A Tale of Two Cities: New York and Chicago

Two big cities in the United States, namely New York and Chicago have much in common.  I would like to briefly compare them, in a non empirical way some interesting thoughts regarding their elevated, streetcar and trolleybus systems because recently,  in fact a few days ago, was what I believe, was the 57th anniversary of end of streetcar service on the number 22-Clark Wentworth route in Chicago.  Below you will see a "Green Hornet" PCC streetcar in Chicago.  This style of PCC had three sets of doors on its' side.

  Informally and not exactly, I would like to compare Chicago and New York rapid transit systems, for New York and up to recently, New York and Chicago were respectively our first and second cities in terms of population.

  Like New York, Chicago started its' elevated system in 1888 and opened it for passengers in 1892?
Both New York and Chicago elevated were mainly steam locomotive operated in the 19th Century.  In New York, the elevated system was started earlier (Ninth Avenue) but it used a system of cables.
While the elevated system still exists in the Central Business District of Chicago, and it is much beloved and has Landmark status, New York removed its' last elevated from the Central Business District in 1955.  Like New York. the present and original elevated system had many parts abandoned.  Many sections in Chicago were abandoned in the 1950's while in New York, 1940 was a big year for loss.  Various sections of els in Brooklyn and Manhattan were destroyed during the 40's and 50's, including the Culver Shuttle in 1975 and the outer section of the Jamaica Line.

  Regarding streetcars, in both cities streetcars were a big part of life.  However, New York lost its streetcars in the Central Business District in 1947 and all service ended in 1956 while Chicago kept service going for two more years in the Central Business District until June 21, 1958.
 Regarding trolleybuses, the first lines seem to have entered service in 1930 and 1931 in Chicago, around the time that experiments started on the Cortelyou Road line in Brooklyn.  I think Chicago had about 20 different trolleybus lines operating.    A few of them started late in life in the 1950's such as the Kedzie-California line and serveral others in 1951.  Unlike New York (really Brooklyn), trolleybus service lasted in Chicago until 3/24/1973.  Who knows, if they were kept alive for a few more months, their value would have been realized during the various oil crises during the 1970's and perhaps new equipment would have been ordered.  The lines in Brooklyn were fewer and most service lasted from 1948 to either 1959 or 1960.

Both cities had PCC cars but Brooklyn's fleet was much smaller than Chicago's and when abandonment came, some of the PCC streetcars were converted to PCC Subway-Elevated cars in Chicago.

  In my blog, I discuss at time various trolley artifacts, such as poles and signs.   There is a website that is called "Forgotten Chicago" that deals with similar subjects that are found in "Forgotten New York".  "Forgotten Chicago" has a nice section dealing with abandoned streetcar and trolleybus turnaround loops in the city.  See chapter on the subject by Jacob Kaplan.

The pole and sign is from the above website discussing trolleybus line 78-Montrose.

The above photo was taken from "Forgotten Chicago" and it shows a trolley support pole at a former trolleybus turnaround loop with almost an intact sign.  The sign used to say "Watch Out for Buses" since the turn around loop was off street.  It is from one of the ends of the Montrose line

Another sign is shown from the other end of the Montrose trolleybus line.

It is interesting, that a similar sign, and also illuminated, was also found on McDonald Avenue adjacent to the southbound track just as the IND subway rises above street level.  The photo below comes from Dave's New Rail Pix and it is an undated Joe Testagrose shot.  Notice the sign above the front of the PCC car.  You are facing north on McDonald Avenue.  Cortelyou Road is to the photographers back.  Notice that the catwalk on the subway structure is not finished,   This is prior to the start of service to Coney Island by the IND subway in 1954.  The picture was taken between 1951 and 1954.  Below in the Google Map shot, the frame of the sign is covered now in ivory?

More to continue in the future, hopefully on this topic.

In the picture below, you see why the sign is necessary.  There is a sharp left hand curve.  While it is not known what the sign said, it probably said "SLOW".  Picture is from the Frank Pfuhler collection.

 A Church-McDonald or a McDonald PCC car that is southbound is just to enter a left curve under the IND incline just north of Cortelyou Road in Brooklyn.  This PCC car in a few seconds will meet up with South Brooklyn Railway tracks under the mainline of the Culver El.

