Small and Mighty

That is a very interesting looking locomotive on the front of this post card. It

is classified as an 0-6-0. Its class of engines was used for switching. That is exactly what the railroad company that owned it used it for. The BEDT stand for Brooklyn Eastern District Terminal. They basically shuttled train cars along the shores of Brooklyn, New York. This website gives very detailed information about the BEDT. Take the time to read through the materials. http://www.trainweb.org/bedt/BEDT.html#Flow%20Chart Philip M. Goldstein put a lot of time and effort in researching what is on this website. The name Brooklyn Eastern District Terminal as we know it, had its true beginnings in 1906 as a Navigation Company, and in the very beginning was incorporated as such under the Transportations Corporations Law of the State of New York on June 20, 1906. It was not until the November 5, 1915, after all the franchises and certificates of conveniences were finally approved; that all the properties, railroad, marine equipment and other assets were formally consolidated and incorporated under the name by which we know it and as a Freight Terminal operation; with a railroad, tugboats and carfloats. "The Brooklyn Eastern District Terminal" was probably the first private terminal for public use in the Port of New York. According to well authenticated report, this terminal had it's beginning in 1876. This organization has three terminals. The main terminal is located on the East River in Brooklyn and includes frontage between North Third and North Tenth Streets. Of the branch terminals one is on the Tidewater Basin in Jersey City and the other known as the Queensboro Terminal, on the East River, between Thirteenth and Fourteenth Streets in Long Island City. The success of the Brooklyn Eastern District Terminal could be measured by many factors, not the least of which being haulage, gross revenue, expansion and appearance. For example, in 1912, according to the "Report of the Committee on Terminals and Transportation of the New York State Food Investigating Commission" published 1913, the track capacity of the Brooklyn Eastern District Terminal increased from 357 cars to 426 cars. In 1914: it hauled over 150,990 tons of freight, for 1,200 shippers and 1,400 consigners and operated over 10.33 miles of track in New York & New Jersey. It operated 10 locomotives, 4 tugboats, 19 carfloats and employed 458 employees. In 1920. These reports tell us that the Brooklyn Eastern District Terminal handled 59,022 cars, over 9.24 miles of a track (a decrease of .63 miles form the previous year) with a gross income of $853,507.01. There were 115 employee injuries and 1 employee fatality listed for the Brooklyn Eastern District Terminal for that year. For the next 60 years the BEDT had its ups and downs, but survived. Brooklyn Eastern District Terminal filed the required ICC "Notice of Intent to Abandon Service" on April 8, 1983; and on August 12, 1983, operations at Kent Avenue Yard ceased altogether with the switching of a few covered hoppers at the Bulk Flour Terminal. The operations of New York Dock at Bush Terminal would not fare any better during this same time frame, and after several previous attempts at downsizing; it ceased operations on August 17, 1983.

This is what we call a Real Photo Post Card. It is an actual photograph that is printed right onto a Post Card backed paper. You can see in the stamp box area that this process was used by Kodak. I am guessing that the post card, at one time, belonged to Robert Morris of Brooklyn. The handwriting, in pencil, tells us that it is the BEDT #12, in Brooklyn, NY, on April 10, 1955. There are two items that I cannot decipher but the bottom tells us that the locomotive was built in 1919.