BusTalk

[NEW YORK OMNIBUS 2629]

Cyberider:

You are quite welcome; my pleasure!

Back in the heyday of the streetcars and the Els, the BB carried MORE rail traffic than ANY OTHER span in the world!

New subway connections to Brooklyn (IRT/BMT/IND) gradually undermined the elevated lines' popularity.

What IS strange is that, when the streetcars stopped crossing the BB in 1950, there were NO replacement buses over the span.

I've read that local politics at that time might have also played a role in keeping the buses (then operated by the New York City Board of Transportation) off the bridge.

Back in the 1920s, the Park Row Terminal was a bustling hubbub of activity at rush hours (Mom remembered the HUGE crowds taking the Els out to Coney Island during the summer months, as her own family did!)

The echoing station featured multiple change booths, banks of turnstiles, and a number of concessions..........

"NYO"

["TO ALL TRAINS"]

[NEW YORK OMNIBUS 2629]

After the Els stopped running across the BB in 1944, they were cut back to the "BRIDGE-JAY" station, which then became a terminal.

The last line to use this station was the Myrtle Avenue El, which closed in 1969.........

https://www.nycsubway.org/perl/show?6657

https://www.nycsubway.org/perl/show?96611

https://www.nycsubway.org/perl/show?113215

https://www.nycsubway.org/perl/show?113388

(courtesy: nycsubway.org)

["METROPOLITAN AvENUE"]

[NEW YORK OMNIBUS 2629]

Elevated streetcars at Coney Island.........

Until the Nortons Point line was converted in the late 1940s, the streetcars utilized elevated trackage to reach the busy Stillwell Avenue subway/el terminal.

Here, streetcar passengers could transfer directly to BMT trains on the same level.........

https://www.nycsubway.org/perl/show?58745

https://www.nycsubway.org/perl/show?141018

https://www.nycsubway.org/perl/show?141048

https://www.nycsubway.org/perl/show?141072

https://www.nycsubway.org/perl/show?141082

https://www.nycsubway.org/perl/show?7857

(courtesy: nycsubway.org)

["NORTONS POINT"]

[NEW YORK OMNIBUS 2629]

With the exception of the Nortons Point line, all other B&QT streetcar lines utilized street trackage in Coney Island.........

https://www.nycsubway.org/perl/show?94195

https://www.nycsubway.org/perl/show?94192

https://www.nycsubway.org/perl/show?141075

https://www.nycsubway.org/perl/show?141071

(courtesy: nycsubway.org)

["CONEY ISLAND"]

[NEW YORK OMNIBUS 2629]

This colorful circa-1920 postcard shows the (now-demolished) BRT/BMT Stillwell Avenue terminal at Coney Island.

Crowds of pleasure-seeking merrymakers jammed the subway and elevated trains for a day at the famed Coney Island and its legendary boardwalk.

The wooden El trains radiated out from Park Row, via the Brooklyn Bridge; the steel subway trains began their runs in Manhattan, and then snaked their way out to Stillwell Avenue..

This postcard depicts the Stillwell Avenue complex as my mother remembered it as a girl, back in the 1920s and early 1930s; she told me many interesting stories about riding the jam-packed, crowded-to-bursting El trains, the bustling hubbub at Stillwell Avenue, all of which I still recall today!

https://www.nycsubway.org/perl/show?116300

(courtesy: nycsubway.org)

["SUBWAY AND ELEVATED TRAINS TO MANHATTAN"]

[NEW YORK OMNIBUS 2629]

Prior to the opening of the original Stillwell Avenue terminal at Coney Island, the BRT's trains from Manhattan terminated at the old West End and Culver depots.

The West End Depot was located on the site of the original Stillwell Avenue terminal.

Both the Culver and West End depots were at ground level; originally, passengers boarded and debarked the elevated cars via steps; by 1915, with new steel subway trains ("A-B Standards") entering service, new high-level platforms and third rail was installed.

The El trains, on surface trackage, utilized trolley wire..........

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Culver_Depot

["BROOKLYN RAPID TRANSIT"]

[NEW YORK OMNIBUS 2629]

This rare pre-WW1 photo, though taken at the BRT's Canarsie yard, duplicates the BRT's yard at the Culver Depot in Coney Island; note that the El trains are using overhead wires..........

https://www.nycsubway.org/perl/show?117053

(courtesy: nycsubway.org)

["ROCKAWAY P'KWAY"]

[NEW YORK OMNIBUS 2629]

Interestingly, when the BRT's new "A-B Standards" began arriving in 1915, the new Sea Beach line (to Coney Island) had not yet opened for revenue service, and third rail had not yet been fully installed.

