Brooklyn Eastern District Terminal

In the beginning, Palmer's Dock, organized by Lowell Palmer; was primarily responsible for the transportation of incoming raw sugar and outgoing refined sugar products, with its fledgling freight business growing throughout the years. Lowell Palmer became partners with the Havemeyers in this venture, after becoming financially partnered with Havemeyer & Elder, and in that Palmer was also the main supplier of casks and barrels for the transportation of Havemeyer & Elder's refined sugar products.

Palmer had been located on the Williamsburg waterfront since the 1860s as Palmer's Cooperage. In 1870, Palmer organized Palmer's Dock, a freight terminal. In 1873, he started a navigation company with a single tugboat and car float that would transport railroad freight cars to the Williamsburg waterfront where those freight cars would be unloaded directly at the bulkhead, but no floatbridge existed at this time to unload the freight cars.

Palmer's descendants, including his son Lowell, would have controlling interests in the Brooklyn Cooperage Company, also located along the Williamsburg Waterfront.

At this time, Lowell Palmer had constructed a carfloat at the foot of North 5th Street with team tracks splitting up from the floatbridge, and trackage extended east up North 5th Street. The construction of the floatbridge enabled Palmer to place or "spot" railroad freight cars directly next to the structures of his customers on the various streets.

Palmer also constructed a consolidated coal facility on Kent Avenue and North 9th Street. This coal facility was state of the art at that time, and greatly reduced the amount of physical labor required for the coal wholesale suppliers in the area. Prior to the construction of this facility, these coal suppliers had to employ large amounts of labor to manually unload the coal barges at the waterfront, where men in the coal barge would shovel the coal into buckets and hoist it up to the dock. The coal would be dumped into wheelbarrows, and wheeled two blocks east to the coal bins. Where it was dumped into street level bins. To load into a coal retailers wagon or truck, it would have to be shoveled again.

With the construction of the coal facility, railroad hopper cars loaded with coal could be brought directly by way of carfloat, where a locomotive hauled the hopper car(s) off the carfloat and brought it up an incline, and placed it in the elevated coal facility. The hopper car had chutes on its underside and these chutes were placed over the coal bins by locomotive, and when opened, the coal would discharge into the storage bins (silo) below. These storage bins themselves were elevated above street level, and at such time when the retailers wagon or truck, located under the silo chute; the coal could be dispensed directly into the coal retailers vehicle.

Palmer would also construct large buildings along these streets and lease the space to Class 1 railroads as freight depots. A freight customer could ship or take delivery of their items with the West Shore, Erie or Central Railroad of New Jersey among others at these freight depots. Customers would now have a choice of carrier to transport their goods.

The Pennsylvania Railroad also had a freight depot: the "North 4th Street Terminal" located adjacent to the Palmers Dock operation, but this property was not affiliated with or leased space from Palmer as the other railroads were.

Also along the water front and served by Palmer's Docks, were a sulfur works, a grain and feed elevator, a rubber factory and a lumber yard, among many smaller storage buildings.

Throughout the years, railroad tracks would expand north and east from the original installation at North 5th Street, eventually reaching North 10th Street, where Palmer also constructed a large warehouse, which was used as hay depot for the various stables in the area.

Lowell Palmer left the Palmer's Dock organization in 1905 after testifying at a hearing on the railroad 'rebate' scandals, and the Havemeyer's reincorporated the railroad operation in 1907 as the "East River Terminal Railroad". The marine aspect of the operation would be reincorporated as the "Brooklyn Eastern District Terminal" in 1906.

Also in 1906, the Pidgeon Street Yard would open to freight traffic, having been planned several years prior by Lowell Palmer.

At this juncture, only the tugboat and carfloat operations carried the BEDT name, while the railroad aspect of operations was known and incorporated as the East River Terminal Railroad in 1907.

In 1909, the Havemeyers announced their construction of a huge building with railroad access, between Kent Avenue and the bulkhead and between North 3 and North 4th Streets. Ironically, the mighty Pennsylvania RR tried to block this construction in court, as it would 'box them in' with no room to expand.