  In this Google Map shot of the area, you can see that the frame of the former sign is covered in Ivory?  You are looking south towards the Ditmas Avenue Station of the IND F train.  The track near the sign is in service and is the southbound track to Kings Highway or Coney Island.  It looks like this Google shot is from about a year ago.  I  forgot to look at the date.

  In the future I will discuss which city is more anti-trolley:  Chicago or New York.

Hey Abbott; Get Rid of Streetcars Now!

  An icon mayor of the City of New York during the Depression was  Fiorello H. LaGuardia (1882 -1947) who was mayor for three terms from 1934-1945.  A lawyer and a speaker of many languages, Fiorello, or as he was known as the "Little Flower", was  an advocate for clean government, immigrant and worker's rights.  However, he had a dislike for elevated lines and street railways.  He used to go to public housing that he helped establish and speak in community rooms yelling and banging on the table:  " Get rid of the slot machines now!" and  " Get rid of the streetcars now! ".  While everyone agreed that the slot machines had to go because these machines created all sorts of social problems such as gambling, why did the streetcars have to go?  In the 30's, motor buses were not completely developed yet.  They were smelly, had lower capacity than streetcars, and literally "shook themselves to death ".  Streetcars in Brooklyn and elsewhere were large, lasted forever and really handled the crowds.  I read someplace that LaGuardia in his youth was a lover of horse drawn fire engines and he witnessed a streetcar crashing into a fire engine. So it must have been the streetcars fault!.  By the end of his final term in 1945, only a few lines streetcar lines remained in Manhattan.  Most of the traditional els were gone and the streetcar decline in Brooklyn started.

  On June 1, 1940, the City of New York took over the privately run BMT and IRT subway lines and the BMT streetcars in Brooklyn.  On that same day, many elevated lines were abandoned. In the picture below, you see LaGuardia operating what appears to be a IND train with R1-9 cars on that important date.  It is ironic that the train that he was operating was a city owned Independent Subway train that was always city operated.  Does not the mayor look like Lou Costello?

Below is a picture of LaGuardia with Abbott and Costello, also a much beloved comedy team who made many films together.  This picture is from a short that they filmed together.

Mayor LaGuardia at his desk (below) and Abbott and Costello together.

  NOTE, Subject matter was brought up today for the first time in "Subchat".  The June 1st anniversary of "Unification" was not too long ago and thus it is a good subject.

LaGuardia was at the dedication of PCC streetcar operation in Brooklyn in 1936?

Typology Near the Municipal Building

  In an article about the Chambers Street Station in the New York Division of the Electric Railroaders Association by David E. Rogoff ( Vol. 2, No. 3, July-August 1959, p. 5 ),  Rogoff  wrote that work on the Municipal Building began on January 27, 1907.  Soon construction crews ran into problems with the soil.   The site of the future Municipal Building was the site of a "Little Collect Pond" that was 60 feet deep and surrounded by a 100 foot hill.  This hill was leveled off between 1803 and 1811 but the bed of the pond remained and caused construction problems.  South of the site was a swamp and in order to construct a large office building, piers had to be sunk 130 feet below the street surface.  Let us see how a map  shows the typology of the area from surveys taken during early New York.  These features are shown on a map with a street grid of the late 19th Century.  A great resource is the University of Texas map room at Austin that has a great deal of "cool stuff ", on history and transportation from all over the  world.  This map was taken from their cool website.

Here is one map showing entire Manhattan Island.

 

The area around the Municipal Building is circled in red.  You can see the swamp area leading to the East River and what appears to be hill several blocks north of the site.  A closer look shows a small hill just one block north of City Hall.

  In the ARCGIS map above, I brought in a shape file of subway routes. It is not the most recent shape file.  I also added ADA station exits and entrances which has x and y coordinates.  The blue squares are the locations of the two stations in the area, namely Brooklyn Bridge and Chambers Street.  The Municipal Building is shaped like this "]" and notice that the J and Z routes run underneath it.  Several feet away, under Centre Street is the IRT Lexington Avenue Line.  It is interesting to note that there is no north entrance to the BMT Chambers Street Station in the Municipal Building, despite having a blue square at that location.  The north entrance was closed decades ago and a new passageway and entrance was built at Foley Square at Reade Street.  I also brought in the elevation in feet.  Though not clear, Park Row is in the back of the Municipal Building and it is depressed and it is not at the exact location when the Third Avenue El had a station over it.
The area is relatively flat except towards the south as you go towards the Brooklyn Bridge and the East River.