The new cars used in test service were temporarily equipped with trolley poles, as can be seen here, for operating over sections of the new line where the third rail had not yet been installed............

https://www.nycsubway.org/perl/show?45950

(courtesy: nycsubway.org)

["2054"]

[NEW YORK OMNIBUS 2629]

Prior to the introduction of the new steel "Standard" sunway cars, all BRT rapid transit service to Coney Island (and elsewhere) was provided by open platform El caes.

By far the most popular during the summer months were the famed "1300" series convertibles.

Like their streetcar cousins, their side panels were removed during the summer months, resulting in a delightful "open air" ride!

(Mom remembered riding these interesting cars out to Coney Island, as a girl!)

These charming, antiquated relics were not retired until 1958, running on the Myrtle Avenue El.....

https://www.nycsubway.org/perl/show?112537

https://www.nycsubway.org/perl/show?113359

https://www.nycsubway.org/perl/show?141858

https://www.nycsubway.org/perl/show?126739

https://www.nycsubway.org/perl/show?131137

https://www.nycsubway.org/perl/show?26436

(courtesy: nycsubway.org)

["BROADWAY FERRY"]

["EXPRESS"]

[NEW YORK OMNIBUS 2629]

Back in the day, convertible streetcars and elevated cars were an integral part of everyday life in Brooklyn, during the summer months.......

https://www.nycsubway.org/perl/show?6617

https://www.nycsubway.org/perl/show?117663

https://www.nycsubway.org/perl/show?117610

https://www.nycsubway.org/perl/show?140881

(courtesy: nycsubway.org)

["DE KALB AV"]

[Cyberider]

NYO,

All very interesting. Getting back to the BB and not even running replacement buses over it, do you think it was because none were needed due to all the alternative routes or was there some concern about the carrying capacity of the bridge? Is there a weight limitation for trucks using the bridge today?

Also, I don't remember seeing a photo of a BMT Standard with trolley poles before. Interesting! Those were certainly distinctive looking cars. Of course, so were the convertible cars. Must have been quite a place to "run around" in back in the day.

Sounds like your Mom had some interest in it herself. Maybe you got some of your interest genetically as well as from all of her travels.

[NEW YORK OMNIBUS 2629]

Cyberider:

Glad you enjoyed the photos!

There is a BMT "Standard" up at the Shore Line Trolley Museum in East Haven, Connecticut; this incredible museum rosters a number of ex-NYC area rapid transit cars (IRT/BMT/IND/H&M)

These cars are (for obvious reasons!) equippped with trolley poles, to enable them to operate over the Museum's trackage!

Interestingly, a number of retired wooden BMT El cars retained trolley poles in later years, when they were being used as "work motors.......

"NYO"

["BMT LINES"]

[NEW YORK OMNIBUS 2629]

Cyberider:

Here are a few photos of retired BMT El cars (using trolley poles) in their later years, serving as "work motors"........

https://www.nycsubway.org/perl/show?112579

https://www.nycsubway.org/perl/show?26448

https://www.nycsubway.org/perl/show?116137

https://www.nycsubway.org/perl/show?113262

(courtesy: nycsubnway.org)

["NEW YORK CITY TRANSIT SYSTEM"]

[NEW YORK OMNIBUS 2629]

In this classic c-1915 view, we see a proud, dapper group of trainmen posing with a train of BRT gate cars at the Canarsie yard (Rockaway Parkway)

This was before the arrival of the "Standards" and third rail..........

https://www.nycsubway.org/perl/show?141879

(courtesy: nycsubway.org)

["CANARSIE"]

[NEW YORK OMNIBUS 2629]

Well into the 1950s, the BMT's extensive Fresh Pond yards was host to a large number of elevated gate cars (note, also, CLARK-built "Bluebird", which was retired in the mid-1950s.

The MTA still uses this yard today for "J" and "M" trains (car storage only, no repair facilities).......

https://www.nycsubway.org/perl/show?6674 (in this classic, nostalgic view, we also see new 1955 "R-16s" [with porthole windows on the storm doors], a "Bluebird", and a glimpse of a BUDD-built "Zephyr")

https://www.nycsubway.org/perl/show?113221

https://www.nycsubway.org/perl/show?75645

https://www.nycsubway.org/perl/show?75646

(courtesy: nycsubway.org)

["NASSAU ST. L'C'L"]