elvis

What in the world could the Long Island Rail Road possibly have to do with the King Of Rock & Roll? Elvis Presley almost always traveled by plane, and if not a plane, by pink Cadillac.

Actually, one of the few times Elvis took a train was one of the more celebrated incidents in his life: his induction into the Army in 1958.

Elvis took a troop train from Memphis to the Brooklyn Army Terminal. His likely route from Memphis to Brooklyn involved traveling from Penn Station to Jamaica, where he took a train along the Bay Ridge Branch from its junction with the LIRR Main Line in Glendale to the end of the line in Bay Ridge.

The Brooklyn Army Terminal is in Sunset Park, Brooklyn between the LIRR Bay Ridge Branch and 58th Street and between 2nd Avenue and the Narrows.

The Brooklyn Army Terminal maintains an exhibit in the front lobby commemorating Elvis' arrival in Brooklyn. It may be the one and only time Elvis Presley ever visited Brooklyn, other than his appearances at the Brooklyn Paramount Theater.

The Brooklyn Army Terminal, once a huge part of Brooklyn's maritime manufacturing scene, was completed by famed architect Cass Gilbert in 1918. The waterfront is less active now, but BAT is still a bustling, imposing complex...and well worth a visit from aficionadoes of a Forgotten New York ... and Elvis Presley completists.

I was not aware until recently that a spur of the LIRR Bay Ridge Branch goes right into the Brooklyn Army Terminal. On a recent visit to the terminal, I discovered that an old LIRR diesel car is still sitting on the platform! This scene must be close to the one Elvis saw upon de-training in Brooklyn on the way to the dock where he and other inductees would ship out to Germany, where Elvis spent most of his Army career for the next two years.

Taken after Elvis' arrival in Germany in 1958.

Think you got what it takes to stump the Forgottoner? E-me at erpietri@earthlink.net!