Old New York

Thank you so much!

Peter

"Photos 5 and 6 are from about 1953-54 or so. There is a vehicle from that period in the street. We know its before 1958 since the sign board in the stadium is advertising a Giants Night game, Giants vs the Phillies. I wonder who won."

5/24/1955 Tuesday night game vs. Philadelphia.

Phillies 6 - Giants 2

http://www.baseball-reference....I/PHI195505240.shtml

They didn't play on Monday 5/23 (remember when baseball teams had Monday's off regularly and the Cincinnate Reds started every season.)  That picture may have been taken on 5/23. 

"The End of the El" - 1955

The Crosstown car #61 route continued as a trolley on Manhattan ave a bit longer after the trolley buses came. Trolley Buses were used on the Graham ave line, The Lorimer street Line which ran up Nassau Ave in Greenpoint, and the Tompkins ave line which went from Bridge Plaza down to Ebbets Field.The trolley buses went into service in 1949.  When the Pulaski Bridge replaced the Manhattan ave double bascule, Buses were used to cross that Bridge to go to Long Island City. The Graham ave trolley bus did not cross the Brooklyn Bridge as the predecessor trolleys did. 

Here is a Trolley Bus on the Lorimer street route. I believe this photo is at Nassau Ave and Manhattan ave.

Charlies photos are all very interesting. The first photo is of the Brooklyn side of the Brooklyn Bridge. It is probably from about 1905 as the Brookly Elevated lines are electrified. Location is about Sands street. Motorized traffic across the span is non-existent. The BRT ran its elevated trains to Coney island and Brighton Beach via the Culver , Fifth Ave and Franklin ave lines . Trains to east New york ran via the Fulton street El and out to Richmond Hill and Ridgewood via the Lexington ave El and the Myrtle ave El.

The second Photo is at Cortlandt street and West street , where the World Trade Center is located. Cortlandt street was known as " Radio Row" home to Leonard radio, arrow Electronics and Blan the Radio Man. That was well after this photo was taken. Looking up the center is the Cortlandt street station of the 9th ave El. The building just to the left and behind the station is 30 Church street which was in The Hudson Terminal Complex , the original station in downtown Manhattan for the Hudson Tubes or todays PATH . The tallest building in the photo behind the el and just to the right is the Singer Building. It was the Worlds Tallest Building in 1908-9. Down in the foreground on the right, we can see a sign for the Pennsylvania Railroad, The lehigh Valley railroad and the New York Susquehanna and Western. This was the terminal for the Pennsylvania's railroad's ferry that ran over to its Exchange Place terminal in Jersey City.

In Photo 3 we are on the Manhattan side of the Brooklyn Bridge. The El Train might be a Culver train heading to Coney Island. The BRT's Park Row Train shed is in the background. Early photo, the El is electrified but the Municipal building is not yet in place.

The 4th Photo shows us the then new Times Building.several theaters in the photo including the Astor Theater and across the street , the Astor hotel. I am thinking that the photographer was probably right about at todays W 46th street where the TKTS booth is today.

Thanks for posting these Charlie.

How about some Fulton Street El in Brooklyn? This line served downtown Brooklyn and Manhattan , went east through the atlantic Avenue complex and east to Lefferts ave.We aredowntown Brooklyn near Borough Hall

At the intersection of Fulton Street and Flatbush ave, The Fidfth Ave El passed under the Fulton Street line. The Fox Theathre is just to the right on Flatbush ave.

We are out at East New York now. The Fulton Train, C types has just left Atlantic ave and is heading east to Lefferts Blvd. The Carnarsie line is in the Foreground.

Herre we have a train of C Types somewhere in Brooklyn on the Fulton Street line.

I only have this one picture to offer to this wonderful collection of images. This photograph is from around 1900.

There was quite a system of Trolleys operated in the Borough of Queens. Many lines were part of the Brooklyn and Queens Transit company which was part of the BMT. These lines began in Brooklyn and ran out into the Borough of Queens. There were other companies which ran to Astoria, Flushing and Jamaica. The latter route ran along Queens Boulevard in what is today the roads median as it makes its way from Long Island City through elmhurst, rego park, kew gardens and reaching Jamaica avenue. Heres a shot of one of those cars running on the Boulevard out to Jamaica Ave.

The Last Trolley line to Run in New York City was the Steinway Transit companies Queensboro Bridge line . In 1957, its route ran from Queensboro Plaza over the Queensboro Bridge stopping at Welfare (now Roosevelt) island and into an Underground station at the Manhattan End, 59th street and second ave.

One of the cars at Queensboro Plaza getting ready to tun West.

