World Trade Center PATH Car Exhibit Dedication

August 6, 2016

PATH car 745’s ceremonial arrival at the Shore Line Trolley Museum

On Sunday September 11th at 12 noon the Shore Line Trolley Museum will dedicate and open for the first time car 745 to the public.

Car 745 was the lead car (on the north end) of a 7-car train which had left Hoboken at 8:42 AM, arrived on Track 3 at about 8:52, and was due to depart the loop station at 9:00 AM for the return trip to New Jersey. Behind it were cars 143-160-845-750-139-612. When the unthinkable happened, the entire PATH station was ordered evacuated, employees included. As a result, there was no loss of life on the train or in the station.

Since the car’s arrival the museum in 2015 the museum has designed and built a special display that will allow visitors to the museum to actually go into the car and experience what hundreds of thousand passengers experienced traveling from NJ to the World Trade Center site everyday going to work. The car is exactly as it was found.

Car 745 with 6688 at Sprague Station before moving into position for exhibit in the yard.

It was a Sunday in 2001, but Peter Rinaldi, a senior engineering manager with the Port Authority of New York & New Jersey was working another long, grueling day at “ground zero,” coordinating the logistics of the recovery operation. He opened an intact emergency exit hatchway on West Street near Vesey Street and entered, along with several other engineers, police and fire personnel, the north tube of the PATH system’s loop through the World Trade Center site. They had no idea what to expect. The tunnel was flooded so small rafts were employed. Paddling through a remarkably intact section of the tunnel and following the submerged trackway as it curved right, they found themselves at the north end of the 5-track PATH WTC station. There Peter climbed onto the platform and walked through the doors of car 745, still open and waiting for the passengers that never came back on 9/11. He stepped aboard the car and into the operating cab and at that moment became determined that, somehow, this car must be saved. Over 14 years later, his vision became a reality as car 745 touched down on trolley museum rails and became part of our collection.

The museum has also worked with a children’s book author Marie Betts Bartlett to craft a children’s book about car 745 who has become Poppy and the book describes Poppy’s purpose. The books will be available at the opening on 9-11.

The museum invites you to attend the dedication and then board a PATH Car that survived the World Trade Center Collapse on 9-11 2001.

Info Contact: Wayne Sandford 203-804-8364