Lower Manhattan Trackage Map from New York Division Bulletin, January, 1987

This trackage map was drawn by B. Linder showing streetcar trackage below 23 Street and does not shown the tracks of the Third Avenue Railway System.  Although is is not clear on the map, not all trackage was electrified.  In the downtown and lower east side areas, some trackage was never upgraded to electric conduit track from the time of horsecars because some of the routes did not have enough passengers to warrent the upgrade.  Some line management experimented with battery and compressed air cars.  I believe that some of the battery operated cars lasted until the early 1930's but I am not sure.

Tramway Null(0)

Manhattan Streetcar Lines Except Third Avenue RWY System

This map, drawn by B. Linder, shows Manhattan Streetcar Lines except for the Third Avenue Railway System.  The map covers 99 Street to the Harlem River and is dated circa 1933.  Other streetcar lines continued to run in Manhattan to just after World War II.  Source:  B. Linder, New York Division ERA Bulletin, Vol. 30, Number 1, January 1987, P.2.

New York Railways Track Plan Circa 1933

The above map comes from my archive of maps drawn by B. Linder.  It is from the January 1987 edition of the New York Division ERA Bulletin, Vol. 30, Number 1, page 3.   The map shows Manhattan Street Car Lines except for the Third Avenue Railway System from 100 Street to 32nd Street before abondonment.  The 42nd Street Crosstown line was owned by the Third Avenue Railway System and does not show up.  Anyway, you can see the profile of the line and the many interconnections. 

1. The system was extensive
2. The system was flexible
3. Route extension could have been possible.

4. In the early years of the 20th Century, the 42 Steet Line could have been extended to Queens by the Queensborough bridge for a short period of time.  This is not clearly shown on the map.

West 42 nd Street with 1924 Aerial Photograph

In the map below, please see if you can see the earlier four track layout on West 42 nd Street at 12 th Avenue.

42nd Street Streetcar Track Map by B Linder

Manhattan Streetcars were very different from the system running in Brooklyn and elsewhere.  For start, most Manhattan streetcars got their power from an underground conduit in the middle of the two running rails.  Most Manhattan streetcars did not have trolley poles, although some that ran into the Bronx did.  Only short stretches of track in upper Manhattan had small segments of overhead trolley.  The track map for 42nd Street has its source listed on the map: New York Division, ERA, September 2002, Vol.45, No. 9, Page 4.  Map drawn by J. Erlitz from original data by B. Linder
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Area Near Kensington (16 Avenue) Loop Today

Many people in Borough Park do not know that before there was a trolley bus on 16 th Avenue, there was a regular streetcar line that was a branch of the Church Avenue Line.  The 16 th Avenue Streetcar did not run on Cortelyou Road but ran on McDonald Avenue to Church Avenue, turned east and ran to about Utica Avenue.  Original street trackage diagrams are from B. Linder's maps of the McDonald Avenue Line (1979).