October 31, 1956 Again

 When streetcar service stopped on October 31, 1956, service on the McDonald Avenue branch ended as well.   In the picture above,   I am sorry, I lost the reference, a south bound PCC car is about to cross Cortelyou Road and McDonald Avenue.  In the foreground and above and perpendicular to the picture is the wooden support for the B-23 Cortelyou Road trolleybus which also ended on the same day.  The car shown, may make a short turn at the Kensington Loop on the next street or may go all the way to Coney Island.   PCC cars entered Church Avenue service around 1951  and notice above that the wooden ties are missing to three of the four tracks on the structure.  Through service to Coney Island started on October-November 1954 on the elevated structure above, so this picture can be dated from 1951 to 1954.

In the sixty years plus that Brooklyn lost it's trolleys, trolleys have made a comeback in various forms to even cities that were hostile to them, such as Los Angeles, Paris, London and other cities.   Of the world class cities, only New York and Chicago and some others cannot, will not, or simply cannot bring trolleys back, even for a demonstration line running a few hundred feet.

Many years ago, I posted a video of the Volgograd tram subway from the former Russia.   There, PCC type cares run on the street then descend into a tunnel with nice stations.   I would if I could would build such a line between Brooklyn and Staten Island.   Why not a subway?   I believe  that modern PCC cars can make up the grade on the roadway of the Verazano Bridge.  Thus you would not need to build a billion dollar tunnel.  The line can go underground in Bay Ridge and meet at platform level at one of the "R" stations on 4th Avenue in Bay Ridge for a cross platform transfer.  In Staten Island, the line can run underground like in Volgograd, or private right of way or in the middle of an important but wide street.

Just a suggestion.
Tramway Null

We Miss You

This a Joe Testagrose picture taken from the Dave's Rail Pix site.  It shows a McDonald PCC car on Shell Road south of 86th Street sometime between 1951 and the last day of service on October 31, 1956.   The Culver El structure is in the background.  This portion of the line used steel from the Fulton Street Elevated and thus looks different than other el girders built around 1914-1920.  The Coney Island gas tanks are also in view and perhaps BMT "C" type el cars in the background.

 A few years ago,  a proposal for a new streetcar line on the Brooklyn - Queens waterfront was established.   By April 2017, a detailed statement dealing with the route and costs were supposed to be made public.   Nothing was heard since April and the rumor is that this project is in trouble because of the source of funding.    Thus it appears that this project ended up like all the other trolley projects proposed for Brooklyn and Manhattan.  You know what I miss?  Even though a trolley was a few blocks away, the wire started to vibrate and you heard a swishhhiing sound, something like a bird tweet.   This was caused by the vibration of the trolley power wire by the trolley pole.  It is unlikely that this will ever be heard again in Brooklyn or New York City.  Notice on the el structure that at that time, no outside cat walks were provided for workers.

I Found a Gem

Hi Folks:

  I came across this video by accident.  It is titled " Trolley Lines of Brooklyn PCC Cars Home Movie 52964MB" .  This movie was shot by Ben Young during the period of 1951 to 1956 and concentrates on the last three PCC operated lines in Brooklyn, Namely the Church Avenue, McDonald Avenue and Coney Island Avenue lines.    I never saw such a long trolley video and it lasts 29 minutes.  This movie covers many of the topics that is discussed in this blog.  A heavy concentration is on the portion of the Church Avenue line at the waterfront, just four blocks from the future Luchenbach ship disaster in December, 1956.  You see in detail the private right of way between First and Second Avenues to the loop.  You see hilly 39th Street as well with a shot a 39th Street 13th Avenue at the fruit store, which may have been called "Burdo Brothers - Poor People Friends".  You look up 13th Avenue and you see the Culver Line.  You will see the garages that I spoke about at 37th Street and the Lumber yard, the former Nassau Electric depot.  You see the Ocean Parkway underpass and you can catch a view of the Kings County Hospital main tower in the distance.  Some Culver Line shots are also shown with B type and AB type BMT standard cars.  You will also see the Ninth Avenue Depot and McDonald Avenue with a sharp decline to Coney Island in the distance.  Other shots include the Coney Island Avenue line at Church Avenue and the private right of way near the ocean with BMT trains overhead at the Ocean Parkway station.  The Coney Island Avenue viaduct over the Belt Highway is shown with PCC cars running gracefully in the middle.

