2007

Slideshow (1 of 41): Highlights from our tours of the MMC, Bayonne Harbor and Clifton Shops. Photos: Sandy Campbell (June 24, 2007)

Tours of Meadows Maintenance Complex, Bayonne Harbor and Clifton Shops

Sunday, June 24, 2007

Follow-up: A record number attended and the trip was sold out in advance. We rode in a chartered state-of-the-art New-Flyer low-floor articulated bus from Academy that left New York at 9:10 am.

Our first stop was an extensive tour of NJ Transit’s Meadows Maintenance Complex (MMC). This stop afforded excellent photo opportunities and a chance to view the interior of one of the new bi-level cars now entering service on the Northeast Corridor. Following a lunch stop at the Newport Center mall, we boarded a Bayonne-bound Hudson-Bergen Light Rail train at 1:14 PM for a passing view of nine former Newark PCCs that are under wraps behind the HBLR maintenance facility. These are being preserved for the future Bayonne Harbor streetcar loop.

At the 34th Street station in Bayonne we re-boarded our bus and drove across Route 440 to the former U.S. Army Military Ocean Terminal that will become the Peninsula at Bayonne Harbor, site of the aforementioned streetcar loop. A staff member of the Bayonne Local Redevelopment Authority walked us around Harbor View Park, whose centerpiece is the 9/11 monument “Tear of Grief”, a gift from Russia. Visible nearby is the spectacular Bayonne Golf Club, a “wild links" course built on construction debris (the initiation fee is a cool $500,000, by invitation only).

We returned to Route 440 and drove across the Bayonne Bridge to Staten Island. After a brief drive along the back roads of Clifton, we soon arrived at the Staten Island Railway Clifton Shops. Our guided tour included viewing some interesting diesels and work equipment. The excursion ended at 4:30 PM. Many of us took the Staten Island Railway to St. George and boarded the 5:00 PM ferry back to Manhattan.

The N.Y. Division of the ERA is pleased to announce a bus trip on Sunday, June 24, 2007, to several rail-related facilities in New Jersey and one in Staten Island.

Our first stop is scheduled to be NJ Transit’s Meadows Maintenance Complex (MMC), where we expect to be given a tour of the facility. Following a lunch stop (on your own) at Newport Center Mall (with a large food court), we will then board a Bayonne-bound Hudson-Bergen Light Rail train to view the former Newark PCCs that are under wrap near the HBLR maintenance facility to be preserved for the future Bayonne loop line. We will re-board our bus at 34th Street and enjoy a tour of the proposed route of the Bayonne Harbor streetcar line. We will then proceed to the Clifton area of Staten Island for a tour of the shops of the Staten Island Railway.

We are hoping to charter a New-Flyer low-floor articulated bus from Academy. Our chartered bus will leave promptly at 9:00 am from the public city bus stop for the M16 on 8th Avenue, just north of West 40th Street, across the street from the Port Authority Bus Terminal (Stop #1). There will be two additional pickup points: Stop #2 is in Weehawken/Lincoln Harbor, at 19th Street & Willow Avenue in front of the Exxon Station at 9:15 AM Stop #3 is in Hoboken at the bus stop area immediately adjacent to Tracks 1 and 2 of the New Jersey Transit Hoboken Rail Terminal, at 9:25 AM Please indicate below at which stop you will be boarding the bus. Our estimated return time to Hoboken is 5:30 PM, and 10 and 25 minutes after that to Weehawken and New York City, respectively. Please see the note on the other side about the departure times.

Ticket Price: $40 Per Person

Please join us for a special trip to several interesting places to kick off the summer. The ticket price is $40 and includes your charter bus transportation and the HBLR ride. A PDF of the trip flyer can be downloaded below. For further updates and information, please call 718-784-3643 evenings or e-mail [email protected]. This trip operates rain or shine.

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