City line to Lefferts blvd was built 1915 as a dual contracts extension. the extension was connected to the IND A train at 80st in April 1956. it then went underground over the new extension from Euclid ave with Grant ave station right after entering the new tunnel
Being this el was just a bridge shuttle in poor condition it was torn down but with no plan to replace it. In Boston the Washington st El ( Orange line) was in bad shape but they built the replacement corridor before they took down the el. nyc does things ass backwards
If I could go to the past, I would prefer to see New York these days with all its old buildings and elevated subways rather than see dinosaurs or pharaohs.
OMG, I can't believe I can watch movies of by far the most memorable fan trip of my life, the 1975 D-types-on-the-streets SBK excursion. The movie omits an important but far less interesting subsequent part, a run down 37th Street and McDonald Avenue under the Culver El and into Coney Island Yard, elicitng much gawking from bystanders in that more residential neighborhood. Ironically, that part had been advertised as the main attraction of the trio. The advertised itinerary was a trip to Astoria and back, followed by the McDonald Avenue section. This was intended to throw off freeloading motorcaders. The train didn't actually enter the Army Terminal. The building shown at 1:11:20 is the 2nd Naval Battalion Armory on First Avenue between 52nd Street and 51st Street, which was demolished a few years after this trip.
I have a kerosene 🏮 lantern that fell from a wooden gate car overhead, in 1955. It missed my father by a few feet when he was getting into his car on Myrtle and Washinton.
For the cost of constructing one section of that overly expensive 2nd Avenue Line, all the demolished ELs in Manhattan could be rebuilt, which change left over.
Good day, this is SENIOR VICE PRESIDENT of SUBWAY.. I would like to see as much footage regarding IRT in the BRONX .. we now only have one letter line assigned the D ( IND ) for my OFFICIALS to use and gain knowledge of how to utilize the ghost tracks
Once you go to Frordam plaza on the Harlem and Connecticut metro North railroad station. You will definitely see the remaining of the Thrid Avenue Elevated wall station structures and the Thrid Avenue Elevated entrance.
I lived a half a block from the Gun Hill Rd. station and remember "The Dinky" shuttle to a hun-eightieth St. It was a great day when the number 5 train gave us through service to downtown.
Spent time hitching on the trolley who had the pulley who had the light who had the door who had the window and in summer we wood hang on the screens onside of trolley if you missed the trolley we wood pull down the pulley and stop the trolley
In 1966 , as a teenager I worked part time at the corner of Bridge Street and Myrtle Avenue for a bookbinder.....we were on the second floor and the Jay Street station was right outside our window......
It's actually crazy how much more dense and tall the Bronx used to be. I went on street view for a lot of these areas and all that density is gone. They were demolished and turned into much shorter buildings or parking lots. Those giant magnificent factories that rival the pyramids, all of it lost.
Absolutly wonderful archival presentation ! I grew up in Marine Park area of BKLYN and relied on the IRT Flatbush Ave (@ The Junction) #2 train along with the IND/BMT Kings Highway station Brighton line .
To be honest, it would have been pretty cool if they kept one elevated line in Manhattan. Now they can't build any because people would complain so everything must go underground. Also f**k Robert Moses, read the book about him it's wild.
What a wonderful historic record of a city where I once lived, but where what we see here was long gone before I was born! Thanks so much for sharing this with us!!
The bronx had an extensive railed trolley system on major east west streets and hubs at 149 and west farms and into yonkers. The remnant track sections are still visible at some intersections. I learnt it by viewing historical vids like roger arcara provided.
There's definitely a way to rebuild and restore the 8 Thrid Avenue Elevated back without making to much noises anymore and Quieter. That's the reason why they have the new engineers to trainned them how to rebuild the extra elevated subway lines back and even stronger like ever 💪 before.
I wish they rebuilt all els in New York, but with base-isolated track, pillars relocated to outside of the curbside, and wheels with variable taper in order to prevent flage contact altogether just like with upgraded trains and bullet trains in Asia and Europe. That would enable New York to return the iconic aesthetics of its historic els while still ensuring a whisper quiet experience and giving a unique world-class sightseeing experience just like with Chicago's Loop. Unlike the CTA L however, my proposal would have a Business Class car in every trainset (just like with commuter rail in Asia, especially Green Cars in Japan) that travels on elevated lines in order to ensure that sightseers get a great experience from having a comfortable ride with a luxurious interior free from homeless. The Business Class fares for tourists and upper class commuters would also cost many (perhaps a dozen) times more than a standard fare in order to subsidize the low-income commuters in order to ensure the financial security of the railway operator so that future generations can continue to enjoy the elevated signseeing experience on infrastructure maintained to certified pre-owned like-new condition. I bet that such a modern el (but with historic aesthetics) built to my high standards would still be way cheaper than tunnelling the Second Avenue Subway through ultra-hard metamorphic schist rock hundreds of feet underground. After all, even the economically much-worse-off Philly was able to completely rebuild the Market Street western elevated portion of the Market-Frankford Line (including the foundations of the pillars) in the 2000s to a modern concrete structure, though I'm not sure whether floating slab track was used or not. Not having variable wheel taper is not a problem on the Market-Frankfort Elevated because there are no sharp curves. Perhaps Chicago's el's weren't demolished because the original builders went the extra mile to lengthen the transverse girders in order to be able to place the pillars on the sidewalk or place the els over alleys alltogether, both in order to not block horse and automotive traffic? That is unlike New York, where the pillars were placed in the middle of the street on most elevated lines presumable to save money on having shorter transverse girders.
