnt cars came to $104,483, a big sum that came in handy for buying equipment and roadbed materials.
From Carbarn to Shopping Center
With the coming of the automobile and the development of a practical motor coach by the thirties, the days of trolley operators in Queens as well as elsewhere were numbered. Jamaica Central Railway in central Queens converted to Jamaica Buses in 1933. On October 3, 1937, old #332 made the final run on the Calvary Line, then was taken to the Woodside carbarn, where it was soaked in gasoline and set on fire to the sound of Taps. Thus old #332, as well as New York & Queens Railway trolley service went out in a blaze of glory.
Orange-and-cream Queens-Nassau Transit buses (a New York & Queens subsidiary) replaced the trolleys. The year 1939 marked the end of trolleys being housed in the Woodside carbarn when Steinway Lines replaced its trolleys with orange-and-cream Steinway Omnibus buses. The former Woodside carbarn soldiered on as a bus garage for Queens-Nassau Transit until 1957, when it moved its bus facilities to College Point and became Queens Transit. At the same time Steinway Omnibus became Steinway Transit and also moved to College Point.
Today, the site of the former Woodside carbarn is occupied by the Tower Square shopping center. The front facade of the former carbarn with its imposing twin spires has been preserved as the front entrance to the shopping center. Sadly, the Maspeth Depot didn’t enjoy a similar fate, being obliterated by the LIE in 1952.
WEDNESDAY PHOTOS OF THE DAY
FROM TRASH TO CLASS
THE FIRST RED TRASH CAN TO BE REHABILITATED AND RESTORED HAS BEEN RETURNED TO MAIN STREET. THESE TRASH CANS ARE MADE OF STRONG STEEL AND WERE REPAIRED AND POWDER COATED SO THEY CAN SERVE MANY MORE YEARS ON MAIN STREET.
THE CANS WERE PURCHASED DURING THE ADMINISTRATION OF HERBERT BERMAN, PRESIDENT OF R.I.O.C, (2003-2007). AT ABOUT 18 YEARS OF AGE, THEY HAVE MANY MORE PRODUCTIVE YEARS AHEAD.
TUESDAY PHOTO OF THE DAY
Jon Batiste, former bandleader for Stephen Colbert, playing at yesterday’s event at 4 Freedoms Park w Hillary Clinton …
Thanks, Nina Lublin
Text by Judith Berdy
Thanks to Bobbie Slonevsky for her dedication to Blackwell’s Almanac and the RIHS
Thanks to Deborah Dorff for maintaining our website
Edited by Melanie Colter and Deborah Dorff
All image are copyrighted (c) Roosevelt Island Historical Society unless otherwise indicated
Sources
JUNIPER VALLEY CIVIC ASSOCIATION
JUDITH BERDY
THIS PUBLICATION FUNDED BY DISCRETIONARY FUNDS FROM CITY COUNCIL MEMBER JULIE MENIN & ROOSEVELT ISLAND OPERATING CORPORATION PUBLIC PURPOSE FUNDS.
Copyright © 2022 Roosevelt Island Historical Society, All rights reserved.Our mailing address is:
rooseveltislandhistory@gmail.com
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