It has been 59 years since...

Hi Folks:


 Today is the 59th anniversary of the end of regular streetcar service in Brooklyn on October 31, 1956.  Yesterday was the 61st anniversary of the extension of IND "D" train service to Coney Island via the Culver Line.  These two events intersect spatially at the area of McDonald Avenue between Cortelyou and Ditmas Avenue.  When the Transit Authority pulled the plug on the Church Avenue Line on that date, McDonald Avenue streetcars and Church-McDonald lines also died.  Since there are a lot of electrical connections of overhead wires at this spot, the first trolleybus line in Brooklyn, namely the Cortelyou Road Line (B-23) also died.  Electric trolley bus service would last several more years in other parts of Brooklyn until July 27, 1960.  In the picture above, taken from Dave's Rail Pix, shows a southbound 50-McDonald streetcar on McDonald Avenue near the Church Avenue intersection.  The car is bound for Coney Island.  On the right of the car is the Greater New York Savings Bank and a US Post Office.    At the focal point is a hill that has Greenwood Cemetery on the left.  At the crest of the hill was an early trolley barn that was involved with the research of the PCC car in the 1930's.  Today the hill has a large transmitter for Bishop Ford High School.

I miss these forms of surface electric transportation deeply.  I think that if streetcars would return to Brooklyn, they would opt to be wireless using a new technology.  They will not be the same.  It is the wires and sparks that make trams and trolleybuses fun, in my humble opinion.  Also, I cannot document this, but I read that there were original plans to end Culver Line service between Ditmas Avenue and 9th Avenue on October 31, 1954.  Service would have been provided by diesel bus.  If this occurred, myself and others would not have had the joy to ride the Culver Line between 9th and Ditmas Avenue.  It was thought that rapid transit service was not needed between  these two points once the Independent "D" train was extended to Coney Island.  I believe they are very wrong and the area needs rapid transit today.

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:

Church Avenue Line 1923-56

The Church Avenue Line with its' sister, the McDonald Avenue Line died on October 31, 1956. On that same day, the Cortelyou Road trolleybus also died. The Church Avenue line was unique in that it had its own separate two track tunnel crossing Ocean Parkway. If we follow the model of last out first in, the Church Avenue Line would be a good candidate for revival. The question is, should the entire line be equipped with streetcars? Looking at the track diagrams, we see that the line ran over some private right of way trackage in the Sunset Park area between first and second avenues off 39 th Street. At the other end, a trolley loop at Bristol Street was also in a private right of way. The Church Avenue line today is a busy one, and I do not have the statistics at hand, but in 1989 there were plans that called for the conversion of this line to trolleybus (trackless trolley) along with the Bx-12 route in the Bronx. Of course, nothing ever came of these plans. In its' last days, the Church Avenue Trolley started at a loop at First Avenue and runs along a private right of way until Second Avenue, It curved slightly on Second Avenue and turned east on 39 th Street, going up a hill. Along 39 Street, there was in the past turnouts for the 3 rd Avenue Line, the Fifth Avenue Line, the 8th Avenue Line and yes, the West End Trolley at 39 th Street and New Utrecht Avenue. The West End Trolley was never replaced with a bus after the line died around 1948. At 39 th Street and 13 th Avenue, the line makes a sharp curve and runs east on 13 th Avenue to 37 Street. At this point, the lines crosses the South Brooklyn Railway trolley-freight tracks and makes a sharp curve east. At this point, I remember near the beginning of Church Avenue there was a stub track leading to the former Nassau Electric yards. More about this later. the line now enters Church Avenue and joins and crosses the McDonald Avenue Line. This was a complicated junction with many curves. The line goes underground for a short distance crossing Ocean Parkway. The line surfaces and crosses the Coney Island Avenue Line that died in 1955. The line continues and crosses Flatbush Avenue and crosses Rogers Avenue. At Rogers Avenue, there was what is called a "Wye" that allows for a single ended car, such as a PCC car to reverse directions without a loop. Nostrand Avenue and Utica Avenues Lines are crossed as well, There was a branch at East 98 th Street but I do not know what line this connected to. At Hegeman Avenue, there was a small PRW at the loop and there was a turnout to the Carnarsie Depot. In a future blog, I will show the approximate location of a much bigger PRW that ran from East 98 th Street to Rockaway Avenue. This private right of way was in operation until 1928 and it could be seen by aerial photographs of the area in 1924 and 1951. According to Edward B. Watson, a trolley historian, the Church Avenue Line used 11, 8, and presently 35 as its' route numbers. Over the years, many other trolley routes used the Church Avenue trackage to reach Coney Island or Sheepshead Bay.