The Bulletin FIVE QUEENS TROLLEY LINES QUIT 75 YEARS AGO
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ERA BULLETIN - DECEMBER, 2014 The Bulletin Electric Railroaders’ Association, Incorporated Vol. 57, No. 12 December, 2014 The Bulletin FIVE QUEENS TROLLEY LINES QUIT 75 YEARS AGO Published by the Electric The last trolley line serving Long Island City enue. This track with no overhead trolley and Railroaders’ Association, and Astoria, the Steinway Street Line, no underground conduit connected the east- Incorporated, PO Box ceased operating on November 1, 1939. The bound Queensboro Bridge track with the 3323, New York, New st th York 10163-3323. remaining lines, Broadway, 31 Street, westbound 59 Street track. Vernon Boulevard, and Northern Boulevard, In the late 1930s, we observed the follow- quit on September 29, 1939. But the 1.64- ing assignment: For general inquiries, mile Queensboro Bridge trolley, operating on CARS ASSIGNED contact us at bulletin@ a private right-of-way from E. 59th Street and erausa.org. ERA’s LINE CAR NUMBERS TYPE website is Second Avenue, Manhattan to Queens Pla- www.erausa.org. za, was retained. Cars stopping at Roosevelt Steinway Street 1-10, 12 Third Avenue Island (formerly Welfare Island) were the only convertibles Editorial Staff: transit line serving the island. 529-544 Ex-Manhattan Editor-in-Chief: Bridge Bernard Linder In 1896, the Steinway Railway was merged st Tri-State News and with the New York & Queens County Railway 31 Street 701, 702, 704, Third Avenue box Commuter Rail Editor: Company, which became a subsidiary of the 708-712, 719, cars (A) 724, 725, 733, Ronald Yee Interborough Rapid Transit Company (IRT). North American and World 743, 759 News Editor: The new company prospered until the Long Island Rail Road reached Penn Station in Broadway, North- 1651-4 Third Avenue Alexander Ivanoff ern Boulevard, Birneys Contributing Editor: 1910 and IRT was extended to Corona and Vernon Boule- 1657-81 Second-hand Jeffrey Erlitz Astoria in 1917. Oddly enough, IRT’s trains vard Birneys competed with their own subsidiary. During Production Manager: (A) In the Spring of 1937, Yonkers 700s replaced David Ross the post-World War I inflation, most transit second-hand BMT 1682-8, which were scrapped. lines operated at a loss, but they were forced All the cars listed above were not transferred to retain the five-cent fare. immediately. Apparently, the cars ran until they ©2014 Elect ric When the company defaulted on the bonds’ were worn out. Instead of repairing them, the cars Railroaders’ interest payable January 1, 1922, Third Ave- were taken out of service and replaced by other Association, Yonkers 700s. Incorporate d nue’s President, S.W. Huff, and an insurance broker, R.C. Lee, were appointed receivers of New cars finally appeared on Steinway Steinway Lines, which was separated from Street during the last two days of trolley oper- In This Issue: NY&Q. The receivers started operating the ation. Six-month-old Third Avenue cars 651- original Steinway lines on May 10, 1922, 655 were transferred from the Bronx and Toward placed in service on the bridge while the best Underground charging a separate fare without transfer privileges to NY&Q lines. Steinway’s fleet of six ex-Manhattan Brige cars were rehabilitat- (and old cars, which were transferred to NY&Q, ed and renumbered to 531-536. Underwater) were replaced by second-hand cars and After abandonment, Third Avenue’s cars Rolling Stock Third Avenue’s oldest