New Jersey Scuba Diving

Type:

250 "Redbird" subway cars - NYC Subway system - steel bodies / frames

Built:

1959-1960 - American Car & Foundry - Model R26 # 7750-7859
1960-1961 - American Car & Foundry - Model R28 # 7860-7959
1962-1963 - St. Louis Car - Model R29 # 8570-8805
1962-1963 - St. Louis Car - Model R33 # 8806-9345
1963-1964 - St. Louis Car - Model R36 # 9346-9769

Specs:

( 51 x 9 ft ) 15,000 to 18,000 pounds (body)

Sunk:

50 cars - Cape May Reef on July 3, 2003
50 cars - Deepwater Reef on July 16, 2003
50 cars - Atlantic City Reef on July 25, 2003
50 cars - Garden State North Reef on Sept 3, 2003
50 cars - Shark River Reef on Oct 14, 2003
619 cars - Delaware Reef 11 from Aug 2001 to Nov 2003

Sponsor:

New York City Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA)

anti-
Sponsor:

Environmental group Clean Ocean Action lobbied aggressively and almost successfully to prevent the use of these subway cars as artificial reefs in New Jersey, resulting in most of the cars going to other states.

GPS:

too many to list, and all gone anyway

Depth:

Depths vary by location between 80 ft and 130 ft.

In 2001 New York City offered as many as 1300 subway cars for use as artificial reefs, but the project was derailed by a single person. Cindy Zipf and her Clean Ocean Action organization raised enough unreasonable fears over the longevity of the cars in the ocean and their asbestos content, that the state government refused them. Many of the cars went to Delaware and South Carolina, which were happy to get such a windfall. After much public outcry and government consternation, the last 250 cars were finally accepted for use as reefs in 2003.

The conclusion that the subway cars did not hold up well as artificial reefs was apparently based on a survey of a single car that had been hit and torn apart by a dragger. Airborne asbestos is harmful when the tiny fibers are breathed and lodge permanently in the lungs. It has never been shown to be harmful to anything in the water at the concentrations that are expected, which are nearly unmeasurable.

Studies of sunken Redbirds in Delaware and other states have so far found nothing of consequence. Nonetheless, in exchange for these subway cars, New Jersey was saddled with an onerous, expensive, and unnecessary eight-year environmental study and moratorium on the use of subway cars in reef-building. Fortunately, that semi-illegal agreement proved to be non-binding. ( It never went through a public review and approval process, but instead was forced upon the people and the state by environmental extremists. Such a thing should never be permitted to happen again. )

The soundtrack is just me huffing and puffing to push the bulky camera rig in front of me with both hands while going in and out of the cars with just my fins for control. (Almost) didn't crash into anything either, but I never used a tank of air so fast. I was back at the surface empty in about fifteen minutes.

15 of the cars on the Shark River Reef were sunk on one of the huge rock piles, placing them rather shallower than the 130-foot bottom.

The cars found so far are laid out like this, but I would expect the first nor'easter to topple them all down off the top of the mound into deep water.

Seven of the fifteen cars on the rock pile have been located so far. Looking back through all my pictures from the day, the following numbers were dropped somewhere on the Shark River reef: 9569, 9577, 9592, 9593, 9599, 9624, 9625, 9647, 9648, 9654, 9655, 9662, 9663, 9677, 9678, 9719, 9754.

Four years later in 2007, these same cars had all tumbled most of the way down the slope to deeper water ( as expected ) and were completely intact. A car surveyed further south was also found intact - see below. So far, Clean Ocean Action, American Littoral Society, Sierra Club, and other environmental extremists have proven to be completely wrong.

2016 Note:

With the rapid deterioration of the subway cars in the ocean, the underwater photos and videos you see here are likely to be the only ones ever. They were shot with the equipment of the day. Given the murkiness of the water, 'HD' would not make any difference.

Here are probably too many pictures of subway cars being pushed off a barge on the Shark River Reef:

For all you rail fans out there, here are four more.