Red Hook trolley cars shipped to Connecticut as train buff cries foul

[Turbo19]

^{An old trolley, loaded Sunday on a flatbed trailer, prepares to leave the Red Hook waterfront.}

Rusting street cars that had become fixtures of the Red Hook waterfront shipped out Sunday on flatbed trailers bound for an East Haven-based train association — all to the surprise of the trolley buff who claims to own them.

“We have no idea exactly what went on,” said a shocked Bob Diamond, president of the Historic Railways Association.

Diamond stored three cars for more than a decade in a lot behind the Fairway Market next to Van Brunt Street.

He’d hoped to put the trolleys — or at least pieces of them — in service again one day as part of a long-delayed dream to restore streetcar service in Red Hook, he said Monday.

His plans went off the rails on Sunday, however, when a pal told him a shipping company was hauling the cars away.

Greg O’Connell, president of The O’Connell Organization, which owns the lot and other Red Hook property, issued a statement Monday, saying the trolleys and a “significant donation” were given to the Branford Electric Railway Association Sunday. The association operates the Shore Line Trolley Museum in East Haven.

“Rather than let these historic trolleys continue to sit stagnant, building up rust and rot in Red Hook, the O’Connell Organization has passed them on to BERA, which has the ability to rebuild them or at the very least can facilitate a transfer to someone that will,” according to the statement.

Read more: Source

[MTA Bus]

So that's what's happening to them.

[FamousNYLover]

Good thing I took last pictures during the windy day before this was gone.

[peacemak3r]

So there was good reason for the shipment..I don't see why there needs to be an outcry. It sat on the dude's land and he sent it for repairs, seems reasonable enough.

[Eric B]

Well, it was better than nothing. I even feared Sandy may have done them in, as no one was saying anything about them for some time afterward.

[T to Dyre Avenue]

At least O'Connell sent them to Branford, rather than a scrap yard. At least now they might have a chance to run again, even if it's not in Red Hook. It's much better this way.

[M. Friday 1986]

Awesome. They're finally getting some attention that they've been needing for years. And I would go further and say the fourth trolley that's stored in the warehouse should be donated as well. No sense to have them here if the original owner didn't do anything with them for years and most likely would've just let them sit there for longer.

[Kamen Rider]

So there was good reason for the shipment..I don't see why there needs to be an outcry. It sat on the dude's land and he sent it for repairs, seems reasonable enough.

He supposidly donated them to BERA, not just sent them for a tune-up. The argument being made is he did not have the right to donate them.

 

It all depends on what his actual agreement with Bob Diamond was.

[peacemak3r]

I mean if it's on your land, you technically have some leeway on it though right? Also the fact that it's been sitting there for some time now.

[Turbo19]

New revelations: http://gothamist.com/2014/02/13/red_hook_trolleys_could_be_scrapped.php

[Kamen Rider]

I mean if it's on your land, you technically have some leeway on it though right? Also the fact that it's been sitting there for some time now.

Like I said, it depends on what was agreed upon between the two parties. Speaking in general you do have a lot of leeway, but there is a point where that stops. Just ask my uncle's mother-in-law. There was a time she was in court every other week trying to get deadbeat tenants out of her building. It was her property, but she couldn't just drag them out.

 

If Diamond and the guy who owned the land had a contract that the cars could stay as long as nessiasry, it might fall under breach of contract. If this was an informal "I'll let you crash here" agreement, that falls under something else and he has every right to move them.

[QM1to6Ave]

This all sounds kind of sketchy. A trolley museums takes in the trolley cars for safekeeping but refuses to actually restore or display them? Somebody who did not own the trolley cars donates them? All sounds fishy and will undoubtedly end up in the court system. 

[INDman]

Have you seen the cars? There is nothing to restore and there in no shape to display.

[bobtehpanda]

I've seen statements saying that Diamond was planning to use those cars as prototypes for a "modern" streetcar, but that seems kind of pointless given the fact that PCC streetcars are probably the most well-documented streetcars out there.

[BrooklynBus]

At least O'Connell sent them to Branford, rather than a scrap yard. At least now they might have a chance to run again, even if it's not in Red Hook. It's much better this way.

They won't be stored at the museum. BERA beleves there is only a slim chance they will ever run again. They are looking for someone to restore them. Apparently they don't want to do it. O'Connell did pay for the transport so I give him credit for that.