There is Light at the End of the Tunnel, after all on 42nd Street

In this remarkable photo obtained from the New York Public Library Archive, we see a 42nd Street trolley pose at the east end of a short tunnel on 42nd Street.  This photo is dated 7/23/1939 and is labeled from P. L. Sperr.  This photo is only used for research purposes showing not a well known tunnel, called the Prospect Hill Tunnel.

You are facing west on 42nd Street I believe at 1st Avenue.  The East River is to the photographer's back.  This is a great photo.  Tudor City was built by this time.  What a classic shot and a great streetlamp above on the street.

Columbus and Lenox Avenue Streetcar Line North and South Sections

Source:Linder, B. in New York Division Bulletin, Electric Railway Association, Vol. 32, Number 6, June, 1989, pp.2,4-5.

The Columbus and Lenox Avenue streetcar in Manhattan started its' life as a horsecar line in 1895 and for a short period, operated as a cable line.  Sections of the line were electrified by 1895 as well.  The line was replaced by buses on February 12, 1936.  The line was a long one.  The maps drawn by Bernard Linder are interesting because they show intersecting lines and the out of service dates of those lines in many cases.

   According to information provided on page three of the source sited above, different segments of the line were tested with different technologies.  For example, the Columbus Avenue portion of the line experiemented with cable power on December 8, 1894.  Full service was not complete until 1895 during which up to that time, a few horse cars operated on the line.  Experiments were held on the Lenox Avenue portion of line involving underground conduit.  The system used was based on a system visited in Budapest, Hungary and the conduit was modified for snow storms.  This system was designed with the capacity to convert back to cable if electricity proved to be a failure!    In December, 1896, a portion of the line was served by 10 older cars converted to compressed air.  These cars were able to handle the tasks that were handed to them in terms of high grades of 7.5% at 109th Street and short recharging times and the reheating of hot water.  When compressed air cools when it expands, hot water was needed to stop the mechanism from freezing.  Since this machinery was more complicated than that of electric components on electric cars, these cars were taken out of service.

Grand Street Line (Manhattan) 1931 - Another Line that crossed the Williamsburg Bridge

Source: B. Linder, New York Division, Electric Railroaders' Association, The Bulletin, Vol. 44, No. 12, December, 2001. Pages 2-4.

   Since we were on the topic of the Williamsburg Bridge, here is another conduit line that crossed the bridge and went to Bridge Plaza in Brooklyn.  According to B, Linder, ownership of the line by the Dry Dock, East Broadway & Battery Rail Road Company started on April 17, 1860, but the actual starting date is not known.  Using a well known guide (Bullinger's Monitor Guide),  Linder was able to establish that by 1869, horse cars started to operate from Grand Street ferry to the Desbrosses Street ferry on the Hudson River.  The last day of horse car service was August 2, 1905 and various sections of the line became electrified by conduit in stages.  By November 28, 1905, an additional branch from Desbrosses Street Ferry to Bridge Plaza in Brooklyn was opened.  Brooklyn service was discontinued on January 21, 1932 and September 3, 1932 was the last day of streetcar service.  The next day buses started over the same route but not going to Brooklyn.  I wonder if a Brooklyn - Desbrosses Street Line would be popular today.  Many 19th Century streetcar lines in Brooklyn and Manhattan serviced ferry terminals.  The Grand Street Line, when it started enabled a Brooklyn passenger to eventually reach New Jersey.  It is interesting that today, if the line existed, it would serve two fashionable areas, SOHO and Williamburg and its surroundings.

145 Street Crosstown (1919) run by New York Railways

Source:  B. Linder, "145th Street Crosstown", New York Division Bulletin, Vol. 30, Number 9, September, 1987, Page 5.

The map shown above does not show the Bronx trackage for this route that also ran on 145th Street.  The Bronx trackage ran east and I captured some of it in the 1924 aerial previously posted.  The aerial does not show the street trackage extending to Southern Boulevard in the Bronx.
Important facts are as follows:

• Line started on November 1, 1905 by the Metropolitan Street Railway Company.
• Line ran on 145th Street from Broadway to Lenox Avenue.
• On August 5, 1912, the Third Avenue Railway Company started to operate the 149th Street Crosstown from Broadway and 145th Street, bridge, 149th Street in the Bronx to Southern Boulevard.
• On April 9, 1915, the Third Avenue Railway Company started operating from Broadway and 145th Street from 181st Street via Broadway, St. Nicholas Avenue, Amsterdam Avenue, and 145th Street and Lenox Avenue.
• On July 11, 1920, New York Railways discontinued the 145th Street Crosstown, but Third Avenue Railway operated streetcars until they were replaced by buses in 1947.

