Located adjacent to the Brooklyn Army Terminal, it provided a major link in the city's rail freight network in the first half of the twentieth century.

It originally had four electrically operated car float bridges of the Overhead Suspension Contained Apron type (French Patent) and were named in alphabetical order from south to north: "Abie", "Benny", "Charlie" and "Davy".

Around 1978, the New York Dock Railway installed a pontoon supported pony plate girder float bridge, moved from Erie Railroad's West 28th Street Yard in Manhattan.

However these two new transfer bridges had remained unused for car float operations since the New York Cross Harbor Railroad, the successor of New York Dock Railway, abandoned plans to move its operation from Bush Terminal at 50th Street to the 65th Street Yard due to financial disputes between the city and the Railroad.

In 2008 the railroad was bought by the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey[7] The Port Authority also started the restoration of the 65th Street Yard for use by NYNJ in 2011 as part of a $118.1 million investment for the restoration of the existing rail car float system operating between Greenville and sites at 51st and 65th Streets in Brooklyn, N.Y., including the purchase of Greenville Yard.