Brooklyn Jockey Club as seen on a 1905 Map

      On resource that I did not look at in a long time is the New York Public Library Digital Collection.  This vast resource has many maps and the above section comes from a Brooklyn Eagle newspaper map drawn in 1905 dealing with transportation improvements for Brooklyn.  Notice the two race tracks and also note that the Jockey Club's southern boarder is Johnson's Lane, a street that does not exist today.  The red lines shown are surface railroads including streetcars.  In 1905, for this portion of the Brooklyn, the former steam railways ran on the surface  This was the case for the Culver Line prior to 1919.       Notice the Brighton Line branch to the Coney  Island Jockey Club at  Avenue X near Ocean Avenue.                                                                                                                                                                    

Gravesend(McDonald) Avenue Line Bklyn 1926-1940

Source:  B. Linder & Edward B. Watson, New York Division Bulletin, Vol. 20, Number 5, October 1977, Pages 2-9.

The above map covers the period between 1926 and 1940 when the steel elevated structure above Gravesend Avenue (McDonald Avenue) was already in operation.  Notice the red circled sidings at Kings Highway which was at a coal silo and the sidings north of Avenue U.  This later siding may be connected with the Gravesend Race Track.  However, from an earlier drawing, the Brooklyn Jockey Club siding was at Avenue T.  There is much to discuss here including the fact that this trackage was also served by the South Brooklyn Railway, which used electric trolley steeple locomotive to haul box cars for freight delivery to commercial customers along 37 Street and McDonald Avenue such as the coal company south of Kings Highway.  See earlier posting regarding Kensington Junction which is at Ditmas Avenue and McDonald Avenue.