Much more.  Copy and paste the code below in your browser.  You will really enjoy this.

It was nice to see all the old stores again.  The PCC Cars really ran fast and kept up  in traffic.

Tramway Null (0)

https://youtu.be/ZcL9nVShr48?t=33

Eastbound Church Avenue PCC car at 39th Street and 13th Avenue Brooklyn

Hi Folks:
  The photo below comes from the source below, namely the New York Public Library Digital Collection and it is a
 1952 Hubacher personal photograph.

This east bound  PCC car bond for Bristol Street is about to swing left unto 13th Avenue.  Across

 39th Street to the left is the City of New York Retail Market built in the 1930's.
  I was inside that building when there was a harbor disaster in December, 1956 (Luchenbach Explosion)
.Notice the buildings to the rear of the streetcar.  This may have been a commercial laundry and when the explosion
 hit in 1956, many of these windows broke and glass fell to the street.   I am not sure if anyone was hurt.
 The corner store to the right of the photo was a fresh fruit and vegetable store.
  You would be surprised how fast, before the age of hand held calculators, the salespersons, using a thick black
 crayon were able to calculate the price for each customer
with multi bags of vegetables in a few seconds.

TITLE

Brooklyn, N.Y. [13th Avenue and 39th Street]

NAMES

Hubacher, Max Henry, 1900-1989 (Photographer)

COLLECTION

Collection of photographs of New York City, New York State and more by Max Hubacher

Photographs

North America

United States

New York City and Long Island, New York

Brooklyn-Queens

DATES / ORIGIN

Date Created: 1952

Date Issued: 1970-09

Place: Brooklyn, N.Y.

LIBRARY LOCATIONS

Irma and Paul Milstein Division of United States History, Local History and Genealogy

Shelf locator: AZ 13-3600

TOPICS

Brooklyn (New York, N.Y.)

Streets

Trolley cars

Local transit

GENRES

Photographs

NOTES

Date: Photo enlargement made Sept. 1970

TYPE OF RESOURCE

Still image

IDENTIFIERS

MSS Unit ID: 22378

NYPL catalog ID (B-number): b19892408

Universal Unique Identifier (UUID): 9254c880-864d-0133-be8b-00505686a51c

COPYRIGHT NOTICE

Photo by: Max H. Hubacher

RIGHTS STATEMENT

The New York Public Library holds or manages the copyright(s) in this item. If you need information about reusing this item, please go to: http://nypl.org/permissions

ITEM TIMELINE OF EVENTS

1900

2018

Great Photo from 1954.

Modified Feb. 6, 2017.  Please see the map below from the NY Digital Collection of the NYPL.

The map shows 37th Street, 36 Street (Martense Lane) and Church Lane (church Avenue).  The map shows that the Lumberyard above was attached to the Church Avenue Line tracks from the west side of the building.  Please see  the red triangle on the map below.  This map also shows that the Nassau Electric yard was not established at this time but the lumberyard may have been the depot.  Notice that the SBRR and Culver Line tracks were not attached to the lumber yard.

From the NY Public Library Digital Collection.  This is 1954 photo of Max Hubacher and is part of the NY Public Library collection.  It is a personal photograph. In it, we see a west bound Church Avenue PCC streetcar just about to make a right turn unto 37th Street in Brooklyn.  The car is located at what could be called the beginning of Church Avenue at Old New Utrecht Road which is a historic street which no longer exists in its full glory.  We see the north bound windscreen of the the then BMT Culver Line and the lumber yard on the left was the site of an early Nassau Electric trolley yard.  About everything in the above photo is mainly now gone.

December 3 is the 60th Anniversary of the Luckenbach Steamship Disaster

  It has been sixty years since that disaster, at 3:15 pm on December 3, 1956.  It is interesting that around December 12, 2016, there will be community planning meetings dealing with the route of the proposed Brooklyn - Queens connector streetcar.  Various streets are considered, including Second or Third Avenues which is close to the former site of the disaster at the waterfront and 35th Street.  One map shows the line going down 39th Street between 2nd and 3rd Avenues.  This area is rich in transit history and was near the former route of the Church Avenue trolley at 39th Street and Second Avenue, four street blocks away from the former explosion site.

