INDUSTRY CITY THE LAST VESTIGE OF INDUSTRIAL RAILROADING IN NEW YORK CITY VOL 1 BROOKLYN EASTERN DISTRICT TERMINAL AND NEW YORK DOCK RAILWAY

Industry City, Volume 1: Brooklyn Eastern District Terminal and New York Dock Railway is a richly detailed exploration of the last independent rail-marine operations on New York City’s waterfront. Drawing on years of research and the collections of noted historians Jay Bendersky, Philip Goldstein, and the late Benjamin Schaeffer, this volume chronicles the intertwined histories of the Brooklyn Eastern District Terminal (BEDT) and the New York Dock Railway (NYD), two railroad operations that defined industrial Brooklyn From the bustling Kent Avenue yards and Pidgeon Street terminal to the piers of Red Hook and the warehouses of Fulton Terminal.

Through detailed histories, photographs, maps, and rosters, Industry City, Vol. 1 immerses readers in the last bits of industrial railroading from just before and throughout Conrail merger days, which changed the railroad scene in New York Harbor overnight. The 1970s merger that united BEDT and NYD under one banner produced the landmark “New York Dock Agreement,” a defining labor decision still cited today. This first volume in the Industry City series sets the stage for future books exploring other New York shortlines — including New York Cross Harbor, the South Brooklyn Railway, Long Island Rail Road, and other New York City railroad operations — while preserving the legacy of an era when railroads, tugboats, and warehouses worked side by side to keep America’s largest city moving.