Home / New York City / Urban Renewal / DUMBO

Jay Street Connecting Railroad

The Jay Street Connecting Railroad (JSC) was a short line railroad started by John Arbuckle in 1904 to carry cargo between his buildings on the watefront. Although the line had no direct connection out of this area on the waterfront, cars were loaded onto barges from a float bridge at the foot of Jay Street for transfer across the harbor to rail lines in Brooklyn and New Jersey. Arbuckle later expanded the line to provide service to businesses in neighboring buildings, reaching as far west as Dock Street by 1920.

With the relocation of most port shipping to container ports in New Jersey in the late 1950s, the JSC was abandoned in 1959. However, some of the rails survived to add to the historic character of Dumbo's cobblestone streets.