P.S.   A few days ago there was a public hearing in Sunset Park dealing with the proposed light rail line shown below.  The residents of Sunset Park do not want it at all on any street because of many reasons. It is true that the Fourth Avenue subway is one block away from one of the proposed routes.  Perhaps the line can terminate before it reaches Sunset Park.  The citizens of Downtown Brooklyn are  also not thrilled about it as well. In MHO, streetcar proposals should stress passenger comfort and efficiency and not neighborhood development of fancy areas. Perhaps that many crowded bus lines that feed into the subway rail heads in Queens such as 179th Street can be converted to PRW Light Rail because of efficiency and comfort.  These light rail lines should feed into the 179th Street terminal for across the platform transfer to the IND subway.


Map from Sunset Park Patch:

  You can see the general location of the disaster on the map.  35th Street and the waterfront.  The map shows possible routes for the Brooklyn-Queens streetcar.

The picture below comes from the organization that is sponsoring the streetcar connector.

The picture shown here is near 35th Street and 3rd Avenue, about three avenue blocks away from the former disaster site.  Notice the highway structure.  An eyewitness who had a store near 40th Street and 3rd Avenue in 1956 told me that as a result of the explosion, a piece of the highway fell on the head of a young kid  near 40th Street and 3rd Avenue on that day and the kid passed away.  There were many fatalities in the area, especially on the waterfront.

October is the month of Transit Milestones

October has these transit events in common:

1. End of Myrtle Elevated service in downtown Brooklyn (October 4, 1969)
2. Introduction of the PCC car in Brooklyn (October, 1936)
3. End of the Church Avenue, Church McDonald and Cortelyou Road Trolleybuses (October 31, 1956.
4. End of BMT Culver Line service to Coney Island (October, 1954).
5. Independent Subway  "Prospect Park Line" extended from Bergen Street to Church Avenue on October 7, 1933.  Today this section is incorrectly called the "Culver Line" and is served by both F and G trains.  The picture below was posted previously and the source may be "Daves Rail Pix".  Sorry but I cannot find the source at the moment.  The McDonald - Vanderbuilt line got PCC cars around January 11, 1937.  In the picture below, a # 50 Mc Donald car is headed southbound to Coney Island and is about to cross the Church Avenue Line #35 between 1951 and 1956.  The Church Avenue IND station, now on the F and G routes, is under the street.  Notice the frog above the car ( to the right ) for Church Avenue line northeastern turnouts unto Mc Donald Avenue.
   

The Twilight Zone: Between Electric Operation and Forgetfulness

   One TV series that I enjoyed was the "Twilight Zone". Twilight, a time when it is clearly not day or night and so on.  How about a time that is with the things we love, such as streetcars, trolleybuses and  elevated lines and the time that they are forgotten?   When streetcars stopped running in Brooklyn on October 31, 1956 and trolleybuses on July 27, 1960, the tracks and wires did not disappear on those dates.  As far a Brooklyn is concerned, the wires and poles and tracks were around for ages.  You can see a street with the tracks paved over but the wires and poles were intact, or a street with tracks and no wires or poles, or a street with a few scattered trolley poles.

These pictures come from the Brooklyn Historical Society.  I am using them for educational purposes only and they should be shared.  The views are of Church Avenue, the last streetcar line in Brooklyn.

  This private photo is showing Church Avenue near East 16 th Street.  The building with the water tower is at Ocean Avenue and I may have had a tooth extracted in that building.  You are facing east towards Brownsville.  The picture is from 1963 and the tracks are gone.  A trolley line support pole is on the right with part of the span wire still attached.  It looks weird, doesn't it?

  Church Avenue and Beverly Road.  The sign is pointing to the Greater New York Savings Bank.  A support pole is across the street and there are no tracks.  At the extreme right is another support pole.

This is another photograph from the Brooklyn Historical Society and this is near Marlborough Road? and Church Avenue.  You are looking south east at some historic houses which I believe are still standing in this historic district.  It looks like 1962 or 1963.  Notice that the wires and poles are still up in this segment but the tracks are buried under a new layer of asphalt.
   Eventually, all the poles would be removed and sometimes a pole may have been left alone.  In the site "Forgotten New York", locations of solitary poles are explored.  I remember one at the intersection of Nostrand and Flatbush Avenues at the "Junction".  It was missing a "hat".  The few remaining poles in Brooklyn could be found on Surf Avenue in Coney Island and at select former trolley turn around loops, such as First Avenue and at New Utrecht Avenue and 62nd Street.  There are others as well, but they are getting scarce.  For many years, the power supply for the Culver Line\Shuttle came from a substation at Fifth Avenue and 39th Street in Sunset Park.  Thick power supply cables ran up 39th Street on poles like those shown above to the Ninth Avenue subway station.  The wires crossed south of the station house across a yard to join with the Culver Line at 37th Street.  These cables were connected under the middle track under the  el structure.  When the Culver Shuttle stopped operation in 1975, the el structure and these cables and poles lasted to the 1980's when the el structure was removed.  These poles and wires, on the west side of 39 th Street really gave the feel of a trolley operation years after service stopped.

