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Trolley Barn - Arthur Kill Rd, Greenridge
Trackless Trolley Barn, Arthur Kill Road, Staten Island
A Brief History of the Trackless Trolley system on Staten Island
The Trackless Trolley system was an ambitious experiment instituted by The City of New York in response to a rapidly growing Staten Island. From the Nineteen-teens to the 20’s, land developers acquired large tracts of land, creating many new neighborhoods, this with the promise of bridges linking Staten Island with the mainland, and a promised tunnel under the Narrows to Brooklyn enticed families to relocate here from the more crowded boroughs of NYC. The trackless trolley system is also a unique one, for it was a transitional vehicle between conventional railroads and the bus system we have today.
Besides the Staten Island Rapid Transit railroad, there were two tracked trolley systems operating on the island: Richmond Power & Light and the Midland Railroad. These lines served areas that the SIRT didn’t, and they had a substantial ridership, but the costs associated with maintenance of the tracks and rolling stock overtook the revenue generated in fares. The owners of these lines appealed to the City so that they might increase their mandated fare of 5 cents, but Mayor Hylan wouldn’t hear of it. The trolley lines were losing on average 3 cents per rider, so it was just a matter of time until bankruptcy claimed them. It is said that Hylan “had it in” for the trolleys, as he was in a previous vocation, a trolley motorman that was fired and this perhaps was his revenge. Whatever the reason, Richmond P&L first ended up acquiring the smaller Midland Railroad as a subsidiary, and soon after they fell into receivership.
The judge that was overseeing the case was just about to rule that Richmond P&L was justified in their request for a higher fare, and was about to decree an increase to 8 cents so that the trolley line would have a fighting chance for profitability, but the City stepped in and claimed that there are other forms of transportation on Staten Island that offered flexibility in destinations for the residents, AND keeping a five-cent fare.
Richmond P&L would be broken up into two separate companies: the rail line, the Richmond Light & RR Co. and an electric company: Staten Island Edison. After many fits and starts, the rail service was discontinued in 1927.
By 1920, City officials were touting a new method of public transportation that would be far more economical than standard railroads and gasoline-powered buses: electric trackless trolleys. Also called trolley-buses, they were rubber-wheeled vehicles that were powered by fixed electrical lines that ran overhead along the line. The trolleys had long poles that swiveled; this allowed the operator to drive the trolley like a bus and navigate around obstructions without losing the connection to the power line. The City claimed the cost to operate would be far less than conventional modes of transportation (for instance, a rail line cost between $37,000 - $60,000 per mile, while the trackless trolleys cost only $400 per mile; a standard trolley cost 24.3 cents to operate per mile, gasoline bus: 29.55 cents, and the trackless trolley only 20.95 cents a mile.)
The City, through Grover Whalen, Commissioner of the Dept. of Plant and Structures and Mayor Hylan, introduced on October 8, 1921, a trackless trolley system on Staten Island that ran from Meier’s Corners to Sea View Hospital. Another route was soon created linking Meier’s Corners to Bull’s Head, at the terminus of the Richmond Light & RR Co. at Richmond Ave. both routes were about 2 ½ miles in length, and the Bull’s Head line was eventually extended to the Carteret ferry at Linoleumville. Work was soon underway on a third, more ambitious line: a nine-mile run from Richmond to Tottenville. New concrete roadways were created for the route and hundreds of utility poles installed that carried the electrical wires to power the trolleys.
NOTE: Staten Island had the distinction of being the only location in the country to have more than one trackless trolley line, running independently of each other.
At this time, a trolley garage was constructed on Arthur Kill Road in Greenridge to house the new rolling stock of this line which initially consisted of 6 cars – these were of a different type that ran on the original routes (Atlas Truck Co. were the first and the new ones were from the Brockway Co.) The Tottenville line added two more trolleys as spares in 1923, and another 7 from an aborted project at City Island in the Bronx. Besides housing the 15 trolleys, the garage was equipped as a repair facility, and in the rear of the structure was a Westinghouse 300-kilowatt capacity sub-station. This “trolley barn” provided everything needed for the Tottenville line.
