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.

PCC 1029 at Church and McDonald Avenues in Brooklyn

Source:  Dave Pirmann Collection.  Joe Testagrose Photo from Dave's Rail Pix

  In that wonderful video dealing with Route 4 in Riga, we see many junctions, some of which a very complicated.  In the attached photo, we see a westbound Church Avenue car making  a turn onto McDonald Avenue for a short turn at the Kensington Loop near 16th Avenue.  This almost grand junction, at McDonald and Church Avenues is shown on one of my prior track maps of the Church Avenue Line. Since the Church Avenue line was the last publicly owned trolley in New York State to operate, it is possible that this complicated junction was the last one to operate in New York State as well.  A similar junction was found at the east end of the line.  Under the junction was what was called at that time the Independent Subway Church Avenue Station that was served by "D" trains between Coney Island and 205th Street in the Bronx.  At that time, the subway section of the line was never called the Culver Line.