   It is ironic that some of the trolley poles and wires lasted until around 1963 or later.  In a few more years, in 1969, the environmental movement was born.  If perhaps these poles and wires lasted until then, perhaps a rebirth of electric transit could have taken place in New York City.  Now I do not think it will ever happen.  Everyone loves BRT (Select bus Service) and streetcars and trolleybus are being developed with great electric storage capacity.  Soon, the wires will not be necessary and the fun of electric urban surface transit will be gone, in my humble opinion.

Tramway null(0)

13th Avenue and 37th Street in the 1950's

I am always on the lookout for new photos showing the Church Avenue Line in Brooklyn.  This great photo, taken from the  nycsubway.org site.  Some new photos were posted ( or those that I missed) and above you see a photo from the Pfuhler collection.  A east bound Church Avenue Trolley is just about to go under the el structure at 13th Avenue and 37th Street in Brooklyn.  In front and perpendicular to the PCC car are the tracks of the South Brooklyn Railway.  You are looking west down 13th Avenue.  The PCC car is just about to make a hard right onto 37th Street.  Notice the stairway to the 13th Avenue station the BMT Culver Line.  Notice the wooden supports for the trolley wires.  I noticed that there is a rectangular sign just above the car but I do not recall any sign there.  The photo has to be from 1951 to 1956.  The 13th Avenue station  is above and to the right of the streetcar.

McDonald and Church Avenues Brooklyn: 1952

  I came across this picture taken in the Spring of 1952 from the Transit Museum Archive.  You are looking north along McDonald Avenue at the Church Avenue intersection.  Notice the turnoff in this picture, which is turning south west to Church Avenue.  A northbound or eastbound PCC car is shown.  I am not sure if it will continue its' trip north along McDonald Avenue or will turn east to Bristol Street in Brownsville.  According to earlier posted map showing the McDonald Avenue Line (1940-56) by B. Linder( (ERA Bulletin, October, 1977), this turnout curve was installed in the Spring of 1952 and occupies the south west quadrant.  This will allow eastbound Church Avenue cars to turn south on McDonald Avenue and perhaps use the loop near 16th Avenue.  This new turnout will only have a few years service until the entire operation was bustituted in October, 1956.

Transit Fantasy: Kronos (1957) Meets the Church Avenue Trolley

 

 

These series of pictures were part of an Powerpoint presentation that I experimented with many years ago.  Of course, in Blogger, I cannot post a Powerpoint file so you will see a series of JPEG files.

 

The main background here is a great picture from the Frank Pfuhler collection taken from Dave's Rail Pix.  It shows a Church Avenue trolley (PCC # 1050) running eastbound on Church Avenue near East 18th Street near the BMT Brighton Line Church Avenue station.  The view is towards the south west during a snow storm.  On the antique street lamp is an advertisement  for a great film "I'll Cry Tomorrow" that tells the story of Lillian Roth.  I believe the year is 1955-56.  Kronos was a science fiction film that was released in 1957, so in reality, Kronos would not have ever meet the Church Avenue Trolley because it was released one year later.  I was a small child when Kronos came out and the "monster" or "alien", or whatever you will call it, was a ET that grew larger as it absorbed energy.  It had two poles at it's top that could, in my fantasy, be connected to any set of trolleybus wires.  Of course, on Church Avenue, you had a simple standard streetcar wire network. so we can say, the Kronos did not have a return for the positive current as shown below.  In this series, Kronos "takes a walk" on Church Avenue, looking at the "I'll Cry Tomorrow" advertisement, slips in the snow and goes west on Church Avenue.  It ends up on the Third Avenue El (demolished a year earlier) and makes a cameo visit to the Ninth Avenue Lower station on the Culver Line.  By the way, Kronos, as it grew bigger, became bigger than a 100 story building.  I incorporated it also in New York City skyline as well.  I remember when our beloved "World Trade Center" was being built,  in some respects, the World Trade Center had some characteristics with  Kronos.  They were both over 100 stories tall, were a large rectangular solid that was metallic and shiny and had a tall pole on the top.  The World Trade Center also had two "skylobbies" where there was a cafeteria and was the exchange for local and express elevators.  The windows at the skylobbies were slightly different compared to the other floors and it is ironic that "Kronos" also had two or three sections with a pole(s) on top that had a red light that glowed.



