TheNEW YORK DIVISION BULLETIN - AUGUST, 2009 Bulletin New York Division, Electric Railroaders’ Association Vol. 52, No. 8 August, 2009 The Bulletin TIME SIGNAL CENTENNIAL Published by the New Station time signals, which were installed pated. Although the subway was designed for York Division, Electric on the IRT express tracks 100 years ago, a maximum daily capacity of 600,000 pas- Railroaders’ Association, Incorporated, PO Box allowed the company to run two or three sengers, the builders planned on a maximum 3001, New York, New more trains per hour. capacity of only 400,000 daily riders. In De- York 10008-3001. When one train was in the station, the origi- cember, 1904, IRT averaged 300,000 pas- nal signal system held the next train in the sengers per day with little margin for growth. block of track beyond the station. This sys- Daily traffic exceeded 800,000 in 1908 and For general inquiries, contact us at nydiv@ tem was designed to ensure safe operation. reached 1.2 million six years later. electricrailroaders.org This block of track was the distance required IRT was unable to relieve the overcrowding or by phone at (212) to stop a train plus a 50 percent safety mar- because riding was increasing rapidly. But it 986-4482 (voice mail gin. But this system seriously delayed trains, increased service by installing station time available). ERA’s website is especially during rush hours. signals and ordering 325 cars, 3700-4024. www.electricrailroaders. Meanwhile, overcrowding kept increasing. By installing center doors in all subway org. To increase service, IRT consulted an expert cars, loading was speeded up. Electrical Engineer, Bion Arnold. He recom- The express platforms, which originally ac- Editorial Staff: mended installing automatic speed control commodated 8 cars, were extended to 10 Editor-in-Chief: Bernard Linder devices that allowed trains to enter the sta- cars in 1909. New car deliveries enabled the News Editor: tion block slowly instead of stopping com- company to run 10-car expresses and 6-car Randy Glucksman pletely in the next block. These time signals locals. The first 10-car express ran on Janu- Contributing Editor: automatically stopped any train that ap- ary 23, 1911 and all rush hour expresses Jeffrey Erlitz proached an occupied station above prede- were 10 cars on May 24, 1911. Production Manager: termined rates of speed. Because the al- As a result of these modifications, the David Ross lowed speed progressively decreased when headway decreased from 2 minutes 4 sec- the train approached the station, trains en- onds on the express tracks and 2 minutes 8 tered the station safely. seconds on the local tracks in 1907 to 1 min- On April 23, 1909, the first station time sig- ute 48 seconds on both tracks in 1912. th nals were placed in service at 96 Street. By Therefore, service was increased from 29 to ©2009 New York November 28, 1909, station time signals 33 trains per hour. Division, Electric were operating on the express tracks at ex- Our source for the above article is Clifton Railroaders’ press stations between 96th Street and Hood’s The Impact of the IRT on New York Association, Incorporated Brooklyn Bridge. By reducing the headway, City from the Historic American Engineer- these time signals allowed the company to ing Record. In This Issue: operate two or three more trains per hour. We do not know when the company started Brooklyn’s The subway traffic was greater than antici- (Continued on page 20) Forgotten TH Trolley NEW YORK DIVISION ISSUES 500 BULLETIN Lines...Page 2 Overlooked last month was the fact that the not take into account nine Bulletin Newslet- July, 2009 Bulletin was the 500th issued ters that were issued in 1977 and 1978. since the first one in May, 1958. This does NEXT TRIP: NYCT E. 180TH STREET1 SHOP TOUR, SEPTEMBER 12 NEWNEW YORKYORK DIVISIONDIVISION BULLETINBULLETIN -OCTOBER, AUGUST, 20092000 BROOKLYN’S FORGOTTEN TROLLEY LINES by Bernard Linder Most Brooklyn trolley cars were replaced by buses, of Myrtle Avenue. Central Avenue is one block south of but several lines just ceased operating and were even- Wilson Avenue. tually forgotten. These lines quit because they ran on On October 21, 1934, the Wilson Avenue-Brooklyn the same street as a rapid transit or another trolley line. Bridge Line, a replacement for the Park Avenue Line, Others were abandoned because they operated only a was discontinued. On July 24, 1933, cars started oper- block away from another trolley line. ating from Moffat Street via Cooper Street, Wilson Ave- We checked Edward B. Watson’s trolley histories pub- nue, DeKalb Avenue, Central Avenue, Jefferson Street, lished in the Bulletin and we prepared the following list Bushwick Avenue, Flushing Avenue, Navy Street of forgotten lines arranged in the order of abandonment. (Hudson Avenue and Nassau Street in the opposite di- On April 23, 1915, the Furman Street Line, whose his- rection), and Sands Street to the Adams