Sunday night, when the trolleys were being hauled out. (Photo by Sylvia Saponaro)
Earlier this week we reported that the beloved Red Hook Trolleys had been removed from their longtime spot by Fairway, and hauled off to locations unknown. The three trolleys, it turned out, were donated to the Branford Electric Railway Association, which operates the Shore Line Trolley Museum in East Haven, CT. They have just released a statement saying the trolleys could be scrapped:
"The Branford Electric Railway Association/Shore Line Trolley Museum are now in possession of the old Red Hook trolley cars that used to adorn the Red Hook waterfront. In a last ditch effort to save these cars, they were removed from the waterfront location they have been at for these many years on Sunday, loaded during the day and leaving at Midnight per NYC DOT regulations. They will be stored and given one more try via the internet and other media to find them a home. If by the end of spring we are unsuccessful, the cars will have any salvageable components removed for use in the streetcar preservation community and the remainder disposed of. The cars are not and will not be located at our museum, but are at a safe site, away from vandals and thieves."
They were donated by Greg O'Connell, who is part of the family that has been developing the Red Hook waterfront for many years. We're told the trolleys were on his property, behind the Fairway, but O'Connell did not own the trolleys. Bob Diamond, who has been trying to resurrect the trolleys for years, told us the trolleys "are ours (BHRA). In fact, for the past year, we've been reaching out to the O'Connells and Fairway, to get them on board with the restoration of these historic streetcars. Neither O'Connell nor Fairway ever got back to us." He added, "There's a fourth perfectly restored streetcar, the 3303, inside the Beard Street Pier building—what did he do with that one?" Diamond claims he purchased the three cars for $1 each in 1991, and has sent us this paperwork—he was not informed that they would be removed:
O'Connell has not responded to our requests for comments.
