Below you will find Video Documentaries relating
to the Atlantic Avenue Tunnel and BHRA projects. At the Bottom of
the page there is a new section we added with videos relating to BHRA,
but not featuring us: Other Videos on topics
such as Streetcars and
Transit in New York City.
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How to Build an
Electric Railroad - Construction of The Brooklyn Trolley Project (2000)
Bill
King documents BHRA's
Construction, Completion and Operation of the original Red Hook
Streetcar Project (Phase I). This Digital Photo Documentary was filmed
by Bill King c1999 and was published / copyright by Bill King in 2000.
Note: the "Catenery Wire Lineman" Is None Other Than BHRA President
Greg Castillo
Television and press coverage of
BHRA Projects and Initiatives:
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This NY1 TV News Piece
(Feb 2002) shows: the perfectly restored #3303 PCC and #3 streetcars
inside
our then "Trolley Barn" on the Beard Street Pier; our perfectly built
"hand made" PAVED track and catenary wire along the Waterfront; still
more track under construction along two City Streets (Conover and
Reed); another PCC trolley (the "#70") under restoration at the Beard
Street Pier; the Atlantic Avenue Tunnel; our Streetcar Route Plan
connecting Red Hook to Borough Hall and our our dozen OTHER PCC
streetcars then stored at the Brooklyn
Navy Yard.
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NYC Planning Commission approves
the extension of BHRA's streetcar line onto Red Hook Streets (1999).
BHRA successfully completed the exhaustive "PHASE II" NYC "CEQR" and
"ULURP" processes on June 14, 1999 and December 8, 1999
respectively. During the Planning Commission vote, NY City
Planning Commissioner Anna Hayes Levin (still serving today) stated "I
love this project, I'm very happy to vote yes".
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Selected segments highlight the Atlantic Avenue
Tunnel, AND the work then freshly underway on the Red Hook Streetcar
Project, with Summer Youth Program interns banging in railroad spikes,
AND the first Red Hook run of BHRA's "# 3" trolley. It doesn't get any
more "Grass Roots" than this! Soon afterwards though, a more "full
time" work crew came online, and the generator was replaced by BHRA's
own proprietary form of "low voltage AC input", solid- state "static
power converter" and "feederless power distribution" system.
Volunteers from Summer Youth
Program in Brooklyn assisting with BHRA's
Red Hook Streetcar Project
BHRA's
Red Hook Streetcar Project started all the way back in 1993. We even
trained local kids from the PJ's to perform restoration work on our PCC
cars, and inspired them to continue their education. Many of these
volunteers went on to study at Transit-Tech High School in Brooklyn,
NY. While the Red Hook streetcar project was a purely "private
enterprise initiative", it was a smoothly run, highly efficient
operation. Its downfall was unavoidable after NYC DOT became involved, "double-billed" the federal government
(FHWA) for the project,
then scuttled OUR PROJECT to literally "cover their tracks". As
their final act of desperation to conceal their FRAUD, NYCDOT
physically destroyed the
track and overhead wire we built, along with 14 PCC streetcars, and all
the materials and equipment BHRA privately collected for this project.
If you have been to one of our Tunnel Tours, you may recall that Bob
mentioned an aborted effort to unearth the buried 1830s
locomotive back in 1991. This is a compilation of several TV news
stories about it. These aired on Oct 25- Oct 26, 1991. The odd
thing, was that the
DOT issued us Permits and arranged for a construction company to
volunteer its work. Eleven hours later, the DOT pulled the plug
on the
expedition already in progress with absolutely no explanation. The DOT
even threatened the contractor (that they recruited) with a $50,000
fine.
Back
in 1987, long before BHRA's Red Hook streetcar project, and with the
active support of then NYC Mayor Ed Koch, BHRA presented "Trolley Day"
in the "DUMBO" section of Brooklyn Heights. We operated our 1897
# 3 trolley on original street railroad track we had uncovered that
summer.
Back
in the late 1950's General Motors was found guilty in Federal court of
purposely destroying the entire U.S. streetcar industry. Their very
first victim, was Manhattan's streetcar system, with then NYC Mayor
LaGuardia acting as their paid stooge/facilitator (said to have been
"gifted" company stock under his wife's name).
In true old-school investigative reporting style, this CBS-TV 60
Minutes piece (from Dec 6, 1987) on the destruction of the L.A.
streetcar system provides an in depth overview of precisely what
conspiratorial General Motors, and the misguided, passive- aggressive
administration of Dwight "I'd rather play golf than serve as President"
Eisenhower did to wreck the sustainable transportation capability of
the U.S.
Here's a great look at the
bad old days of the NYC subway system circa 1980's: graffiti coated
subway cars (Red Birds, R-44's), ghetto blaster radios, gangs prowling
the subways and mugging riders, - and the famous NYCT Transit Police
"Entrapment" Decoy Squad! Appeared on WCBS-TV 60 Minutes, Dec 6,
1987
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"Cities Betting Big On Streetcars" - Wall
Street Journal Video.
This WSJ "News Hub" video was the "preamble" to a substantive WSJ
newspaper article on new U.S. Streetcar systems, which appeared on page
3 of the Aug 15, 2012 edition of the WSJ.
Video Documentaries and Streaming Video