Street, High tory was published in the April, 1978 Bulletin, was dis- Street, and Washington Street loop. continued. Cars operated on Furman Street from Fulton On November 23, 1942, the Canarsie Shuttle (see Ferry to Atlantic Avenue. December, 1979 Bulletin) was discontinued. Cars op- On January 24, 1920, the Hicks Street Line, whose erated from the Rockaway Parkway station to the Ca- history was published in the June, 1978 Bulletin, was narsie shore via the private right-of-way between E. 95th discontinued. Cars operated on Hicks Street, one block and E. 96th Streets. This shuttle was discontinued be- east of Columbia Street, from Hamilton Avenue to Atlan- cause it was 1½ blocks from the Rockaway Parkway tic Avenue. trolley, which was rerouted to the Rockaway Parkway On August 29, 1920, the Wyckoff Avenue Line (see station. April, 1984 Bulletin) was discontinued. Cars operated During World War II, most transit systems curtailed from Bridge Plaza via Broadway, McKibben Street, Har- service because of manpower, fuel, and parts short- rison Place, Morgan Avenue, Flushing Avenue, and Wy- ages. In Brooklyn, several lightly patronized trolley lines ckoff Avenue to Myrtle Avenue. were discontinued or rerouted, especially where there On May 18, 1924, the Montague Street Line (see April, were several lines on the same street. 1978 Bulletin) was discontinued. Cars operated on On November 1, 1943, the Ralph Avenue Line (see Montague Street from Court Street to Hicks Street. October, 1979 Bulletin) was discontinued. Cars oper- On July 16, 1930, the Hoyt-Sackett Line (see June, ated from Bridge Plaza via Broadway, Ralph Avenue, E. 1980 Bulletin) was discontinued. Cars operating on 98th Street, and Hegeman Avenue to the Bristol Street Hoyt Street between Bergen Street and Sackett Street, loop. They operated on the same tracks as the Ralph- a single-track line with passing sidings, were rerouted Rockaway cars north of St. Johns Place. one block west to Smith Street. The line was renamed The Sumner-Sackett Line was also discontinued at the Sackett Street Line. the same time (see July, 1980 Bulletin). Cars operated On March 16, 1931, the Marcy Avenue Line (see from Bridge Plaza via Broadway, Sumner Avenue, Ful- March, 1980 Bulletin) was rerouted one block east ton Street, Troy Avenue, Bergen Street, Smith Street, from Marcy Avenue to Tompkins Avenue because the Sackett Street, and Ferry Place to Hamilton Ferry. Cars city was starting to build the IND Crosstown (GG) Line. returned via Hamilton Avenue, Union Street, and the On July 24, 1933, Marcy Avenue cars ceased operating above route. from Fulton Street via Tompkins Avenue, Harrison Ave- This line was discontinued because it ran on the same nue, Division Avenue, and Roebling Street to Bridge streets as other lines east of Smith Street. Bergen Plaza. Street cars, which formerly ran to Downtown Brooklyn, On July 24, 1933, the Park Avenue Line (see June, were rerouted via Sackett Street and Ferry Place to 1981 Bulletin) was discontinued. Cars operated from Hamilton Ferry. Washington Street via Concord Street, Navy Street, On November 1, 1943, a new line, Sumner Avenue, Park Avenue, Park Street, Beaver Street, Bushwick Ave- started operating from Bridge Plaza to the Bristol Street nue, Jefferson Street, Central Avenue, DeKalb Avenue, loop over the route of the former Sumner-Sackett and Wilson Avenue, Cooper Street, and Central Avenue to Ralph Avenue Lines. Moffat Street. On November 16, 1928, service was dis- On March 5, 1944, the Erie Basin Line was discontin- continued on Central Avenue between Cooper Street ued between Erie Basin and Park Row because it oper- and DeKalb Avenue and cars were rerouted one block ated on the same tracks as several other lines (see north to Wilson Avenue. January, 1982 Bulletin). This line was discontinued because it was only a short On October 28, 1945, the Franklin Avenue Line was distance from several other trolley lines. Park Avenue is discontinued. Cars operated from Bridge Plaza via S. one block south of Flushing Avenue and one block north (Continued on page 3) 2 NEW YORK DIVISION BULLETIN - AUGUST, 2009 Brooklyn’s Forgotten Trolley Lines On September 2, 1947, the Bushwick Avenue Line was discontinued (see April, 1983 Bulletin). Cars oper- (Continued from page 2) ated from Cypress Hills Street via Cypress Avenue, 8th Street, Wythe Avenue, Franklin Avenue, Empire Myrtle Avenue, Bushwick Avenue, Johnson Avenue, Boulevard, Ocean Avenue, Parkside Avenue, and and Broadway to Bridge Plaza. They returned via S. 4th Coney Island Avenue to Park Circle. Crosstown cars Street, Meserole Street, and the above route. Service provided service north of Flushing Avenue and Lorimer was discontinued because cars operated on Bushwick Street cars, which formerly operated on Nostrand Ave- Avenue, one block north of Broadway, and B-18 buses nue, were rerouted on the Franklin Avenue Line south replaced the trolley cars east of Myrtle Avenue.