Robert Diamond

599 East 7th Street Apt 5A Brooklyn, NY 11218

Email: rdiamond@brooklynrail.net Cell: 718-552-7048 Home: 718-941-3160
Website: www.brooklynrail.net

Professional Experience
Professional Experience
• Professional Experience Founder and President of the non- profit Brooklyn Historic Railway
Association, 1982 to present Researched and rediscovered the historic Atlantic Avenue Railway
tunnel, the world's oldest subway, built in 1844 and sealed up and lost in 1861. Made the tunnel
accessible to the public, and conducts ongoing historical walking tours through it.
• Received Award of Merit from the Municipal Art Society in 1986, in recognition of discovering
the tunnel, and related work in historic preservation.
• Implemented a demonstration streetcar project in Dumbo, Brooklyn 1987-89.
• Prepared an overall planning document for a downtown Brooklyn streetcar/light rail system,
1988-1989.
• Successfully initiated the listing of the historic tunnel on the National Register of Historic Places,
1989.
• For three semesters, worked very closely with the professors (John Falcoccio, Herbert Levinson,
William McShane) and graduate students of the Graduate School Transportation Engineering
Workshop (TR-629) at Polytechnic University, for the purpose of developing a comprehensive
Light Rail Transit Plan for downtown Brooklyn.
• Worked with Jon Boyer of Seelye Stevenson, on a business plan for a proposed historic streetcar
line in Dumbo, Brooklyn, 1991.
• Founder and Executive Director of the Brooklyn Heritage Trolley Project, a project of the
Brooklyn Historic Railway Assn. 1992- 2002.
• Applied for and received, a Federal Highway Administration ISTEA- Enhancement Grant
($390,000) to purchase materials for the Brooklyn Heritage Trolley Project. Also garnered well
over $1,000,000 in private donations and in-kind contributions. Also received grants from
notable charitable foundations, such as The Brooke Astor Foundation, New York Community
Trust, the J.M. Kaplan Fund, The Open Space Institute, and the 42nd Street Foundation.
• Researched, designed and installed a direct suspension single conductor catenary system,
utilizing cantilever and head span support structures. This included structural support pole and
cantilever arm design, selection and location, placement and foundation work, and catenary
dynamics such as catenary tension and sag as functions of span distance, physical properties of
the wire itself, ambient temperature and vehicle speed.
• Researched, designed and installed, complete electric street railway track including calculation
of all track geometry, including but not limited to, middle ordinates and degree of curvature, as
well as vehicle dynamic envelopes and specialty foundation work and pavement treatment.
• Located, acquired and installed all specialty catenary mounting brackets, insulators and
hardware.
• Acquired, repaired and restored electric railway vehicles (a circa 1897 electric streetcar, and
several art deco period “PCC” streetcars, more).

1|Robert Diamond
 • Designed and built a highly efficient specialty static power converter, which changed AC “house
current” into DC trolley power.
• Did all design work, prepared all design drawings and documents for a myriad of NYC and NYS
Agency approvals, made presentations and “walked it through” the governmental approval
process, and obtained all approvals.
• Prepared all Environmental and Land Use review documents, made presentations and “walked
them through” the process, and obtained “CEQR” (environmental review and approvals) and
“ULURP” (land use review approvals) from the City of New York.
• Received a Consent Agreement from the City of New York, to build an electric street railway in
the streets of Red Hook, Brooklyn.
• Dismantled and reused three miles of track material donated by Conrail. We dismantled the
Conrail E&N Industrial Track in Easton, PA. We then reused this material in our Brooklyn
streetcar project.
• Instructed our staff (including summer youth program, as well as college interns and others), in
the various skills required, and provided general supervision for, the streetcar project
construction and restoration work.
• Currently working with community leaders in Brooklyn, Queens, and the Bronx. on promoting
and creating a comprehensive city wide modern streetcar/light rail program for the City of New
York.

Publications

• Cincinnati Subway & Rail Rapid Transit Compilation

• BQX Streetcar: Learning from Other Projects
• BHRA Policy & Procedures
• Atlantic Avenue Tunnel Prospectus
• Hope and A Hole in The Ground: The Verrazano Narrows - Cross Harbor Rail Tunnel
• The Downtown Brooklyn Streetcar Loop Plan ca. 1989
• The World's Oldest Subway: The Atlantic Avenue Tunnel: Museum Plan
• Electric Transportation for The City of New York In The 21st Century Volume 1
• Electric Transportation for The City of New York In The 21st Century Volume 2
• Electric Transportation for The City of New York In The 21st Century Volume 3

Education

• Midwood HS, 1978, Board of Regents Diploma

• Pratt Institute, Electrical Engineering, three semesters, 1978- 1979
• City College of CUNY, Electrical Engineering two semesters, 1980- 1981
• Polytechnic University, Transportation Engineering Workshop “TR629” (Post Graduate) 1989-
1991

2|Robert Diamond