On November 4, 1921 Mayor Hylan, Commissioner Whalen, and dozens of dignitaries were on hand for the inaugural run of the Richmond to Tottenville line. After the requisite speeches, all boarded a caravan of eight trackless trolleys – with Hylan operating the lead vehicle. The power drain was enormous on a system that was built to handle on the average 3 cars running at a time, and there were moments along the line when power went out, but for the most part it was a successful first run, with many Staten Islanders gathering along the route to cheer the procession on.
With the opening of the Tottenville line, Staten Island had 15 miles covered by the trackless trolleys. Hylan said he wanted to increase that to 204 with additional routes spanning the island.
But it wasn’t to be. It turned out that the costs to run a trackless trolley system didn’t match Grover Whalen’s optimistic figures. In the first 4 years, the City lost $300,000. Property valuations along the route were increased which raised tax revenues, but incensed the property owners who were “honored” to have the trackless trolleys operating on their street. The City experienced the same problems the trolley companies experienced: costs were more than revenue. The City kept the five-cent fare but it actually cost 12.1 cents per passenger and the actual cost per mile of the system was 34.4 cents.
Rather than subsidizing the system indefinitely, bus operators were gradually invited to submit bids to operate routes on Staten Island with conventional gas-powered vehicles. The Tompkins Bus Company was created in 1925 with the sole intent of acquiring a franchise to service the entire island. Other companies applied for franchises, including the parent company of Richmond Light & Rail, which purchased 25 brand-new 6-wheeled buses under the new “Staten Island Coach Company” believing the time was right for bus service on Staten Island. Mayor Hylan, however, felt the established street rail companies were unfit to serve the public and refused to issue a franchise to the company. In 1926 Tompkins applied for, and was granted, a permanent franchise, and the following year it was awarded the contract for all 18 bus routes that would span Staten Island. Many of these routes are still in effect today.
Having the bus routes established, the City discontinued the operation of the trackless trolleys in 1927: the two original lines ending August 1st and the Tottenville line ceased service on October 17th. It is currently not known what became of the rolling stock.
It is said that in the 1930’s, the roof and most of the exterior of the trolley barn was painted with an experimental camouflage paint (this requires further research!)
In the 1940’s, the Vanbro Corporation, a construction materials company leased the trolley garage from the city to house their vehicles. A second story “apartment” was added to the front of the structure and served as office space for the company. By the late 1950’s, Vanbro relocated to larger quarters and in 1961, Richmondtown Restoration made use of the building to house a number of carriages, automobiles, trolley cars, sleds and wagons. The old Westinghouse substation in the rear was converted to a Blacksmith’s shop complete with forge.
Want to know a little more about the trackless trolleys on Staten Island?
Check out our Investigation of a "mystery photo"
Click HERE for the story & pix!
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Comments:
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John Kilcullen It would make a great landmark building in the future and remediated Brookfield park!?
September 22, 2010 at 7:57pm · ·
1 person -
Mike Pignatelli from my understanding it was an old trolley barn.I think there was an old trolley car in there....
September 22, 2010 at 8:58pm · -
Patrick Keeley I worked in Great Kills for almost 10 years, It was a trolley barn, however I always thought it to be an abandoned fire house.
October 4, 2010 at 8:23am · -
Eddie Shields I grew up in Great Kills... we actually checked that building out ...somebody was storing some old vintage cars in there..
December 6, 2010 at 9:16am · -
Jack Koziol I was told they belonged to Frank Stucker who had two junk yards on the island. Amboy Road in Eltingville, and off Arthur Kill Road in Rossville. I worked there as a kid.
January 30 at 4:00pm · -
Ken Johnsen Don't know if it was originally used for trolleys but In the early fifties it was owned by Vanbro, before Richmondtown Restoration used it for storage in the 60s/70s. Richmondtown used it to store a collection of carriages and a 1937 Cadilac. in the back Al Erickson had a blacksmith shop
Thursday at 2:39am ·
