Last Trolley in New York City and New York State

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sTGwnvyIw1I

Source: Footage from the La Guardia and Wagner Archives of the last streetcar in Queens (and New York State) in 1957. Narrated by Vincent F Seyfried. (Edited by Samuel Lieberman) If you want to learn more about the history of Queens you can visit the Archives' website:

http://www.laguardiawagnerarchive.lagcc.cuny.edu.

Although not shown that much, this line went into a underground terminal at Second Avenue in Manhattan.

Comparison Map: 2nd and 3rd Avenue Els, Upper Section, 1893-1903

Source:  Horn, George E, Editor, New York Division ERA Bulletin, Vol. 31, No. 11,  November, 1988, P.9,  Order Item M-108

In this interesting comparison map, the spatial relationship between the 2nd and 3rd Avenue Els in Manhattan is shown from 18th Street to the Harlem River for the years 1893-1903.  Notice the 34th Street Spur and the 129th Street Yard and station.  Notice that the third or middle track is not continous.  This map shows the layout before the lines was "modernized" with express tracks and stations around 1914.  Notiace the coal bridges that provided coal to the locomotives.  Notice that the station pattern was different during those years.

Nostrand Avenue Trolley on Private Right of Way near LIRR

Source:  http://www.nycsubway.org   George Conrad Photo

  In the above photo, which I could not copy in detail, shows the private right of way that existed between Flatbush and Nostrand Avenues near Avenue "H" for the Nostrand Avenue trolley .  This loop may have been placed in service in 1936 and it is adjacent to the LIRR Bay Ridge Division tracks to the left side of the photo.  Above the car is a vertical support pole for the high voltage tension lines that powered the LIRR Bay Ridge Division.  I remember them as a child all along the private right of way of the Bay Ridge Division starting from the waterfront.  In fact, the LIRR Bay Ridge Division may have used electric power until 1965.  A few of the high tension insulators still remain attached to the underside of the Gowanus Expressway near the Sea Beach Line ( "N" Train ) between Fourth and Fifth Avenues in Brooklyn and you can see them from the "N" train.



Assigning a "Hillyness" Index to Area around New York City Subway Stations



  Let us suppose that we need to calculate the "hillyness" of an area near a subway station.  Perhaps the streets are covered in ice,  as this sometimes happens in a New York City winter, and we would like to give priority to those hilly streets near mass transit for salting.  In this experiment, I located subway stop locations using a subway stop file and I made a map using ARCGIS.  I prepared a "buffer" around each station of let us say, .25 Mile.  I did this because if I used a point feature, I could get only one elevation reading.  What I wanted to show is the variation of elevations in a .25 mile radius around a station.  If the terrain was flat, my contour numbers, which indicate elevation in feet would not vary that much.  If the terrain was very hilly, such at the Dyre Avenue Station, my contour reading would vary from 4 feet to 112 feet.  By calculating the Standard Deviation, I could theoretically get a value of how various the elevation readings were in my .25 Mile  buffer.  I produced a report in ARCGIS in which I show for a particular station the low elevation reading, the highest and the average reading and the standard deviation.  I produced a report for a few of these NYC stations and please let me know if my technique is incorrect.  For the Dyre Avenue example, I used 176 contour readings.  This is just an experiment and I do not vouch for these numbers.  In doing the "spatial join", I told the computer to use contours that intersect my buffer circle of a .25 mile.  This would not count contours that are "nested" in the .25 mile radius completely and would tend to artifically make the standard deviation lower.  This is only a test of the technique.  Note, smaller the buffer, the higher the chances that nested contours would be counted.  Any suggestions out there?



Map Showing Extension of IRT Nostrand Avenue Line

Source: Erlitz, Jeffrey,"Tech Talk", New York Division, Electric Railroaders' Association, The Bulletin, Vol. 47, No. 6, June, 2004, p.8.

The map above is a New York City Transit Authority Map showing the proposed extention of the IRT Nostrand Avenue Line from Flatbush Avenue (Brooklyn College) to Avenue W.  It was dated 3-4-71 and revised on 6-23-72.  In the late 1960's to early 1970's, there were plans to extend and create new subway routes in New York City.  One of the plans was to extend the IRT Nostrand Avenue subway to Avenue W.  Of course, it was not built.  I believe there were later plans, as well a few years later, to extend the line a few blocks south for a connection with the Bay Ridge LIRR line near Avenue H.  The Bay Ridge line would have provided space for some much needed layup tracks and a connection to a maintenance facility further east.  Nothing was built, however.

