VOLUME 24:
LONG ISLAND RAILROAD SERVICE TO BLISSVILLE'S CARBONA PRODUCTS COMPANY

By Nicholas Kalis

Twenty-four in a series of glimpses into industries or warehouses that made for interesting freight operations on the Long Island. Information presented has included, where available, a brief history of the firm, how it was served by the LIRR, and what commodities were received or shipped from this facility.

Maps of Freight Stations and Private Sidings (June 1966), page 7 places Blissville’s Carbona as Spot 1. Carbona Products Co. shared a siding with Stoll (Spot 2). To the east, on a separate siding is Centre Lumber (Spot 3). This Spot 1 had a capacity of one car. Carbona’s street address was 30-50 Greenpoint Avenue, Long Island City with telephone number Stillwell 4-9351. Carbona, a manufacturer of cleaning fluids, last appeared in the 1978 telephone directory. Carbona was a cleaning fluid, sold in hardware stores, supermarkets, etc. that was basically Carbon Tetrachloride. Carbona has been synonymous with stain removal for over a century. From the 1870s to the 1990s, people used Carbona Cleaning Fluid for spot removal and dry cleaning at home. In 1994, Delta Carbona L.P. was founded when the Carbona Products Company was bought by Delta Pronatura, a privately held German company. Today, the original Carbona Cleaning Fluid is no longer available.

Those wishing to model Carbona would benefit from consulting the pictures in this article. Anyone wishing to help this author model Carbona on his HO scale layout is encouraged to contact him with any offers of assistance.

Thanks to LIST members Bob Sturm and Carl Fabrizi. The assistance of John Hyslop and Bob Miller of the Queens Borough Public Library, Long Island Division and Art Huneke is also gratefully acknowledged.