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| Re: Shuttle of New York City (1404563) | |||
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Re: Shuttle of New York City |
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Posted by Bronx boy on Fri Aug 5 21:38:53 2016, in response to Re: Shuttle of New York City, posted by Express Rider on Thu Aug 4 22:56:05 2016. A Standard HI-V (Hedley) was almost saved. During the last days of scrapping South of E180th St. The folks that lived in the apartment houses West of the site became furious . They could not stand the smoke and smell of the burning of the cars. The Cross Bronx Expressway was under construction. So many apartment houses were being demolished that disposing the debris was a major issue. To dispose of the wooden lathes in the walls the scrapper would fill up the steel subway cars with them to act as kindling. This worked for them but not for the residents. They we're constantly protesting and they were close to getting an injunction to shut it down. My friend who was also a railfan and later became a Suprintendent in RTO made friends with the scrapper. He lived in one of those houses. He knew many of the protesters as well. The scrapper told him to inform the people that if they left him alone when he finished the next group of cars he would close down and move somewhere else. A deal was made and for helping him he gave him car 3700. It had just been released from work service and was intact. He went to the ERA and asked them to help him. They had showed little interest. He contacted Branford but in those days they had little interest in subway cars. He gave it his best shot but for a 15 year old boy the task was impossible. He went and informed the scrapper that he would be unable to take the car. He was able to take anything he wanted and the car was torched. He gave me one of the glass number panes which I still have. When I was going to De Witt Clinton High. school 3662 was used in a parade down 5th Avenue along with an R--17 painted gold, On flatbed trucks. This was done to commemorate 50 years of the Fifth Ave. Association. The Deck Roofer was also painted in Pullman Green and the interior was done over. The car looked great. After the parade the car wound up at Yard and became a work car for the Polo Grounds Shuttle. (This was done by people in the TA to save the car. I was luckier than my friend I could see the roof of the car and read the INTERBOROUGH on the letter board over the concrete wall of the yard from the top floor of school. I was luckier than my friend. I informed the ERA of the whereabouts of the car. Henry Roudenbush (The Baron) as he was called, contacted the TA and purchased the car for a little amount and convinced Branford to accept the car. |
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