At the Manhattan Terminal

Heres the Kiosk on the Manhattan end. The trolley and terminal are long gone but the entrance exit Kiosk survives

Here is ashot of Sand Street terminal

The green hornet

This is where Trainworld is now

Brightliners at Mott Haven

Ben....this thread that you started in absolutely one of the best ever here on the OGR forum!  To all of you that keep posting these fantastic pictures...thanks so very much.  I am really enjoying this!!

Alan

Ben, that first picture is a classic, gives me an idea for the layout.

Jack

The Sands Street Terminal began operations in 1888 and was closed in 1944. When the Brooklyn Bridge opened,Brooklyn Els provided access to lower Manhattan using the Bridge via the Sands Street terminal. The Brooklyn Els were organized into a single system under the aegis of the BRT or Brooklyn Rapid Transit. In Bens Photo , the tracks in the foreground served the Fulton Street and Brighton Line trains which terminated at Fulton Ferry in Brooklyn. Behind these tracks was a set of tracks and platforms that served all services which operated into Park Row in Manhattan. Thesse included trains from all the BRT el lines except the Jamaica line. Lines included Myrtle Ave, Lexington, Ave 5th Ave , West End line Seabeach line  and Culver lines. Trains which did not go to Park Row continued on Adams street to connect with the upper level loops at sand Street. Trolleys which went to Park Row also went through  the main level . When the station closed in 1944 only the Myrtle Ave and Lexington Ave Els were running to Park Row.

Here is a track diagram that shows the operation through and into the terminal for all lines that used it

Another for the modeler of the track arrangement at Sands Street.

an Aerial view that show the various els in the area and how they connected with Sands Street.

Bens shot of the upper level interior is most interesting. I dont think I have seen that before . The cars in the station are a Fulton street train made up of BMT C types. This was the BMT's first experiment with an articulated subway train set. These cars lasted and worked the Fulton Street line until the end when the IND Rockaway line took over the El section in Queens.

The BMT did a lot of work with Lightweight articulated train sets of whuch the Green Hornet was one. They were built in the 1930s. The design built in quantity was 5 car set called the Multi's . They worked the Myrtle Ave Line North of Broadway, The Canarsie line and the Fulton Street el in Queens. They were very art deco and sadly none were preserved.

Thanks for the trackplans  Seems like a kluge doesn't it

Great photos and track plans.  As a native New Yorker, I really enjoy seeing these photos and being able to compare how the city has changed over the years.  It's amazing.  Thank you.

Kluge? Yes maybe in appearance . It seems however a clever use of the space with the loops for Brooklyn turnarounds over the through to Park Row tracks . The loops had side and center platforms to reduce dwell time . Any line operating either on the Myrtle avenue ROW or the Fulton ROW could terminate in Brooklyn or go to Manhattan via different platforms thus minimizing congestion and train delays perhaps. One could walk down from a loop platform and continue to Manhattan by catching a Manhattan bound train on the lower level. Seems like that might have increased utilization of trains operating on this system .

Be interesting to see how they actually operated this system over the years. Originally, everything went through there but by 1920 with the 4th ave subway and Dekalb ave complex in service, Sea Beach, West End and Brighton Services could now use the Manhattan Bridge. The Montague street tunnel and later the Nassau loop took the Culver and local Brooklyn services out of Sand Street. By That time late 1930s only the Fulton St, Myrtle Lexington and 5th ave Els were using sand Street. I believe a Myrtle Ave Train may have been the last train to use the Sand Street facility in 1944 when it was closed.

Clearing snow

And another GCT pic

There was Baseball in Brooklyn. Dodgers played at Ebbets Field to the Flatbush Faithful. We are in 1956, the season following the Dodgers first ever 1955 World Series Championship. The pastor in our school was so excited that he closed the school and sent all of the kids home to celebrate.

We took the trolleys to see " Them Bums". Here's PCC 1000, the first one in Board of Transportation colors

This is the Lorimer Street car, a Peter Witt that did not make it to the New Colors,

When you were in the stadium, you noticed the hand operated scoreboard. No lights here , just the number boards handled by the folks in back of the Board.

and what do we have here, riding on the rear bumper because you didn't have the fare, a time honored tradition that made it into the trolley bus era. I Think I see Ben on the back of that bus in this photo.

LOL  We always hitched the buses.  Then they came out with those fishbowls that had the anti-hitching brackets over the bumper.   They were sloped so you couldn't get a foothold

Williamsburg Bridge

Fulton El with a Forney

The Bluebirds

Sands Street

Well Ben you have done it again. Just great photos from a time many years before. On the Williamsburg Bridge we are over the East river, not quite midspan . Weare looking toward Manhattan and it looks like its a weekday morning with lots of Rush hour traffic stopped on the bridge. Lot of pre-1950 cars there including a Desoto limo style taxi. The truck in the right lane is loaded to the hilt with packages on the tailgate outside the truck box area.(Try and do that today).