Some Interesting Shots from the New York Transit Museum: Church Avenue, Cortelyou Road and McDonald Avenue Lines

  The New York Transit Museum, located in downtown Brooklyn has a photo archive of many historic shots of the transit system on all levels: elevated, subway, streetcar, trolleybus and so on.  It is not my aim to steal anything from them in this blog, but to introduce to you some interesting information that was not usually seen or available.  So please excuse me for the quality of the shots.  Many of the shots were taken in the late 1920's before construction started on the Independent Subway  on the Prospect Park Line to Church Avenue.

 

In this shot, you are facing west on Church Avenue.  You are looking at the 13th Avenue Station of the Culver Line.  The lumber yard was probably the site of the Nassau Electric trolley garage.  I remember the pointed building but if you look to the left of it, you see an annex.  At the extreme left you see a white chimney.  This building is still in existence.

 

Another shot of the lumber yard, but you are facing east.  Notice how close to the building the eastbound Church Avenue trolley track is.  You are technically at number 1 Church Avenue, at Old New Utrecht Road, which is a historic street and most of it does not exist today.

 You are looking north on Gravesend Avenue (McDonald Avenue) before the IND subway ramp was built.  The store is on the corner of McDonald Avenue and Cortelyou Road.  This shot is probably before the Cortelyou Road trolleybus line was established.   Notice that in the middle of Gravesend Avenue, the tracks are on its' own right of way and this was the historic path of the Culver Line when it was a steam railroad.

   Another view at the same location looking north from Cortelyou Road.  Notice that the private right of way ends further north.  The storage building is still in existence and southbound F Train riders greet it every day as the train descends into the tunnel.

 The same location but in 1944, slightly, to the south of Cortelyou Road.  You can see the two wooden troughs for the Cortelyou Road trolleybus wires (perpendicular to McDonald Avenue, under the El).  Notice that by 1944, the ramp to the IND subway was complete but only one track was installed.  This ramp would not come into service until 10 years later on October, 1954.  Notice the southbound trough for southbound streetcars.

 In this rare photo, you are looking east towards the junction of the original Culver Line and the Independent Subway.  This location is where the Cortelyou Road trolley bus curves onto Dahill Road near the 37th Street Park.  Notice the graceful trolleybus wire curve.  Like its' sister, the Cortelyou Road trolleybus died on the same day (including the McDonald Avenue Line) on October 31, 1956.

 The same location as above, but facing west.  The line just left Cortelyou Road and is swinging towards Dahill Road.  The trees are at the 37th Street Park.  The line will make a swing to the right unto 16th Avenue and eventually reach the BMT West End Station at 62nd Street.

This is at the same area as above, but from the Kensington Loop of the Church Avenue Line and McDonald Avenue Line, midway between Ditmas Avenue And Cortelyou Road. Notice the coal silo.  If you look in the shot above, just above the AAA sign, you can see the silo.  The silo was parallel with Dahill Road.

Nothing But the Facts, Mame: The Official Notes of the End of the Church Avenue Line

Hi Folks:

   I found on the internet this PDF document that was written by the New York City Transit System in October, 1956 regarding the last moments of my favorite streetcar lines (really the only ones I knew that were left), namely the Church Avenue and McDonald Avenue.  It makes interesting reading.   This memo appears to be the official general order of how the "Church Avenue Line" will officially expire, but it did not mention who and when the "plug will be pulled", that is, when the power would be cut.  On the Church Avenue and McDonald Avenue Line, there is either shared tracks or a crossing with the South Brooklyn Railroad.  Since the South Brooklyn Railroad would operate under power for a few more years, all power could not be cut.  Instead, at least at 37th Street and 13th Avenue, where the Church Avenue Trolley crossed the South Brooklyn Railroad under the Culver Line, the Church Avenue trolley power wires were cut at that location but they were then attached to the girders of the Culver Line.  In this way, the wires did not have to be removed and the South Brooklyn Railroad continued under electric power until 1961.  Incidentally, if my memory serves correct, the wires and poles on Church Avenue, 13th Avenue and 39th Street were not removed for a very long time, perhaps until 1960 or 1961.  On 39th Street, from Ninth Avenue to Fifth Avenue, a set of poles and wires, on the northern side of the street was not removed until the 1980's because this set was used to power the Culver Shuttle. When the Culver Shuttle el structure was removed in the 1980's, this set was also removed.

