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W.B.'s Rail Almanacs for February |
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Posted by W.B. on Sun Apr 14 22:17:49 2024 Just as with the Bus Almanacs on BusChat, there's a lot of catching up to do . . .February 12, 2020 - The Book of Last Runs New York City MTA - New York City Subway After more than 50 years, the R-42 era officially ends with a final run on the A train. This had been the first fully air-conditioned fleet, of which 400 cars (4550-4949) were built by the St. Louis Car Division of General Steel Industries, Inc., in 1969-70 (put into service in stages between May 9, 1969 and January 5, 1970); it was also the last "married pair" set of cars. At the time, it had replaced all remaining BMT Standards and many of the R-1 fleet. Cars 4572-73 were famous as being in the chase scene of the 1971 film The French Connection (and is today part of the Transit Museum collection). A GOH rebuild was effected in the late 1980's by two entities, Morrison-Knudsen (282 cars within the 4550-4839 range) and the MTA's own Coney Island Overhaul Shop in Brooklyn (4840-4949). Post-rebuild, two R-42's had been involved in a collision with two R-40M's over the Williamsburg Bridge in 1995. Its last day in regular service was January 24, 2020, after the new R-179's were returned to service after numerous issues with doors and other components; by then only 50 R-42's were left. This last run - which was packed to the brim, and among which passengers were outgoing NYCTA President Andy Byford - consisted of cars (S) 4826-4827, 4831-4830, 4807-4806, 4797-4796 and 4791-4790 (N) (the last of which had mockups of 1969-era front and side signs). It left Euclid Avenue for Far Rockaway around 10:30 A.M., and left Far Rockaway for 207th Street about 11:30 A.M. Its trip was delayed for a considerable amount of time when the South Channel Bridge was opened. The train arrived at High Street-Brooklyn Bridge around 12:58 P.M. (where and when this writer boarded the train) and arrived at 207th Street by 1:45 P.M. After festivities, it left 207th Street at 2:02 P.M., and arrived at Euclid Avenue at 3:11 P.M. With a crowd of railfans with various devices whooping and hollering and crowding around the train, it finally left the station at 3:15 P.M., and with that another end of an era had passed. - - - February 24, 1938 - The Book of Deaths Manhattan, New York New York City Omnibus Corporation Madison Avenue Coach Company, Inc. Eighth Avenue Coach Corporation (and predecessors) Hugh J. Sheeran, the president of New York City Omnibus and its Madison Avenue Coach and Eighth Avenue Coach subsidiaries, and before that the head of New York Railways Corporation, dies at age 53 from coronary thrombosis at the Fifth Avenue Hospital. It was he who had overseen the massive 1935-36 conversions of New York Railways' streetcar network to bus service, which had been complicated by various legal, financial and operational difficulties along the way; and built New York City Omnibus into the largest bus network in Manhattan up to that point. At his death, he was also a director of the parent Omnibus Corporation, and was on the advisory committee on transportation for the coming 1939-40 New York World's Fair. A graduate of St. Ann's Academy for Boys, Mr. Sheeran's career had begun with the Metropolitan Street Railway in 1900 as a clerk, and then moved up the ranks until he was named to an executive position in the office of Metropolitan's vice president and general manager Oren Root. His responsibilities would be expanded in the 1907-11 period when Metropolitan was in receivership, then upon reorganization as New York Railways Company in 1912 he was an assistant in the office of vice president and general manager Frank Hedley (of Interborough Rapid Transit fame). After New York Railways' 1919 bankruptcy, Mr. Sheeran was appointed secretary to the company's receiver, Job E. Hedges, then assumed the position of receiver himself on July 24, 1924. Upon the firm's 1925 reorganization as New York Railways Corporation (effective May 1), he became its president. In 1926, the Fifth Avenue Coach Company acquired a controlling interest in New York Railways, and in April 1933 Mr. Sheeran and FACCo's then-president, Frederic T. Wood, offered an invitation (which was accepted) to representatives of various commercial interests in the city to serve on the board of directors of both companies. In the wake of Mr. Sheeran's death, chairman John A. Ritchie will serve as interim president of NYCO, MACCo and EACCo, until on May 17, 1939 John E. McCarthy (recently named president of FACCo) is elected president and director of the three entities. (Sources: "Hugh J. Sheeran Dead; Head of Bus Lines," The New York Times, February 25, 1938; "Annual Report to the Stockholders, For the Year Ended December 31, 1937," New York City Omnibus Corporation, issued 1938; "Shift Made in Officers Of the Omnibus Group," The New York Times, May 18, 1939.) |
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