Travis Branch (Staten Island Railway)

Travis Branch
This map from 1922 shows the proposed connected West Shore Line.
Overview
Type	Rail freight transport
System	Staten Island Railway
Locale	Staten Island, New York, USA
Termini	Arlington Yard Fresh Kills Transfer Station
Operation
Opened	1928
Owner	Conrail Shared Assets
Operator(s)	Conrail Shared Assets
Technical
Number of tracks	1-2
Track gauge	4 ft 8 1⁄2 in (1,435 mm)

The Travis Branch is a branch of the Staten Island Railway in New York City, that operates from Arlington Yard to Fresh Kills, which is used for freight transportation along the West Shore, Staten Island.

The Gulf Oil Corporation opened a dock and tank farm along the Arthur Kill in 1928 and in order to serve it, the Travis Branch was built south from Arlington Yard into the marshes of the island's western shore to Gulfport. The small yard on the refinery property had a capacity for 150 tank cars. The Baltimore and Ohio Railroad built wood trestles to carry the track over the many creeks that dissect the right-of-way to Travis. The branch was never electrified.

At this time, the two West Shore branches were mapped to be joined together by the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad. The West Shore Line between Arlington and Tottenville, would have allowed rail freight headed to Nassau Smelting and other freight customers on the Main Line to avoid the congestion of Saint George Yard and the frequent passenger train service on the North Shore, East Shore and Perth Amboy sub-divisions. This proposal was killed by the Great Depression.

In 1958, the line was extended to Travis in order to serve the newly built Consolidated Edison power plant. It carried 100 car Baltimore and Ohio Railroad unit trains of coal from West Virginia to the plant. The wood trestle over Old Place Creek (40°37′40″N 74°11′6″W / 40.62778°N 74.18500°W / 40.62778; -74.18500) was replaced in 1966 with a steel-dark girder bridge. The branch was mostly a single track line all the way to South Avenue.