Elevation of Staten Island Railway Stations at Street Level

  Staten Island has an interesting railway that shares many characteristics with its' relatives across the bay in the other boroughs of New York City. Almost 100% open air except for some small tunnel segments, this two track, third railed powered line operates subway like equipment very similar to the R-44/R-46 class. In the 1920's, there were plans to build a tunnel under the narrows to join the Staten Island Railway with the BMT Fourth Avenue subway in Bay Ridge Brooklyn.  Except for some shafts, nothing much more was built.  The elevations shown are at street level at the station location.  Some smaller segments on the eastern side of the line closed in the 1950's and they are not shown on the map that was produced in ARCGIS.  There are some plans to activate the North Shore Line (represented as a railroad) but from what I was told, it is not likely to be light rail or rapid transit.  The Staten Island Railway used prior to the R-44/R-46 class cars equipment that was very simlar to that of the BMT Steel "BMT Standard" cars.  In fact, a group of these cars, as a result of trackage abandonments on Staten Island in the 1950's  found their way on various BMT southern division lines.

Both photos above are from the George Conrad Collection located at the http://www/nycsubway.org website.  The first photo is that of former SIRR cars on the Culver Line at Fort Hamilton Parkway just about to make a left turn to the incline towards the Ninth Avenue Station probably in 1955.  The second photo is also from the same source and was shot on 11/12/1955 showing a train equipped with SIRR equipment.  This is a north bound Culver Line train at the 13th Avenue Station.  The Flatbush Industrial Building is in the background and it is still standing.  It had its' own spur to the South Brooklyn Rail Road with trolley wire.  These cars were very interesting in that the middle doors were BMT Standard like and the end doors were like IRT Lo V doors.  Destination signs were metal plates.

In the photo above, a SIRR car rests on the Culver Line at the Ditmas Avenue station.  This photo, which is from the collection of David Pirmann is interesting because to the lower left of the car at street level is the Kensington Loop of the Church Avenue/McDonald Avenue trolley line with the wires and poles visible.  You can see the Flatbush Industrial Building to the far left and perhaps you can make out the overhead wires on the Cortelyou Road-16th Avenue trolleybus line also at the far left near the 38th Street Park.

The Coney Island Elevated Railway and the Brighton Beach Race Track

Source:http://arrts-arrchives.com/CIElevatedRY.html

http://arrts-arrchives.com/CIElevatedRY.html
 

Please find attached a picture of an early elevated railway in Brooklyn which is not well known.  Hopefully I will provided more information about this railway in the future. The C.I.E.R.  is not really a traditional elevated line but a elevated railway on stilts.  It crossed Ocean Parkway at the bridge shown towards the left of the picture.  It was electrified with third rail and used wooden elevated equipment and its right of way was close to the present day BMT Brighton Line on Brighton Beach Avenue.  It predated the present day elevated structure on Brighton Beach avenue by many years.  The picture comes from a historical  site on the web mentioned above which has all sorts of goodies dealing with maps of the area.  Connected with this railway was the Brighton Beach Race Track which way situated between Coney Island Avenues and Ocean Parkway just north of today's Brighton Beach Avenue.  The streets in the area are not the same today..  Incidentally, when I did a seach of a 1924 aerial of the area, nothing remains of the Brighton Beach Race Track by 1924 because of new housing construction in the 1920's.

Some dates:  Tenatative and need to be verified.

Service began on 6/27/1881 using steam engines.

1897-1898 Electrified using third rail.

2/2/1899 Ownership by Kings County Railroad ?

1900 Service ended and surprisingly, tracks were relaid on the surface!

  

1924 Aerial of the area shown below.  No sign of Brighton Beach Race Track above Brighton Beach Avenue which is the almost horizontal line with two platforms (white rectangles) at Ocean Parkway and Coney Island Avenues (Brighton Beach Station).

1924 Aerial View with Comments