Yesterday was the 59th Anniversary of the End of Trolleybus Service in Brooklyn

  On July 27,  1960, trolley bus service ended on Brooklyn and Queens trolley bus lines.   One line, the St. John's Place line ended in 1959.   The trolleybus or trackless trolley, did not make a large impression on New York City transit history.  A line(s) started in Staten Island in the 1920's, but were gone a few years later.  In the early 1930's, experiments were conducted on the B-23 Cortelyou Road line and that line lasted until October 31, 1956, the last date also for streetcars in Brooklyn.   Several streetcar lines were converted to trolleybus in 1947 to 1958 but they just lasted until July, 1960.  I was told to me by a person who worked at the Transit Authority many years ago that there were double wire wood  supports under the Flushing Line structure at Woodside, but no line was ever built.  There were plans to covert more lines to trolleybus around 1950 but the deal fell through, including the Ocean Avenue Line, the Fifth Avenue Line in Brooklyn, the northern part of the Vanderbuilt Aveune Line and some lines in Queens.  Around 1992 the NYCTA wanted to convert the M-15 Second Avenue Bus Line in Manhattan but that also fell through as well.  The plan was for a Select Service Bus type of line with overhead.  This project was tied to a similar one in Los Angeles but since the LA project fell through, the M-15 line also did not come into being.  Looking at some early NYC Transit System Annual Reports in college around 1969, I came across an Annual Report for perhaps 1958 or 1959?  In it, it said that the trackless trolleys are "coming fast obsolete " and that they should be gone by 1962.  Besides Staten Island in the 1920's and Brooklyn and Queens from 1930 to 1960, no other boroughs had trolleybus systems  (Manhattan and Bronx).   With the perfection of on board batteries, it is not likely that any new trolleybus systems would open up in New York City or the United States.

Some Interesting News from Brooklyn

Hi Folks:
  Sorry that I did not blog in a long time, but nothing was really happening from my viewpoint.  Recently, via "Subchat", two news items came to view: 1)  Possibility of closing the Transit Museum in Downtown Brooklyn due to financial reasons and the official announcement of the start of express service in Brooklyn on the "F" train between Church Avenue and Metrotech-Jay Street.  Let us start with the F express service.   It will be very limited; two trips in the morning and two at night.  It will not stop at Bergen Street (lower) and will run local south of Church Avenue.  This service will start in September.   On the transit museum, it is rumored that it will close.   A potential location for relocation would be the lower level of the Ninth Avenue subway station of our beloved former Culver Shuttle.  It is just a rumor of closing or of relocation of the Museum, while the F train express service is official.  There is much to say on both subjects and I will continue in the future.