5th Avenue and 9th Street in Park Slope Brooklyn, 1940

These two photos come from the New York Library Digital Archive and are being used here for research purposes.  They we both shot on June 14, 1940. At this point, I believe the 5th Avenue Elevated stopped running.

Both photos are from P.L. Sperr.  This appears to be a western view of 9th Street at Fifth Avenue.  You can see the 5th Avenue Elevated, perhaps abandoned a few days before.   What appears to be a west bound PCC car of the Smith-Coney Island line # 68.  In some years, this line went directly over the Brooklyn Bridge to Park Row.  The 9th Street station here is of the two track island type.

  This view is under the El at the same location but facing the north side.    I believe you are facing the Prospect Theatre ( see water tanks on roof ).  You can see the wires of the Smith-Coney Island Line and the Fifth Avenue Trolley.

  Before the Fifth Avenue El stopped running, Park Slopers at this location had such a rich mix of rail transit available, even available within a few blocks.  Within one or two blocks, you had the Fifth Avenue El to Park Row or Sands Street above, the Smth-Coney Island line to Coney or at certain times to Park Row, the Fifth Avenue Trolley to Downtown Brooklyn.  At Fourth Avenue and 9th Street you had the IND Prospect Park Line to Manhattan or Church Avenue and the BMT subway at 9th Street with West End and Culver and Fourth Avenue local service.  Up the hill you had the 7th Avenue and  McDonald -Vanderbuilt Avenue Streetcar Line on Prospect Park West..  And last but not least, there were in the area several South Brooklyn Railroad sidings and stations, probably near 2nd Avenue and 9th Street for Thomas Roulstone.

5th Avenue El Brooklyn at 38th Street - Facing North 1940

Photo Source:  George Conrad Collection obtained at http://www.nycsubway.org/

This photo, shot on 6/5/1940 I believe several days after service stopped on many els.  This view is facing north on Fifth Avenue Brooklyn at 38th Street looking towards the 36th Street station.  The tracks turning left will lead to the 3rd Avenue El in Brooklyn, while the tracks turning right are leading to the Culver Line.  These tracks will go through the 38 th Street yard where they will meet the West End Line and lead to the lower level of the Ninth Avenue Station.  This photo is interesting because as shown in my previously posted track map of the Fifth Avenue Elevated, South Portion, you can see the lattice remains of the multi track 36th Street yard which was built on the elevated structure.  To the right of the former 36th Street Station is the present day Jackie Gleason Bus Garage, which formerly was a historic railroad building.   In the front of the photo are tracks of the Fifth Avenue Trolley Line.

Fifth Avenue El in Brooklyn - South Section - 1937

Source:  B. Linder, New York Division Bulletin, Vol. 42, No. 12, December, 1999, Page 3.

In the track plan of the southern section, notice the trackage on 3rd Avenue and an interesting stub terminal at 65 Street and Third Avenue ( Brooklyn )  that had trolley service run up a ramp and ended on the elevated structure at the southern end.  This service seems to have ended in 1919.  It seems that the Fifth Avenue El was not upgraded because it was only one block away from the BMT 4th Avenue Subway.

Tramway Null(0)

Fifth Avenue El in Brooklyn - North Section - 1932-1940

Source:  B. Linder, New York Division Bulletin, Vol. 42, No. 12, December, 1999, Page 2.

In my last several posts, I wrote about the Third Avenue El in Manhattan.  The Third Avenue El on its' route to South Ferry passed underneath the Brooklyn Bridge.  The Brooklyn Bridge carried many Brooklyn Elevated lines, of which the Fifth Avenue Line is one of them.  The elevateds that ran over the Brooklyn Bridge ran to Park Row where passengers transferred to the City Hall Station of the Third Avenue El. In the map section shown, you can see the track layout at the Park Row Station.  The Fifth Avenue El was a two track el that never got upgraded somewhat.  It is interesting to note that that a branch of the Fifth Avenue El ran on Third Avenue in Brooklyn.  You can say that in New York City, there were two 3rd Avenue Els, in Brooklyn and Manhattan.  More to follow when I post the south section of the FIFTH AVENUE EL..