Up to 1924, Coney Island Creek extended beyond Ocean Parkway

According to the 1924 Aerial that I used and georeferenced on an ARCGIS map that I prepared, it seems that the Coney Island Creek ran north in the area that became the Coney Island Shops and Yards.  Another branch of the creek extended easterly between Shell Road and Ocean Parkway at the location of the present day Belt Parkway.  In addition, it seems that a branch also extended across Ocean Parkway at the present day Belt Parkway and turned north as far as Hubbard Street near Avenue Z.  Notice the unbuilt area between Shell Road where the F train runs today all the way to East 2nd Street north of Avenue Z.  As far as I know,  many of the signals are still knocked out in the Coney Island Yard and trains need to be stored on the express tracks of neighboring lines.  You can see why because this area was formerly on the site of the creek.

Can You Locate the UFO's in these photographs?

This shot from Subchat is an early 20th Century shot of the Brighton Beach Private Right of way for elevated trains that run on the surface.  Location is near present day Brighton Beach Avenue. Notice the UFO at the center of the shot above the elevated car.

Notice two or more UFO's.  PCC 1000, the unique "Queen Mary" at Kensington Loop.  The apartment house above the PCC is still standing and it is located on 16th Avenue.  Notice that the UFO's love trolley support poles.  The second shot is from above at the Ditmas Avenue Station showing a SIRT car in Culver Line service.   Notice the UFO near a trolley support pole below.  From Dave's Rail Pix.  Perhaps the water tank on top of the Flatbush Industrial Building is the mother ship.  Top picture is from Dave Pirmann collection from Joe Testagrose.  SIRT picture credit given in another posting.

PCC car 1040 on the Church Avenue Line at the First Avenue Loop on the waterfront.  Notice that the destination sign is marked "Bristol" Street instead of "Rockaway Avenue".  Two more UFO's are interested in checking out the action.   They are also interested in the entrance to the trolley tunnel at Church Avenue and Ocean Parkway as well. 

These pictures are from Dave's Rail Pix Dave Pirmann collection from Joe Testagrose. and subchat.

So we can see from these pictures that UFO's and their ET's inside love trolleys and rapid transit and like to be around trolley loops.  Perhaps they want to set up some lines on Mars, they aleady have the canals that may be used as Right of Ways.  Incidentally, these UFO's are powered by six large incandescent light bulbs.

Church Avenue PCC car bound for

16th and McDonald Avenues (Kensington Loop under Ditmas Avenue Station)  just emerged from the trolley underpass at Ocean Parkway and Church Avenue at East 5th Street and is greeted by a UFO just above the car.   As a child, I remembered that this "UFO" was lighted 24 hours a day.  This photo comes from the http://www.nycsubway.org website and is from the Joe Testagrose collection.  The period for this shot is between 1951 when Church Avenue got the PCC cars and the end on October 31, 1956.  I would like to thank Dave Pirmann and Joe Testagrose from making these shots available on the web.  Without these pictures, it would hard to imagine the system that was before its' destruction over 50 years ago in Brooklyn.

In the photo below, which is really a clip from one of the Brooklyn Trolley videos that I posted earlier,  you are seeing a westbound Church Avenue or Chuch Avenue - McDonald car just about to enter the trolley tunnel at Ocean Parkway at the easterly entrance.  Notice the UFO; probably a relative to the one at the westerly entrance.  If you look at the extreme left, at the head level of the man waiting for the next trolley, you can see the the 13th Avenue station of the Culver Line.  The slight raised point there is the outline of a red brick lumberyard at 37th Street and Church Avenue which was the site of the Nassau Electric yard.

Coal Bins at Gravesend and 16th Avenue Brooklyn

A reader was searching for coal bins at 16th Avenue and McDonald (Gravesend) Avenues in Brooklyn.  In this 1924 Aerial, you can see the coal bins near the historic Kensington Junction circled in red.  Also, the private right of way of the 16th Avenue Streetcar is also shown.  The private right of way was also known as Lott Place.  You can see Culver el swing to the left at 37th Street.  This is before the Independent Subway ramp was built connecting to the Church Avenue Station.  The Church Avenue station openned in the early 1930's.  By the 1950's, this group of coal bins was gone but others remained along the Culver right of way along 37th Street and McDonald Avenue.

Manhattan's Avenue C Streetcar Line

Source: Linder, Bernard, " Avenue C Line - 1919 ", In  New York Division Bulletin, Electric Railroaders' Association, Vol. 31, Number 8, August, 1988, pp.4-5.

According to the material supplied by B. Linder, horse cars started running on this line in 1870.  There were many route changes to this line throughout the years, but it basically went from the Desbrosses Street Ferry on the Hudson River at West Street to First Avenue and 24th Street where there may have been a ferry to Long Island City.  In 1916, battery cars replaced horse cars and by September 21, 1919, the line was replaced by buses.  So we can see that this line was never equipped with conduit trackage.

Saint Petersburg New Low Floor Articulated Trams

https://mail.google.com/mail/?ui=2&ik=00262c7e28&view=att&th=13b1fc2eaf25a900&attid=0.1&disp=safe&zw

To access this film clip, say "yes" to open.

Hi Folks,

   Through my friend Igor, I was sent this great news clip regarding St. Petersburg new low floor trams.  Thank you, Igor.  Includes some material on antique trams as well.  In Russian.  You will enjoy this short clip.

Tramway Null(0)

Downflow direction, density for Lower East Side Manhattan

In the attached map I used GRASS 6.4.1. to build a hydrology map showing downstream flow from rain showing direction, density and flow using the street elevation file as a basis.  I cannot give an answer why the area around 14th Street on the Lower East Side has such a high density of flow since this area is relatively flat but of low elevation.  This is just an experiment and not a professional assessment.

Shreveport Louisiana Trolleybus Map

Source:  "Shreveport:  The Trackless Trolley Years 1931-65", In Southern Traction Annals Trolley Coach News, Ruffin, Tom, Winter and Spring, 1981, Vol. 12, Number 1, Published May, 1984.

Shreveport Louisian had an interesting trolleybus operation that ended in 1965.  This not well known system had a unique system of route identification where each route had a unique symbol made out of sheet metal that was connected on the roof on the front driver's side.

  Map above comes from page 17 of the sited work and was drawn by Wayne Hom in January, 1975.  The overhead wire diagram comes from a Ray Degroote Map of 2/63.  The map covers the period of 1956 to 1965.