Please see below:

This Thursday is the 57th Anniversary of the End of Streetcar Operations in Brooklyn with Trolleybus Number 23

This Thursday, October 31, 2013 marks the 57th Anniversary of the end of streetcar service in Brooklyn.  In the photo below, by Frank Pfuhler and was shot on 2/12/1954, you can see a

southbound PCC car, either a McDonald Avenue or Church Ave - McDonald Avenue streetcar  near the junction of both elevated structures, just about to enter below the Culver Line elevated structure.  The structure in the foreground is the BMT mainline Culver structure that was in use on that date and towards the right is the then not completed IND ramp leading to the Church Avenue Station.  If you look closely toward the extreme bottom - center of the photo you will see some white lines and these are the overhead wires of a short turnout for the South Brooklyn Railroad.  The main South Brooklyn Railroad mainline is below the Culver Line structure in the foreground.  Unfortunately, I cannot make out the overhead of the Cortelyou Road Trolleybus (B-23)  which would be more towards the left of the photo perpendicular to the Culver Line structure.  About two and half years later, on October 31, 1956, the plug would be pulled on the Church Avenue, Church-McDonald Avenue  streetcars and the Cortelyou Road trolleybus.  The wires under the elevated structure would be charged until 1961.  Today, the Culver Line mainline structure  (in the foreground) was removed while the ramp to the underground Church Avenue Station would now be considered the Culver Line mainline for the "F" -  Sixth Avenue subway service.  The South Brooklyn Railroad tracks were pulled out within the last twenty years and the Culver Line structure was removed in the 1980's.  The area in the foreground is a concrete processing and distribution plant.  The storage warehouse is still there.  Other trolleybus lines, in other parts of Brooklyn would last until 1959 or 1960.  The Cortelyou Road Line was never connected to other Brooklyn Trolleybus Lines.  The only artifacts in the area regarding streetcar service is some shadows of rails under asphalt near the path of the South Brooklyn Railroad and some trolley line support girders, embedded into the retaining wall of the subway incline.  There is even a few inches of trolley line support wire in horizontal position near the top of some selected girders.   It is unfortunate that the prospect of future streetcar service in Brooklyn and elsewhere in New York City is very bleak.  At one time, streetcars were a part of city life in New York just as much as they are today an important part of life in Riga, Warsaw, Lodz, Berlin and countless other cities.
I would be happy even if a short museum with a few hundred feet of track would be established but this is not likely.  With the establishment of clean hybrid buses and the establishment of Select Bus Service (Bus Rapid Transit) in New York City, the prospect of some form of electric surface rapid transit returning to the streets of Brooklyn are just as bleak as on November 1, 1956.  The transit authority and many political people are unfortunately not interested in establishing a future light rail or trolley line in New York City.

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.

 

Miracle on 35th Street

About 33 days after streetcar service came to an end on October 31, 1956, on December 3, 1956, this tragedy occured at a pier at 35th Street, Brooklyn, four blocks from the trolley turnround shown on this blog's headpiece.  Many people were killed and injured and windows were shattered many miles away from the blast site near the former trolley loop.

http://marine1fdny.com/miracle_35th_new.php

The above photo comes from Dave's Rail Pix and shows a Church Avenue Car on 13th Avenue
 bound for the waterfront, just about to turn unto 39th Street, to the side of the retail market shown below.
Windows at 13th Avenue and 39th Street at the wall paper store shown on the right broke from the shock wave of the explosion, many miles away from the Luckenbach pier at 35th Street.  In the background, you can see the staircase to the 13th Avenue Station of the Culver Line and you can see the horizontal wooden trough for the overhead of the South Brooklyn Railway beneath the el.  Windows also broke on 39th Street at a laundry right off 13th Avenue and other places all over the city.

At the time of the blast, doors similar to these at the 39th Street side were blown open by the force of the  explosion.  I was inside the market  at the 39th Street side at the time of the explosion.  Within minutes, the sky darked from the west eventhough the sun was setting.