Having your Soup and Eatting it Too! Campbell's Soup and the Eighth Avenue

Hi Folks:

   This weekend, the New York City Transit Authority is running some vintage R1-9 equipment on the weekend "M" train, that now runs on weekends between Metropolitan Avenue Queens and Essex-Delancey Streets, the site of our abandoned trolley station at the foot of the Williamsburgh Bridge.    J. Caronetti posted a nice series of shots of old IND equipment on the line.  They are very good quality and are posted in subchat.  (subchat r17-6599)  Also posted is a undated advertising panel perhaps from 1948 for Campbell Soup showing  a drawing of an IND R-1-9 car.

The train is signed properly for Eight Avenue service to Washington Heights.  Just one thing, the drawing appears to lack a third rail. Nice bird, how did it get into the subway?  Thanks for posting.

More About the Municipal Building in Manhattan

  In the Google Map shot above, try to find the lamppost (green) and see a heavy set man in uniform entering the North Wing of the Municipal Building.  Notice at his feet the glass circular dots.  These are glass disks that provide natural light to the former north entrance to the Chambers Street Station (BMT).    That entrance has been closed and the space may be now used for the city archive.

Here is the same shot but taken further west from Centre Street.  Notice that the left section of the building is not an archive but it is occupied by the "City Store".

 

 

Here the Google shot is taken facing northeast towards Foley Square.  You see the north wing of the building and some of the famous court houses in the area.  The pointed white building toward the left side of the picture is the "Tombs" just north of Worth Street:  the location of the abandoned IRT Worth Street Station.  Foley Square and its surrounding buildings, courts and steps is the backdrop of many TV crime related programs such as (Crime Scene Investigation)?

The IRT Brooklyn Bridge Station is just below the street while the BMT Chambers Street Station, which was the last stop of the Culver Line and some other BMT subway routes at times is underneath the Municipal Building.

An unusual "D" Train route in the 1950's

In an interesting article about IND subway service in the late 1950's, an article written by Alex Friedlander, Arthur Lonto and Henry Raudenbush in the "Bulletin" of the New York Division of the Electric Railroaders' Association ( Vol II, No. 3, July-August 1959), p.3, point out an interesting fact that I forgot about after so many years.  In those years, most "D" trains ran from 205th Street in the Bronx to either Coney Island or Church Avenue ( on the present day "F" train, or Culver Line) in Brooklyn.  On Saturday's, some "D" trains operated to Kings Highway (and McDonald Avenue) .  What is more interesting is this route:  205th Street Bronx and express stops along the Concourse (AM southbound and PM northbound), express 125th Street to 59th Street, 7th Avenue,  all local stops on Sixth Avenue, and along Houston Street, York Street and to Jay Street, Brooklyn, then Hoyt-Schermerhorn Streets, Nostrand Avenue, Utica Avenue, Broadway-East New York and finally to Euclid Avenue.

This was not a reroute but  followed the following schedule:

Leave 205th Street:  7:23, 7:39, 7:55, 8:07 AM; also a 8:53 from 200 Street.

Leave Euclid Avenue:  3:08, 3:32, 3:47, 4:02 and 4:52 PM.  The train had 10 R1-9 cars and the markers were Green-White.  (  The first marker is on the motorman's side ).

 I remember being in such a train and we had to disembark at Jay Street for a Church Avenue bound "D" train.  The problem was this was in the afternoon and according to the above, the afternoon service was northbound only.  The signs were normal except where the destination was Coney Island or Bklyn- Church Avenue, the sign said ( I believe Fulton-Euclid Avenue).

Far Away from Home: Vancouver's Brill Trolleybuses.

  These eight Brill Trolleybuses are being lovely restored by a Mr. Wright 700 km to north
 east of Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.

Source:

Vancouver Trolley Bus Fleet Lives In B.C. Ghost Town

The Huffington Post B.C.  |  Posted: 05/22/2014 7:03 pm EDT  |  Updated: 05/22/2014 7:59 pm EDT

The small town is Sandon, BC.