HERE’S a look at the Rosebank Staten Island Rapid Transit station with a northbound train in the early 1950s. This was part of the SIRT South Shore Branch, which diverged from the main line in the Clifton Yards and traveled south and southwest to a terminal at Wentworth Avenue in South Beach. Along with the North Shore Branch, it was eliminated in 1953 and traces of it have gradually been expunged in the decades since; there were more to be seen when I began to explore the region in the 1990s. I always mourn the passing of rapid transit lines, and NYC has seen the death of many.
What’s more, the South Shore branch had been extensively modernized with grade crossings eliminated in 1936. Those changes lasted a mere 17 years until the Baltimore and Ohio RR, which ran the branch, pulled the plug.
At the right is Tilson Place and look carefully for its intersection with Kaltenmeier Lane.
Gary Owen has many more photos of all SIRT branches, including multiple views of Rosebank.
Photo: Al Ponte’s Tme Machine (Facebook)
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10/30/22
5 comments
Hello, of the two houses in the top right of the photo , the
second house from the corner was just sold by me after owning it for 10 years, 138 Lyman Ave, I bought it from descendants of the family that owned it since 1900 , I fully renovated the house as it wasn’t touched for at least 50 years. In my basement I had large bay windows that look out onto
Nothing, I’ve been a fan of your website for many years.
Keep up the good work
Nice photo!
Unfortunately, the ridership was so low here, and on the North Shore branch, that only single car “trains” were needed. Maintaining that much infrastructure for so little revenue could not make sense to the B&O.
Traffic on Staten Island has gotten so fearsome the branches might get decent ridership today if they were still around.
Photos I took of the abandoned South Beach branch in 1979 & 1987
http://www.subchat.com/read.asp?Id=1507859
One key reason for the abandonment of the South Beach and North Shore SIRT branches was the sudden changeover of the bus network to public sector. In February 1947, the then-private Staten Island bus route network passed from private hands (Isle Transportation Company) to the public sector (NYC Board of Transportation). Isle Transportation did not sell out, but simply surrendered its franchise to the Board of Transportation because Isle could not earn enough from fares to pay its bills. Isle’s fares were based on zones, and fares ranged from five to twenty cents, depending on the trip length. The SI Railway fares were similarly distance based.
In 1948, as part of a citywide fare restructuring that raised the subways to ten cents, all NYC Board of Transportation buses were increased from five to seven cents. For most Staten Island commuters it was a fare reduction, and many switched from the SI Railway to the now cheaper buses. Result was that SI Railway patronage dropped from 14 million annually in 1945 to 4 million in 1951. Thus the two small branches were eliminated, and the remaining line between St. George and Tottenville was retained.
The 1948 bus-subway fare differential did not last long; in 1950 the NYC Board of Transportation buses were raised to a dime to match the subways.