Chances in the Boggie down south Bronx Clearmount Webster Boston road Bronx brand new Thrid Avenue Elevated line only in south Bronx. Never rebuild another elevated line in Manhattan again. There are definitely studying on that.
I wish they rebuilt all els in New York, but with floating slab track or under-sleeper rubber pads, pillars relocated to outside of the curbside, and wheels with variable taper in order to prevent flage contact altogether just like with upgraded trains and bullet trains in Asia and Europe. That would enable New York to return the iconic aesthetics of its historic els while still ensuring a whisper quiet experience and giving a unique world-class sightseeing experience just like with Chicago's Loop. Unlike the CTA L however, my proposal would have a Business Class car in every trainset (just like with commuter rail in Asia, especially Green Cars in Japan) that travels on elevated lines in order to ensure that sightseers get a great experience from having a comfortable ride with a luxurious interior free from homeless. The Business Class fares for tourists and upper class commuters would also cost many (perhaps a dozen) times more than a standard fare in order to subsidize the low-income commuters in order to ensure the financial security of the railway operator so that future generations can continue to enjoy the elevated signseeing experience on infrastructure maintained to certified pre-owned like-new condition. I bet that such a modern el (but with historic aesthetics) built to my high standards would still be way cheaper than tunnelling the Second Avenue Subway through ultra-hard metamorphic schist rock hundreds of feet underground. After all, even the economically much-worse-off Philly was able to completely rebuild the Market Street western elevated portion of the Market-Frankford Line (including the foundations of the pillars) in the 2000s to a modern concrete structure, though I'm not sure whether floating slab track or Sonneville Low Vibration Track was used or not. The lack of progressive wheel taper isn't a problem in Philadelphia's case because there are no substantially sharp curves on its elevated sections, so the wheel flages don't touch the tracks anyway. Perhaps Chicago's el's weren't demolished because the original builders went the extra mile to lengthen the transverse girders in order to be able to place the pillars on the sidewalk or place the els over alleys alltogether, both in order to not block horse and automotive traffic? That is unlike New York, where the pillars were placed in the middle of the street on most elevated lines presumable to save money on having shorter transverse girders.
I wish they rebuilt all els in New York, but with floating slab track, pillars relocated to outside of the curbside, and wheels with variable taper in order to prevent flage contact altogether just like with upgraded trains and bullet trains in Asia and Europe. That would enable New York to return the iconic aesthetics of its historic els while still ensuring a whisper quiet experience and giving a unique world-class sightseeing experience just like with Chicago's Loop. Unlike the CTA L however, my proposal would have a Business Class car in every trainset (just like with commuter rail in Asia, especially Green Cars in Japan) that travels on elevated lines in order to ensure that sightseers get a great experience from having a comfortable ride with a luxurious interior free from homeless. The Business Class fares for tourists and upper class commuters would also cost many (perhaps a dozen) times more than a standard fare in order to subsidize the low-income commuters in order to ensure the financial security of the railway operator so that future generations can continue to enjoy the elevated signseeing experience on infrastructure maintained to certified pre-owned like-new condition. I bet that such a modern el (but with historic aesthetics) built to my high standards would still be way cheaper than tunnelling the Second Avenue Subway through ultra-hard metamorphic schist rock hundreds of feet underground. After all, even the economically much-worse-off Philly was able to completely rebuild the Market Street western elevated portion of the Market-Frankford Line (including the foundations of the pillars) in the 2000s to a modern concrete structure, though I'm not sure whether floating slab track was used or not. Perhaps Chicago's el's weren't demolished because the original builders went the extra mile to lengthen the transverse girders in order to be able to place the pillars on the sidewalk or place the els over alleys alltogether, both in order to not block horse and automotive traffic? That is unlike New York, where the pillars were placed in the middle of the street on most elevated lines presumable to save money on having shorter transverse girders.
This is fantastic. I love all the history Mr. Arcara gave while narrating this. I also love the fact that all these clubs and so forth were sponsoring these trips. Priceless stuff.
