Abandoned remnants of the Staten Island Railway's North Shore Branch. This line saw both freight and passanger service. The last passanger car to run this line was in 1953. Freight continued into the 1980's. But as the amount of customers went down, the line got shorter and shorter. In 1985, lack of business forced the C&O to sell the Staten Island Railway to NYSW, which was owned by the Delaware Ostego Corporation. The Susquehanna embargoed the track east of Elm Park, cutting off traffic to the east end of the branch. Then Proctor & Gamble, the lines largest customer, closed in 1990. Freight traffic dropped off considerably after that and the entire line ceased operation in 1991, ending all freight traffic to the island. It wouldn't be until 16 years later that freight traffic would return to the island but the North Shore branch was never re-activated. There has been talk to restore passenger service on is branch but nothing has materialized yet. In the background is the Bayonne Bridge. It spans the Kill Van Kull connecting Staten Island with Bayonne. Opened in 1931, it is currently udergoing a project to raise the road surface 64 feet to allow post-Panamax ships to pass under.