The courts ruled in favor of the East River Terminal RR and when completed in 1915, the building and the connecting railroad trackage would become home to Austin Nichols, a most prominent grocer and sundry wholesaler of the time.

In 1910, the Havemeyers also opened a railroad terminal in Jersey City, known as the Warren Street Terminal. This terminal would have a floatbridge in the Morris Basin Canal, and the terminal would service an American sugar refining plant (owned by Havemeyer & Elder) located there.

In 1914, the ERTRR/BEDT would also open another terminal in northern Long Island City, known as the Queensboro Terminal. This was located on the East River waterfront at 14th Street, west of Vernon Boulevard. A newspaper article announced that the railyard was planned for this location but reference to property maps of the area in various archives do not show these tracks, and yet some Interstate Commerce Commission documents state there were tracks and a floatbridge at this facility. At the least, the BEDT had built a pier or "wharf" station at this location.

In 1915, the Havemeyer's would consolidate both East River Terminal RR and Brooklyn Eastern District Terminal (navigation) corporations under the Brooklyn Eastern District Terminal name, and incorporate such as a consolidated freight terminal.

In 1935, the BEDT entered into agreement with the City of New York to construct a float bridge and team tracks at the Wallabout Market in Brooklyn, inside the Brooklyn Navy Yard and south of the Delaware, and Lackawanna & Western's Wallabout Terminal. Pursuant to this agreement, the BEDT had to agree to trackage connecting this terminal to the Navy Yard tracks, despite the fact that a separate float bridge was already in place for the Navy Yard. This float bridge and team tracks would allow vendors to receive carload lots of produce for resale in the Wallabout Market.

The BEDT was an independent carrier, with no affiliation with any Class 1 railroads such as the Pennsylvania Railroad and Erie Railroad. However, it was contracted by those Class 1 railroads to transport their freight cars across New York Harbor to desired customers in Brooklyn that were receiving service from the BEDT.

The BEDT continued to prosper from the 1930s through the late 1950s. As a result of the condemnation of the Wallabout Market and the BEDT Wallabout Market float bridge and trackage for the expansion of the Navy Yard in 1941, the BEDT received a government contract to operate the Brooklyn Navy Yard trackage. It would transport supplies to the Brooklyn Navy Yard from the mainland U.S. This was to include steel for shipbuilding, coal for the forges and power plant, forged naval rifles for the warships, among many smaller items. As World War II escalated, so would rail traffic to this location. The BEDT was also responsible for the transportation of vast amounts of meat to be cut and packaged by the Cudahy, Morrell and Armour meat packers located in Brooklyn.

The BEDT ceased steam locomotive operations and began diesel-electric locomotive operations with the last steam locomotive running on October 25, 1963.

In 1964, the BEDT built the "Bulk Four Terminal" on Kent Avenue between North 8th and North 9th Streets. This facility consolidated the receipt and subsequent distribution of flour and semolina for the many commercial bakers and pasta manufacturers in Brooklyn. The BEDT also acquired the former Pennsylvania RR North 4th Street Terminal properties and leased that property to a scrap iron salvor, and BEDT would handle the transportation of the gondolas for that customer.

In 1976, following the bankruptcy filings of the Northeast Class 1 railroads (Penn Central, NYNH & H, Erie Lackawanna, etc.); Conrail was formed by the U.S. government. With this formation, Conrail decided it would have no interest in maintaining or continuing the marine operations of the former Class 1 railroads, but it was recognized that carfloating operations were still desired for rail traffic destined for Brooklyn. As a result, it put up for bid a contract to continue those carfloating operations.

In July 1975, the United States Railway Association released its "Final System Plan" which in accordance with the Regional Rail Act of 1973, made recommendations for the reorganization of the railroads in the Northeast United States. Subsequently, the Interstate Commerce Commission recommended that New York Dock and Brooklyn Eastern District Terminal operations be merged to avoid duplication of effort.

