KC
thanks for posting those great Photos. These images are of the Brooklyn Bath and West End Railroad. They date from about 1885 or so.
At the time of the Civil war, the city of Brooklyn's developed area did not go much further south than the area around Greenwood Cemetery which is just north of todays 36th street yard on the former BMT. The area we call Coney Island was starting to become a resort area . The West End's riginal predecessor road was the Brooklyn, Bath and Coney Island railroad which was chartered in 1862 . It was the first Steam railroad in Brooklyn at the time. These railroads were associated business wise with hotels which were being built in Coney Island. This one also had commutation service. Its original Northern Terminal was at 26th street and Fifth ave. On the 1880s the line reached Coney Island and and was also extended to the 39th street ferry where a boat connection to downtown Manhattan was available.
THe terminal we see in KC's first photo, I Think may be the original West End Terminal which was located at 36th street just west of the present 36th street yard. The rail car in Photo 2 was new in the 1880s and they had convertible sides so they were open air in the summer time. Tank Engines were the motive power of the day at that time as we see in the photo 3.
In searching a bit this morning, the following info was found which is interesting to the history of this company.
This photo is an image depicting the Resort Hotels. It refers to the Brooklyn Bath and Coney Island Railroad terminal and dates to 1879. The Sea Beach Hotel and railroad terminal is also shown.
Here is a photo of the terminal in Coney Island. It was to become the forerunner of the great Stillwell Ave terminal of the BMT that many of us remember from the 1950s.
I have added a map of the BRT system in Brooklyn dating to 1913 and it shows the routes of the consolidated Brooklyn steam railroads and elevateds . By now steam is gone from the BRT and Brooklyn itself with the exception of Steam locomotives used by the Long Island Railroad on the Bay Ridge Branch and its Manhattan Beach Line. This is the extent of the system at the time of the Dual Contracts which was the first great expansion of rapid transit in the city of New York in Brooklyn, Queens, Manhattan and the Bronx.
