Not Cowboy Spurs but Sheepshead Bay Race Track Spur

I came across a track map drawn by B.Linder and published in the New York Division Bulletin on page 2, in their July 2003 edition (Vol. 46, No 7) showing the Sheepshead Bay Race Track Spur.  Many Brooklynites and those who are interested in rapid transit and rapid transit history do not know about this spur.  Up to around ten years ago, a passenger in our present day "B" or "Q" trains would look out of a north bound train to Manhattan in an easterly direction just south of the Neck Road station and they would see a curved wall at surface level.  This curved wall was destroyed to make way for modern housing and is probably all that remained of this spur.  According to the map, the sidings were removed between January and March, 1929.  I believe that this spur may have been under wire at this time as was the main line.  In short, the development of rapid transit in Brooklyn could be generally explained as follows:

1. Steam Railroad on the surface (19th Century) Examples:  Culver, West End, Brighton Lines
2. Steam Railroad on elevated line in business areas (Late 19th Century), Examples, 3rd Avenue and 5th Avenue Elevateds in Brooklyn and perhaps the Myrtle and Broadway Els as well.
3. Steam Railroad on elevated line extended to suburban areas such as the Coney Island Area via the above right of ways. (Examples:  Culver, West End and Brighton Lines)
4. Electrification of the the Elevated Lines and trolley wiring of their extentions on the surface (1890's to early 1900's).  Trolley wire strung on Gravesend Avenue, Brighton Line Right of Way, New Utrecht Avenue (West End Line).  Train cars had trolley poles and third rail shoes.
5. Construction of the more modern elevateds with third rail and equipping private right of ways with grade separation and third rail power. (Around 1914:  Modern Sea Beach, Brighton Line, Culver Line and so on.
6. Running modern subway equipment on new elevated structure and private right of ways such as the Sea Beach Line and Brighton Line using third rail power.
7. Former right of way under new elevated structures retained trolley wire and tracks and was served by streetcar type of service at ground level. (Example, around after 1916, such as the Gravesend Avenue (McDonald Avenue Trolley), West End Trolley under the West End El on New Utrecht Avenue).

8. Abandonment of streetcar service under elevated structures.  (For example, West End Trolley died in 1947, McDonald Trolley died in 1956.
9. Abandonment of older elevated structures, such as the 3rd and 5 th Avenue Elevateds, Fulton Street Line, Lexington Avenue El (1940's to 1950).  Section of the Culver El abandoned in 1975.

It is possible that for a short period of time, dual mode service (trolley pole and third rail shoes) was operated at the eastern end of the Jamaica Elevated and the Metropolitan Avenue Line, but I am not sure.

According to the material I presented, logic would say that this Sheepshead Bay Race Track spur was operated under trolley wire because the Brighton Line line was not redesigned for third rail operation until after 1912.  Although not shown on the above diagram, there were two easterly tracks on the embankment  that was stream railroad operated by the Long Island Railroad.  Perhaps this spur was served by Long Island Railroad Stream trains?  But I am not sure.

Note:  The Neck Road station is presently on an embankment and probably was also prior to 1912.

Imagine a race track on Ocean Avenue?

More about this to follow:
Tramway Null(0)

What a difference 88 years make!

In the reworked ARCGIS map below, I added an aerial photograph from 1924 showing the Canarsie Depot and the Hegeman Avenue Private Right of Way.  In the aerial shot, you can see the path of the PRW and it should be contrasted to the line drawing by Bernard Linder.  When we say that we want to reinstate streetcars for the sake of the environment and pehaps as a hedge against Peak Oil, I came to the conclusion that the route of any reinstated streetcar line or light rail line cannot be exactly the same as in the past.  Much of the area shown in the aerial photograph are now covered by multi-story housing developments and hospitals.  Where will the depot and repair facilities of a reinstated streetcar line be located?  It will probably result in a great deal of opposition by people who do not want anything " not in my back yard ".  In the end of the 19th Century, the area shown in the photograph was mainly vacant land and farms and there was no opposition to the new techology of electric streetcars.

Tramway Null(0)

Thank you, Bernard Linder and ERA for your track maps! Church Avenue Line 1923-56

In this blog, I will be using a wonderful source. The New York Division  " Bulletin " of the Electric Railroader's Association produced in the 1970's streetcar trackage maps of almost all of the Brooklyn Trolley Lines.  I have many such maps.  These pen and ink drawing were drawn by Bernard Linder in connection with historical data provided by Edward B. Watson.  The first line that I will study is the Church Avenue Line and the data comes from the August 1979 (Vol 22 Number 8) and October 1977 (Vol 20 Number 5) of the New York Division Bulletin.  These pen drawings provide such much historical information that I believe is not available anyplace else.    The pictures show here come from Dave's Rail Pix and I all can I say that they provide so much to the analysis.http://www.davesrailpix.com/nyc/bqt.htm

Location of the PRW at the east end of the Church Avenue Trolley

Please find below the location of the Private Right of way that existed at the east end of the Church Avenue Trolley. This map was drawn by B. Linder and is found on Page 6 of the New York Division ERA Bulletin of August, 1979. For the information provided by the source above, it seems that the PRW was no longer used in 1928 and that the Hegeman Avenue street trackage was used instead. Also, the loop at Hegeman Aven;ue and Chester Street opened in 1938 so that single ended cars could be placed on the Church Avenue Line. PCC cars started to run on Church on February 11, 1951 probably as other streetcar lines were abandoned at that time. http://gis.nyc.gov/doitt/nycitymap/?z=8&p=1009627,178242&c=GIS1924&s=a:100,HEGEMAN+AVENUE,BROOKLYN It would be interesting to see what this private right of way looked like over the years. Copy the address above to your browser and see if you could hook up with the City of New York Department of Planning. It should bring you to a map centered at 100 Hegeman Avenue which is near the location of the PRW. See if you can bring up aerial photographs of the spot from 1924, 1951 and so on. As the years go by, the shadow of the PRW disappears. See the footprint of buildings today in the area. Tramway Null(0)