Third Avenue Railway

Nate,

By the time I came along, West Farms was still a transit hub, but it was all buses. I recall a large building where buses were stored, but I'm not sure if it was previously used for trolleys or if it was what was left of the old Bronx Coliseum building.

Jim

Jim.

West Farms Carhouse was located alongside the White Plains Road Line. It was originaly owned by Union Railway. It was two buildings on two city blocks with Southern Boullevard on one side and Boston Road on the other just South of West Farms Square. The North building was the main shop with a sub station on the northwest end. The South building was a two story affair with a ramp and a transfer table on the upper level. The buildings were separated by a street. It was converted to a bus garage in 1948 for Surface Transit.

The Bronx Colosium was part of a Worlds Fair that was built there along with Starlight Amusment Park. This area was between the right of way of the NYW&B RR and the Bronx River. During WWII the US Army used the building for repair and storage of army vehicles. Surface Transit took over the facility after the war and used it for maintenance and storage. The building was so large that it was impossible to heat. The Transit Authority had major union troubles due to employee conditions in the winter because of that. That entire area was a major hub of trolley, bus, subway and railroad activity. The IRT had an elevated storage yard just North of 177th St. Station, the Bronx Park 180th st. Stub, East 180th St. Station and yard, NYW&B East 180th St. Station and Unionport yard, old car scrapping, new car deliveries and the WF Carbarn. There was also a connection from the IRT to the New Haven RR. What a nice place to go to if you were a railfan, so much action so much history. The Bronx was something else in those thrilling days of yesteryear.

Nate

Thanks, Nate. I must have passed those buildings many times without realizing.

I was just looking at the Google map views of the West Farms area. Wow, things have changed over the last 40 years!

The building I remember was on the east end of West Farms near where 177th comes off of Tremont. The Q-44 bus I took to high school at the Cardinal Hayes annex near St. Helena's my freshman year turned right there. Then it paralleled the Cross Bronx toward St. Raymond's Cemetery and the Whitestone Bridge approach where the school was located.

It was quite a trip, three bus transfers, from my home near 170th St and College Ave. Good thing it was only for one year until everyone went to the main building on the Concourse.

The bus ride along Boston Rd passed the infamous Charlotte St area which became the symbol of the "burning Bronx" of the late 70s and 80s. I'm not sure how close the destruction came to West Farms, but it did account for much of the urban renewal in the area in recent years.

Jim

Some photos from the bus era on Flickr here.

Thanks, Bill. Great photos.

That was the era I remember.

Jim

Your welcome, Jim. I remember riding an elevated train in 1959 down from the Bronx Zoo and passing a bus garage with red, blue and cream; and red and cream Surface Transportation buses.  The colors just stuck in my mind all these years, and I also had post cards to help me remember the colors.

That's what I remember too, Bill. Always red and cream for the Surface Transportation color schemes in the Bronx. Manhattan had the green and cream 5th Ave Coach buses.

Jim

Jim,

i recall surface transit busses on 167th St. Especially the 1100 series . They were in such bad shape that when they accelerated all the rear and side panels would open and close. The tires were so bald that there were X's carved in the rubber so they had some traction on the cobblestone hills. The one in the photo is a repainted which was. From the windows down. The one Red Color omitted the elaborate painted Cream colored stripes on the side. 

Do you remember the trolley station in the middle of the tunnel underneath the Concourse?. The staircases in the middle of the roadways were able to stand the many hits by autos not knowing wether to go straight or around them. The staircases took you upstairs to the IND station mezzanine. There were "Iron Lady" turnstiles there as well. I would walk that route going to Jr. High school at PS22, Jordan L Mott on College  and Morris Aves.  Your neck of the woods. The walk was so short it did not pay to take the bus. The school was new and shaped like an A. This kid live next to the firehouse and we would go there and he would come to his window and he would show us his Lionel Sante Fe engine. Wow was that beautiful. 

Nate

Nate,

I walked through that tunnel many times although it was all buses during my time. The covered portion was short, but it was a good way to avoid some raindrops when we had to walk over to the IRT on Jerome Ave in a storm. Of the three I used, 170th, 167th and 161st, I was trying to remember which had the central stairs. 170th had separate steps on the outside of each roadway, I believe.

We did miss some neat shops though taking that route such as the toy store on 170th west of the Concourse - plus seeing what was playing at the Luxor Theater near the Concourse. Once in a while we'd venture over your way to the Kent or the Loews on 167st.

Most all my friends from my College Ave block went to PS22. Through 8th grade, I went to the parochial school, Our Lady of Victory, on Webster at 171st. That was quite a walk each day along Clay Ave by Claremont Park. Even though OLV was only a block from the New Haven/Harlem tracks and I could watch trains at lunchtime, I would have preferred the shorter walk down Morris to Jordan L. Mott.

Jim