BusTalk

[NEW YORK OMNIBUS 2629]

Thee two photos depict the complex trackage and related infrastructure just outside the massive BMT station at Sands St.; note how, at this location, B&QT streetcars ran on the same level.

Also, notice the heavy latticed steelwork overhead for the trolley wires.

Today, not a solitary trace remains of this once massive and complex transportation facility in Brooklyn......

https://www.nycsubway.org/perl/show?113235 *

https://www.nycsubway.org/perl/show?116186

(courtesy: nycubway.org)

*Note the B&QT convertible on the right.

[NEW YORK OMNIBUS 2629]

The veteran convertible El cars were soon to be retired when this nostalgic view was snapped at Navy St. (Myrtle Avenue line) in 1958.

Note that the lead car does not have any side panels removed, as do the trailing cars.

Also, check out the Old Look under the El, and those cool 1950's autos!

The convertible El cars would soon be replaced by the "Q" cars, which, until fairly recently, were operating on the 3rd Avenue El, after replacing the old IRT "Composites".

The "Q" cars had the distinction of being the only BMT rolling stock to ever operate on an INTERBOROUGH elevated line......

hhtps://www.nycsubway.org/perl/show?117125

(courtesy: nycsubway.org)

[NEW YORK OMNIBUS 2629]

Speaking of the famed "Q"-types, here's a photo of a "Q"-type train on the Astoria line......

http://www.nycsubway.org/perl/show?26341

(courtesy: nycsubway.org)

[NEW YORK OMNIBUS 2629]

This wonderful late 1940's scene, depicting Queensboro Plaza, is sure to quicken the pulse of any "old school" transit buff; here, one atop the other, are two trains of "Q" cars, with a QB Ry streetcar down below (look CLOSELY in the background, and you can just glimpse an Old Look!)

https://www.nycsubway.org/perl/show?75913

(courtesy: nycsubway.org)

[NEW YORK OMNIBUS 2629]

Here's an early photo (circa-1941) showing a two-car Dyre Avenue (gate car) shuttle train, north of E. 180th; note that a portion of th old NYW&B catenary remains intact.

Early on, the NYW&B catenary was retained, against the far-fetched return of "WESTCHESTER" express service; by WW2, what remained of the NYW&B infrastructure, with few exceptions, vanished during the WW2 scrap metal drives.......

https://www.nycsubway.org/perl/show?42095

(courtesy: nycsubway.org)

[NEW YORK OMNIBUS 2629]

Circaa-1950, we see a two-car Dyre Avenue shuttle train at the Boston Post Road bridge*; by the time of this photo, "gate cars" were but a memory on the 3rd Avenue El.......

https://www.nycsubway.org/perl/show?31274

(courtesy: nycsubway.org)

*(Just below the train, you can just spot a pedestal support for the since-removed NYW&B catenary bridge)

[NEW YORK OMNIBUS 2629]

This 1942 photo shows a Dyre Avenue shuttle train at the Gun Hill Road station; note that the former NYW&B catenary is still in place, several years after the last NYW&B train made its final run......

https://www.nycsubway.org/perl/show?43166

(courtesy: nycsubway.org)

[NEW YORK OMNIBUS 2629]

Here's a modern-day view of the former NYW&B station at Gun Hill Road; remarkably, it still appears much as it did many decades ago, when the NYW&B trains were still running (it is easy to spot where the former NYW&B express tracks were once located).......

https://www.nycsubway.org/perl/show?138974

(courtesy: nycsubway.org)

[NEW YORK OMNIBUS 2629]

Here's an old, undated picture snapped at E. 180th St.; note that the Dyre Avenue shuttle is loading at one of the former-NYW&B platforms; the old NYW&B trackage has been removed.

On the right, we see IRT "mainline" passengers waiting for their trains, laid up IRT trains, and, off to the far right, IRT shop buildings.....

https://www.nycsubway.org/perl/show?97843

(courtesy: nycsubway.org)

[NEW YORK OMNIBUS 2629]

This is a rare view of the interior of a refurbished INTERBOROUGH gate car (#1584) in 1941, now assigned to the Dyre Avenue shuttle (note, also, the nostalgic gallery of car cards!)

Note the metal destination plates in the window; the IRT used such old-fashioned sign plates on all of their prewar cars (subway and elevated) until they were retired.

In fact, it was not until the R-12's of 1948 that IRT cars were fully equipped with roller curtains (the 1938 WF cars only had small roller curtains at the car ends)......

https://www.nycsubway.org/perl/show?47722

(courtesy: nycubway.org)

[NEW YORK OMNIBUS 2629]

Here's a moody 1950's photo of a 1938 World's Fair IRT car on the TSQ-Grand Central shuttle; note how small the end roller sign is, especially when compared to the postwar SMEE fleet.

Interesting, too that "GRAND-CENTRAL" is hyphenated.....

https://www.nycsubway.org/perl/show?45874

(courtesy: nycsubway.org)

[NEW YORK OMNIBUS 2629]

Close-up of a "modern" side window sign* used on this WF Lo-V, after being assigned to the Bronx 3rd Avenue El........

https://www.nycsubway.org/perl/show?151337

(courtesy: nycsubway.org)

*Note, also, the car card for "RAT PATROL", then airing on WPIX-11! (1968)

[NEW YORK OMNIBUS 2629]

It's now 1971, and the last of the prewar IRT cars are now relegated to work service.

Here, a WF work motor (ex-#5674) is seen here in work train service, at E. 180th St. (note the hyphenated "NO-PASSENGERS" roller curtain); though many of these cars were still in work service as late as the 1970's, only one of these cars still survives today display.

On the left, there's a glimpse of the abandoned NYW&B platforms, as well as the old station house itself......

https://www.nycsubway.org/perl/show?7153

(courtesy: nycsubway.org)

[NEW YORK OMNIBUS 2629]

During their stint on the Bronx 3rd Avenue El, the 1938 World's Fair IRT cars* were intermixed with older, railroad-roof Lo-V's; this arrangement also carried over into the years that the cars ran in work service, though work trains made up only of WF cars were also commonplace......

https://www.nycsubway.org/perl/show?7148

(courtesy: nycsubway.org)

*I have a metal number plate from WF car #5698 in my archives today!)

** https://www.nycsubway.org/perl/show?8171

(the plate I have is one of the original ones from 1938)

[NEW YORK OMNIBUS 2629]

On this dreary day in 1971, we see a train of 1938 WF cars in work train service on the Dyre Avenue line, certainly not a route that these cars were associated with, back in the days when they were still in revenue service.

Here, the four-car train consists only of WF cars, and two flats........

https://www.nycsubway.org/perl/show?7154

(courtesy: nycsubway.org)