By 1976, the BEDT and the New York Dock Railway (NYD) were the only car-float operators remaining in New York City.[2] In 1976, Conrail solicited bids for the carfloating contract for Brooklyn bound rail traffic, with BEDT being the winning bidder. Conrail entered into a lease agreement with the BEDT for use of the former PRR Greenville Yard and adjoining floatbridge facilities, and BEDT continued the carfloating for all Brooklyn bound rail traffic. Circa 1977, New York Dock Properties (the parent company of the New York Dock Railway) purchased the Brooklyn Eastern District Terminal. As a result, the BEDT and NYD merged as recommended by the "Final System Plan" of the FRA but both companies would retain their independent logos and equipment. Some older, less efficient equipment were mothballed or scavenged for parts. BEDT closed its Pidgeon Street facility sometime circa 1977–1978, and combined operations of NYD and BEDT would cease in August 1983 and would be acquired by New York Cross Harbor.

After 1983, the BEDT property on Kent Avenue was left vacant and quickly became a blighted, abandoned property. Graffiti artists and squatters reused the property. One of BEDT's steam locomotives (number 16) remained here until being rescued by the Railroad Museum of Long Island in 1996.[3] Today, the property has become the East River State Park. A short segment of track is still visible in the park, in a concrete pad were the flour terminal building once stood.

The BEDT (and Palmer's Dock & East River Terminal Railroad) operated steam powered locomotives from 1870 until October 25, 1963, at such time when diesel electric locomotives replaced the steam powered equipment. The steam locomotives consisted of both Baldwin locomotives ("Frederick Havemeyer" [#1] through number 11) and H. K. Porter locomotives (numbers 12 through 16).[4]

Locomotives 6 through 9 were inherited by BEDT from both Palmer's Dock and East River Terminal operations, and were scrapped by the late 1930s. Numbers 10 and 11 were purchased new from Baldwin by the BEDT, and were scrapped in 1963 and 1962 respectively.

The "Frederick Havemeyer" and numbers 2 through 6, were of 0-4-0T wheel arrangement. Numbers 7 through 16 were of 0-6-0T wheel arrangement.

H. K. Porter locomotives were purchased second hand from various sources. These engines were originally coal fired, but were converted during the 1930's to burn oil, to afford one person operation. All the H. K. Porter locomotives survive to this day, after being purchased by various private individuals and preservation groups.

Currently, the only BEDT steam engine under operation is #15, which was rebuilt into a replica of Thomas the Tank Engine by the Strasburg Rail Road between 1998 and 1999.

The following BEDT locomotives have been preserved:

• #12 Florida Gulf Coast Railroad Museum; Parrish, FL
• #13 Age of Steam Roundhouse; Sugarcreek, OH
• #14 Ulster & Delaware Railroad Historical Society; Arkville, NY
• #15 Strasburg RR; Strasburg, PA (Travels to other locations on occasion.)
• #16 Railroad Museum of Long Island; Riverhead, NY

The first steam powered tugboats were coal fired as well, and the first two were of wood hull construction. Hull construction for the vessels built after the turn of the century, were of steel construction.

As with the steam locomotives, coal fired tugboats fell out of favor when heavy oils became dominant as an industrial fuel. The reason BEDT operated their steam locomotives later than any other railroads, is that their tugs were fired by Bunker C fuel as well. It naturally made for simpler logistics to operate all equipment with one type of fuel.

It was only after the parts for the steam locomotives and steam tugs became unavailable or too costly to machine, that diesel electric tugs and likewise diesel electric locomotives replace their steam powered counterparts.

None of the BEDT steam powered tugs are known to survive.

The diesel electric locomotives employed by the BEDT were all American Locomotive Company (ALCO) S-1 models with B-B wheel arrangement (two powered axles on a two axle truck for a total of 4 powered axles per locomotive)

These were purchased used from various other railroads over the course of the 1960s and these locomotives were numbered 21 through 26.

All but one of the diesel locomotives were scrapped, and the surviving locomotive is #25. It has been restored and painted as a New York Central locomotive (even though it was originally built for and operated by the Erie Railroad) and is currently displayed in Riverside Park in Manhattan.

The diesel electric tugboats employed by the BEDT varied subtly in specifications and builder. Only one of the BEDT diesel tugs is known to have survived and it is currently used as a non-powered "breakwater" in a Rhode Island yacht club. As of late 2007, this tugboat suffered from vandalism which caused it to sink, and its scrapping is being considered.