The information shown above comes from the source sited, but it is not clear from the description for the Third Avenue Railway Company if cars ran from Broadway and 145 Street to Lenox and another branch from 181 Street and Broadway to Amsterdam Avenue and 145th Street and across 145th Street to Lenox Avenue.  The Broadway and 145th Street description may be a mistake for 181st Street cars..  Also map does not show Bronx trackage.

Tramway Null(0)

Manhattan's Post Office Streetcar Line

Source: B. Linder, New York Division Bulletin, Vol. 45, No. 1, January 2002, pp. 2-4.

  Where Park Row meets Broadway in Manhattan today is an extention of City Hall Park.  Previously on the spot, was a 19th Century Post Office in front of which various streetcars terminated.  One such line was called the Post Office Line that ran from a loop at Broadway, through the lower east side and across the Williamsburg Bride to Bridge Plaza in Brooklyn.  It was not battery operated but used conduits and what is interesting is that it used the North Side of the bridge because those tracks had conduits.  For BRT-BMT Brooklyn streetcars, power was supplied by overhead trolley on the south side of the bridge that lead directly to the underground Delancey Street Trolley Termininal.   Thus Bridge Plaza in Brooklyn had overhead and conduit trolley tracks for the various companies.   Some interesting points are:

1. Line started on June 6, 1908 by the owner, Third Avenue Railroad Company but cars were operated by its subsidiary, Dry Dock, East Broadway & Battery Railroad Company.
2. Dry Dock wanted to increase the fare around June 1928 but the case went to court.  See material compiled by Lawrence F. Hughes in the reference cited above.  The Transit Commission disapporoved the tariff request.
3. The line was discontinued on January 21, 1932.

125th Street Crosstown (Manhattan) 1933-1947

Source:  B. Linder, New York Division Bulletin, Vol. 44, No. 2, February, 2001, Pages 2-4.
The trackage shown above, for the 125th Street Crosstown Line was shared by several other streetcar lines such as the Amsterdam and 3rd Avenue Line and the Broadway-Amsterdam Avenue Line and the Willis Avenue Line at one time.  I am thankful to Bernard Linder who is not only a map designer, but who has written extensively on the history of the streetcar companies, equipment roosters and so many other aspects of rapid transit history.  Here I am focusing on several aspects of the 125th Street Crosstown Line and the related Willis Avenue Line that interests myself and perhaps our readers:  (All material from B. Linder, op.cit)

1. Horsecars started running on 125th Street on October 15, 1870.
2. Cable cars started to run between First and Twelfth Avenues on December 1, 1886.
3. Electric cars using electric conduits started running on September 28, 1899.
4. An experiment using compressed air  car was tested on 125th Street during the summer of 1896.
5. An experiment using a gasoline-electric car from November 1909 to September 1910 and this car had only one breakdown (B. Linder, page 2, op.cit).  This car had a high acceleration that was not needed on a crosstown line and the cost was twice that of battery cars.  It was decided not to use this technology because a seperate shop would be required.
6. A battery car using Exide batteries was tested using automobile type motors in 1910 for a period of time.
7. By March 25, 1936, the beginning of the end started by cutting back the line to  3rd Avenue and 125th Street.
8. Buses replaced street cars on June 29, 1947.
9. The 125th Street Crosstown and the Broadway-Amsterdam-125th Street were the last Manhattan streetcar lines whose power came entirely from underground conduit.  The 149th Street Crosstown, a line that used both overhead and underground conduit stopped running on August 17, 1947
10. Notice the PLOW PIT on 125th Street between First and Second Avenues.

Brooklyn Bridge as seen from Manhattan Bridge 3-29-12

This picture taken last night from the Manhattan Bridge faces south towards the Brooklyn Bridge.  Like the Brooklyn Bridge, the Manhattan Bridge is rich in transit history.  The Manhattan Bridge today carries four rapid transit subway tracks for 6th Avenue and Broadway subway services.  Many years ago, the Manhattan Bridge had a shuttle trolley that used regular overhead and at one time, I believe a set of tracks existed on the upper roadways that had a conduit that allowed some Manhattan streetcar lines that used conduits to travel as far east as downtown Brooklyn near the Manhattan Bridge extrance.  Note:  All photos shot so far for this blog is from the photography of docjayva.

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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