Great Photo from 1954.

Modified Feb. 6, 2017.  Please see the map below from the NY Digital Collection of the NYPL.

The map shows 37th Street, 36 Street (Martense Lane) and Church Lane (church Avenue).  The map shows that the Lumberyard above was attached to the Church Avenue Line tracks from the west side of the building.  Please see  the red triangle on the map below.  This map also shows that the Nassau Electric yard was not established at this time but the lumberyard may have been the depot.  Notice that the SBRR and Culver Line tracks were not attached to the lumber yard.

From the NY Public Library Digital Collection.  This is 1954 photo of Max Hubacher and is part of the NY Public Library collection.  It is a personal photograph. In it, we see a west bound Church Avenue PCC streetcar just about to make a right turn unto 37th Street in Brooklyn.  The car is located at what could be called the beginning of Church Avenue at Old New Utrecht Road which is a historic street which no longer exists in its full glory.  We see the north bound windscreen of the the then BMT Culver Line and the lumber yard on the left was the site of an early Nassau Electric trolley yard.  About everything in the above photo is mainly now gone.

13th Avenue and 37th Street in the 1950's

I am always on the lookout for new photos showing the Church Avenue Line in Brooklyn.  This great photo, taken from the  nycsubway.org site.  Some new photos were posted ( or those that I missed) and above you see a photo from the Pfuhler collection.  A east bound Church Avenue Trolley is just about to go under the el structure at 13th Avenue and 37th Street in Brooklyn.  In front and perpendicular to the PCC car are the tracks of the South Brooklyn Railway.  You are looking west down 13th Avenue.  The PCC car is just about to make a hard right onto 37th Street.  Notice the stairway to the 13th Avenue station the BMT Culver Line.  Notice the wooden supports for the trolley wires.  I noticed that there is a rectangular sign just above the car but I do not recall any sign there.  The photo has to be from 1951 to 1956.  The 13th Avenue station  is above and to the right of the streetcar.

Transit Authority's Airline Replacement for the BMT Culver Shuttle

Source:  ARCGIS ESRI Sandy Hurricane Before / After Map Source Panel

www.esri.com/services/disaster-response/hurricanes/hurricane-sandy-the-aftermap: 6k

"In order to help "D" (West End) riders reach the "F" line at Ditmas Avenue, the Transit Authority is pleased to announce the establishment of the new "Culver Shuttle Airplane".  This service will be made available by walking by foot to the "airport" on the easterly side of 37th Street near Fort Hamilton Parkway or taking a new shuttle train that will arive in the lower level of the Ninth Avenue Station and will exit the portal to a temporary wooden platform on 37th Street near the airport.  Passengers will need only to cross 37th Street.  (The track in the area is already 3rd Rail equipped).  Passengers will be equipped with parachuttes and will be given a selection of stops to drop off at, the main drop off point will be Ditmas Avenue on the F train and Coney Island.  Please speak to your pilot for requested drop off points.  If the service becomes popular, some "V" trains will provide direct service to Ninth Avenue (Lower Level) or the airport at 37th Street."  In keeping with tradition, the shuttle train between Ninth Avenue Lower and the airport will be labeled number "5"".

Actually, I am not sure if this airplane was photographed by satelite or a higher flying plane.  I came across it by accident.  ARCGIS ESRI provides an interactive map showing before and after pictures with a map underlay.  The focus when opening this map is the devasted Breezy Point area of the Rockaways, but you can adjust the map to anyplace in New York City.

There is an airplane path in the area that flies north following the numbered avenues (like 13th Avenue) and passes the Grand Army Plaza area of Brooklyn.  As a child, I remember the same path was in existence and I remember the propeller planes (US Constellations?) that followed this path.  I remember that at times, one of the four propellers would drop out of service and would start to sputter.  You could see and hear this at ground level.  Thank Gd the plane had three other propellers.  The plane in the picture is following the same air pattern.

Please find below a aerial of the washed out section of the Rockaway Line after Sandy using the same resource.  Its' location is north of the Rockaway area in Jamaica Bay.

South Brooklyn Railway Track Plan as of 9/29/1960

Source:  B. Linder, Part 10, South Brooklyn's Trolley Operations, ERA Bulletin, October, 1976, p.8. (From a drawing dated September 29, 1960)

This line drawing, drawn in 1960 needs some explanation because there is a gap in the map.  Here are some of the points:

• The map does not show which trackage is under trolley wire or associated with third rail.  From my memory and seeing past diagrams, trolley wire extended from 4th Avenue and 38th Street, just west of the 4th Avenue overpass to the waterfront.
• From 4th Avenue and east, the SBRR tracks joined the subway tracks currently used by the West End Line (D Train) and also formerly used by the Culver Line that either ran to 36 th Street and 4th Avenue or Chambers Street in Manhattan.
• The trackage from the junction with the West End Line to 9th Avenue Station is not shown.  This was jointly operated with subway trains using third rail and had an interesting passage through an elderly two track brick lined tunnel that is in use today. 
• The two platformed 9th Avenue station shown is really on the lower level beneath the West End Line and was used by the Culver Line until 1975.  This was the same station where a popular film was shot. (Crockodile Dundee?)
• Approximately east of Fort Hamiliton Parkway trolley wire began and was hanging at this point under the Culver El.
• From this point and south, most SRBB trackage was either in a private right of way or in street trackage under the Culver Line to approximately Avenue Y where trackage meet up with the BMT Coney Island Yard.
• Notice the various sidings, particularly between 13th and 14th Avenues and 37th Street, under the 13th Avenue Station that I posted a photograph of.
• Notice the various coal sidings and Fisher's siding.
• It is hard to believe that at this time, the trolley overhead was still charged and in use even though trolley operations stopped on McDonald Avenue on October 31, 1956 and all trolleybus service stopped in Brooklyn on July 27, 1960.  I believe the wire was still charged until 1961 and the overhead was removed by 1965.  There may have been a historic trolley run using a vintage Scandinavian trolley under SBRR trackage on 37th Street in 1961 by Electric Railroader's Association.