The BMT train could be a Broadway local or a Myrtle ave train on the way to Marcy Avenue. The street car is an 8000 series B&QT Peter Witt heading for Essex/Delancy street terminal having stopped at Bedford ave station on the bridge. It might be a Raplh Ave car and it is still in the B&QT colors not the Board of Transportation green and silver.

On the Fulton street El, This is turn of the century stuff. That train is near Franklin Ave and Bedford Ave at the start of Bedford Stuyvesant Neighborhood. This looks to be a real fashionable place to live judging by the business on Fulton street in hhe phoro.

The Bluebirds are on a Fulton Street train heading into Sands street and then on to Park Row in Manhattan after having crossed the Brooklyn Bridge.The catenary structure next to the train is for the trolley power wire for cars that went through Sand Street and over the Brooklyn Bridge to Park Row. This photo is about the same location as the next photo but at later point in time. The track plan has been simplified some what.

In the Last Photo, I believe that is a train that has come from the fifth ave el. It might be a Culver or possibly a West End train operating to /From Park Row. There is a Fulton st train following . Looks like C Types in that train.I think this one might be from the1920's or so. The C Types would have been rather recent at this point.

Ok Crossing the river. The Erie railroad was one of the many lines having a New York Terminal on the New Jersey side of the Hudson. Here we have a shot of a pair of Erie commuter trains arriving at the old Pavonia ave terminal. The PA's are new but the Stillwells have been around for a while.

Folks going to New York City or Downtown Manhattan took the Erie Ferry from Pavonia Avenue to DeBrosses street. Here we see the Erie's Youngstown making the crossing.

The Central of New Jersey had a Ferry at Liberty Street which went accross the Hudson to their terminal in Jersey City. This is the CNJ's Elizabeth 1 over on the Jersey side. It is an older steam powered ferry. The CNJ replaced this boat later on with the Elizabeth II. They were like Cunard Line in this respect with two Elizabeths.

s

When traveling across the Hudson, it would be a common site to see RR carfloats crossing the river on the way to/from a freight terminal . Here we have a pair of PRR tugs and  a pair of floats .

It's amusing to look at these old pictures and see all the people in "formal" wear.  Virtually every guy has a business suit, contrast that with what you see nowadays on a train platform.

John...and the ladies have hats and white gloves!

And high heels!  Think about seeing that on the platform nowadays.

LOL  Look at these people getting off the Staten Island Ferry in 1901  Have to get my tophat

Here are a couple more from Staten Island 

This is the Staten Island ferry in the background with the SIRT/B&O yard beneath

This is a track cleaning car that derailed in a snowstorm 1960

Ben Great Photo.

It tells a lot about the times. There are few women in the photo and they seem to be mostly unaccompanied . It must be late spring near summer as there are some straw hats among the derby's and top hats. Check out the policeman in front of the B&O office on the right.

Notice from the signage that you could send a telegram from this location. I think there may have been a post office here as well judging by what looks like a US Mail signage with the Baltimore and Ohio. Did the B&O ever operate passenger  trains to St George from New Jersey? Also on the left there seems to be a waiting room and ticketing for the Royal Blue line which probably was a coastal steamer line. I wonder where it went.

The ferry looks interesting. It seems to have an upper deck although the slip here does not have a movable bridge to allow passenger access . I am wondering if this was the ferry slips immediately west of the ferry terminal which was adjacent to the Elevated transit station for the 2nd ,3rd, 6th and 9th ave els.?

It seem the Royal Blue Line was the early B&O passenger service between NY & Washington.  An interesting read below.  According to this article a few east coast firsts.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Royal_Blue_(train)

Thanks Chris

Interesting about the Royal Blue Line being in fact the Baltimore and Ohio. So perhaps there was a ferry going over to the CNJ terminal from South Ferry around the turn of the century. I dont recall anything about B&O Passenger trains leaving from St George for the service to Washington, yet the company was selling tickets from this location in the photo.

I'm not sure that the picture is of St. George.  This link from Museum of the City of New York has this and 2 other pictures identified as being Whitehall Street.

http://collections.mcny.org/C.aspx?VP3=SearchResult_VPage&VBID=24UP1GGX0672

Also, in looking around I found an NY Times article about a 1903 Royal Blue Lines crash.

Chris

I think we agree. I was thinking the photo was Whitehall street but with the B&O ticket office there , I was surmising that there was a ferry from this point at Whitehall to Jersey City where the trains arrived and departed. The SIRT in Staten Island was a B&O line but I don't think they ever had any long distance passenger trains from there.

I believe that just east of this slip were additional slips and these were in front of the Elevated station.

Gents... What a great way to start my Sunday.... Better the the Sunday paper.

thanks!

This thread is the OGR Forum at its best!

Great Pictures. Thanks for sharing. Its neat to look back at old pictures and see how things used to be..