08/07/2026
From the Mike Del Vecchio Library & Archive...
The Staten Island Rapid Transit (SIRT), a subsidiary of the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad, was more than just a commuter railroad serving New York City's Staten Island borough. It also handled a substantial volume of freight traffic. A bridge spanning the Arthur Kill connected Staten Island with New Jersey, providing rail connections with the Pennsylvania Railroad, Lehigh Valley Railroad, and Central Railroad of New Jersey.
This scene captures SIRT's St. George Yard on April 26, 1947. In the foreground is the railroad's ALCo S-2 diesel locomotive No. 466. At left is a brand new Baldwin-built steam locomotive en route to the Société Nationale des Chemins de fer Français (SNCF), France's state-owned railway.
The Wilbur G. Sherwood negative collection was recently donated to the Tri-State Railway Historical Society by Sherwood’s son, Robert A. Sherwood. The extensive collection covers trains, buses, and trolleys not only in New Jersey, but throughout the United States, with images dating from the 1930s through the 1970s.
Wilbur G. Sherwood was born in Brooklyn in 1916 and later moved to Glen Ridge, New Jersey, where he graduated from high school in 1934. He later lived in Waldwick and worked for Texaco, a career that took him to Texas for a time. A 60-year member of the National Railway Historical Society, Sherwood was also a World War II veteran and Purple Heart recipient. He died in 1996.
