Hero New York City Subway Conductor Ben Schaeffer passed away in May 2020 of COVID-19, a day after his 58th Birthday.

Ben was more than a 22-year veteran Conductor. He was a TWU Local 100 shop steward, an author, a retired member of the NYPD Auxiliary, and a community activist.

Ben thwarted a terror attack on the subway in 2018. He quickly evacuated a subway car in Brooklyn after a passenger poured gasoline over the floor of the train. The MTA awarded Schaeffer a medal for his efforts.

Ben was no stranger to headlines. One of very few Orthodox Jews working in the subway, in October 2019 he made news when the MTA asked him to prove that he observed the Jewish holiday of Rosh Hashanah to get the day off from work.

Ben was a 40+ year rail enthusiast. One of his most studied topics were the waterfront railroads of Brooklyn. One of those railways, is the South Brooklyn Railway. Owned by the City of New York, and operated by New York City Transit, the South Brooklyn Railway has been in existence for over 123 years!

Almost 40 years ago, the late John Johnson, South Brooklyn Railway Freight Manager at the time, asked that Ben design a new South Brooklyn Railway logo and paint scheme for locomotives N1 and N2. Ben happily complied and designed the logo and paint scheme the engines have worn ever since.

John Johnson made sure N1 and N2 were always clean and polished. They were repainted annually. 

With John Johnson retiring several years ago, the South Brooklyn Railway was left without a leader, and the engines have been in need of painting and TLC for a while now.

Recently, N2 emerged from the paint shop painted in the regular NYC Transit “work train” yellow.

All traces of the iconic red paint scheme, and the company logo are gone.

A heritage unit or commemorative locomotive is a railroad locomotive painted in an honorary paint scheme; usually the paint scheme of a now-defunct railroad that merged with or was acquired by the locomotive's owner.

While many railroads and organizations are honoring the fallen, NYC Transit is ignoring. 

While dozens of railroads are creating heritage paint schemes, NYC Transit is erasing.

As of 2021, all major railroads have official heritage units, except for BNSF Railway, and Kansas City Southern. Even MTA Metro-North has several New Haven Railroad paint schemes. 

Honor Ben Schaeffer AND keep the South Brooklyn Railway ALIVE.

Ben recently had a street naming in his honor. Meanwhile, NYC Transit is trying to bury him again!

DO THE RIGHT THING NYC TRANSIT!