Interesting Article by Bill Newkirk of Subchat Dealing with BMT Standard Destination Signs

  A few days ago, Mr. Newkirk submitted to Subchat a posting dealing with BMT Standard destination signs.    A BMT standard car is shown above on the Culver Shuttle and shows one type of destination sign.  According to Bill, there was a period in which the destination signs had readings like the typed copy above.   According to the original article, the typed page was produced from looking at destination signs on some BMT standard cars in 1932 while those original signs was produced in the 1920's.    There are many surprises here, because many of the settings where for elderly elevated lines that would become extinct years later.  For example, there is a setting for Park Row Manhattan.  Would  heavy BMT standard cars would have able to make it across the Brooklyn Bridge to Manhattan without the Fulton Street elevated line and Brooklyn Bridge not altered for heavy steel equipment?   What about the destination "SEA GATE"?  Sea Gate is at the western tip of Coney Island and was served by trolley cars.   To provide this service, would some of the BMT cars be equipped with trolley poles (like the early Sea Beach Line) or would third rail need to be installed?
Other interesting questions remain and this will be continued later.

Interesting Read: Original Destination and Route Designation for BMT Standards

Posted by Bill Newkirk on Sat Oct 14 19:18:40 2017 Just received this document, typed many years ago showing original readings for BMT Standard routes and destinations. There are some unusual readings for older elevated routes. Perhaps the BRT had hopes of rebuilding older els to accommodate BMT Standards. That's my guess. I don't know which series or if all Standards had them. These signs were out of the Standards by 1932. None are known to exist.

Track Layout: Williamsburg Bridge 1948

This picture, although it is not clear, was taken by George Conrad on 8/8/48 and is posted in the http://www.nycsubway.org website.  In the picture, you can see a BMT Standard Jamaica Line train on the bridge and to the left of the train you can see an older type of streetcar headed towards the Delancey Street terminal which is underground.  I have not come across many pictures of subway trains and trolley cars on the Wiliamsburg Bridge together and I wanted to share it.  In a earlier posting, I posted a video clip of the 1940's classic "Naked City" which was filmed around this time on the bridge but I did not get a glipse of the streetcar right of way, although there were plenty of BMT standards in the video.  Unfortunately, in the New York City area, there are no plans to reinstate trolley cars on bridges that formerly had them.

Culver Line with BMT Standard Cars ( UFO Included)

Source: David Pirmann Collection from http://www.NYCSUBWAY.org

The top photo comes from the NYCSUBWAY.ORG website while the second photo comes from off the web and shows the former Boston trolleys parked in back of the Fairway market in Red Hook.

The top photo is interesting because it shows the elevated structure south of Avenue X adjacent to the Coney Island Yard and Shops.  Taken probably in 1954, the top photo shows the Culver Line with BMT Standard Cars before it was converted to IND Independent Line Service with "D" trains to 205th Street in the Bronx.  Notice that the elevated structure is of the lattice type, which is not typical of the more modern elevated structures in Brooklyn and the other boroughs.  In fact, on the same line, from the Avenue X station north to the portal north of Ditmas Avenue, the structure in more of solid girder type.  I believe that the section on the Culver Line openned between 1919 and 1920 and is in the period when solid girders were used for elevated construction.  What gives?  To save money, the BRT Corporation? used older elevated parts from the Fulton Street Elevated that was going under modification at the same time.  This lattice type construction is found south of Avenue X to near the West 8th Street station.

Notice that next to the elevated structure on Shell Road was a yard equipped with trolley wire.  Notice the trolley line support poles and it's associated UFO (lamp).   Some of these poles were given by the Transit Authority to Bob Diamond for use at his Red Hook trolley line in back of the Fairway market.  If you look closely at one of the trolley poles in the second picture, you can see that some loops and a side bracket is still attached, just like they were originally found in the Coney Island Yard so many years earlier.

A Photo of Ninth Avenue Lower with BMT Standard Cars

A Culver Shuttle train rests in the middle track of the Ninth Avenue Station during the days that the line was equiped with BMT Standard Cars.  The staircase leads to the West End Line trains.  I believe that the front of the train is facing west based on the reflection on the glass window panel  (lower picture).
Source>Collection of: David Pirmann
Date: 2/21/1965 for second picture.  First picture is probably from the same source.

Culver Madness

The source for these two pictures is http://www.nycsubway.org  and Dave's Rail Pix.

The top picture shows an older streetcar on the Church Avenue Line eastbound to Bristol Street. It just turned on 37th Street and just entered the begining of Church Avenue.  The lumber yard, I am told, was formerly one of the building connected with the Nassau Electric yard on 37th Street near 13th Avenue.  Notice how close the streetcar runs close to the lumber yard.  Also towards the back of the picture, you can see the northbound platform windscreen on the Culver El structure.  You can make out probably some of the overhead wires from the South Brooklyn Rail Road that used to run directly in its' own PRW under the structure.  In other posts from this blog, I published pictures directly from that platform.  In the second picture, you see a BMT Standard car in Culver Shuttle service resting in the 9th Avenue Station.  The 9th Avenue Station lower level never got a lighting upgrade and was lighted by incadescent lights, which does not make for good photography.  This BMT Standard is parked in the middle track and you can barely make out the tiles on the station walls.  I found the BMT Standard cars very comfortable.  Notice the middle double doorway towards the left of the photo.  This served as the conductor's position for controlling the doors and you can see the push button control panel.  In cars in which the conductor was not present, the controls were not active and so many children, including myself, played with the push buttons.  My father asked one time a conductor that he knew how he liked being a conductor, and the conductor's response is that he enjoys pushing the buttons all day.  The BMT Standard photograph is probably from 1965 and the Church Aveue Trolley picture I do not yet have a date for.  Sorry for the quality of the Church Avenue Trolley photo.