cars. were returned to the Bronx. (Continued on page 20) (Continued) During the intervening years, cars were ...Page 2 transferred frequently between Steinway lines and Third Avenue lines on a track locat- ed just east of E. 59th Street and Second Av- 1 NEW YORKERA BULLETINDIVISION BULLETIN—DECEMBER, OCTOBER, 2014 2000 TOWARD UNDERGROUND (AND UNDERWATER) ROLLING STOCK: THE ALL-STEEL REVOLUTION by George Chiasson (Continued from November, 2014 issue) (Continued on page 3) 2 ERA BULLETIN - DECEMBER, 2014 Toward Underground (and Underwater) Rolling Stock (Continued from page 2) 3 NEW YORKERA BULLETINDIVISION BULLETIN—DECEMBER, OCTOBER, 2014 2000 BROOKLYN TRANSFER PRIVILEGES CIRCA 1931 (Continued on page 5) 4 ERA BULLETIN - DECEMBER, 2014 Brooklyn Transfer Privileges Circa 1931 (Continued from page 4) (Continued on page 6) 5 NEW YORKERA BULLETINDIVISION BULLETIN—DECEMBER, OCTOBER, 2014 2000 Brooklyn Transfer Privileges Circa 1931 (Continued from page 5) (Continued on page 7) 6 ERA BULLETIN - DECEMBER, 2014 Brooklyn Transfer Privileges Circa 1931 (Continued from page 6) 7 NEW YORKERA BULLETINDIVISION BULLETIN—DECEMBER, OCTOBER, 2014 2000 STATUS OF NORTH AMERICAN TRANSIT PROJECT OPENINGS SCHEDULED FOR 2014 by Randy Glucksman The following projects that were listed in the January, awry,” and the transportation field is no exception. Addi- 2014 Bulletin have been, or are scheduled to be tional changes will be reported in the January, 2015 completed this year as of November 26. There is an old Bulletin. saying, “the best laid plans of mice and men often go DATE AGENCY CITY TYPE LINE DETAILS March 31 NJ Transit Hackensack, New Jersey CR Pascack Valley Anderson Street station reopens New Mexico Rail Runner Ex- April 7 Albuquerque, New Mexico CR Rail Runner Montano station opens press DeBary to Sand Lake Road May 1 Florida DOT (SunRail) Orlando, Florida CR Phase I 29.5 miles, 12 stations Minneapolis/St. Paul, Downtown to Downtown June 14 Metro Transit LR Green Minnesota 10.8 miles, 18 stations Congress Street/ Granada Avenue July 25 Sun Link Tucson, Arizona SC Sun Link to Warren Street/Helen Street 3.9 miles, 17 stations East Falls Church to Wiehle-Reston Washington Metropolitan Area July 26 Washington, D.C. HR Silver Phase I East Transit Authority 11.6 miles, 5 stations Extension from Beltline to DFW Air- August 18 Dallas Area Regional Transit Dallas, Texas LR Orange port 4.7 miles, 1 station Crowfoot to Tuscany/Rocky Ridge August 25 Calgary Transit Calgary, Alberta LR Northwest 1.5 miles, 1 station September Massachusetts Bay Transporta- Somerville, Massachu- Assembly Square (fill-in station) HR Orange 2 tion Authority setts opens November 2345ACJ MTA NYC Transit New York, New York HR Fulton Center opens 10 RZ Coliseum to Oakland International November Oakland Airport Bay Area Rapid Transit San Francisco, California AGT Airport 22 Connector 3.2 miles H Street/Benning November District DOT Washington, D.C. SC 2.4 miles, 8 stations Road Agence metropolitaine de Central Station to Mascouche December 1 Montreal, Quebec CR Train de L’Est Transport 32 miles, 10 stations City of Atlanta/Atlanta Down- Atlanta Streetcar December 6 town Improvement Project/ Atlanta, Georgia SC 2.7 mile loop, 12 stations Project Phase I MARTA End Chicago Transit Authority Chicago, Illinois HR Green Cermak-McCormick station opens MOVED TO 2015 Churchill to Nait Early Edmonton Transit Edmonton, Alberta LR North 2 miles, 3 stations Times Square to Hudson Yards February 24 MTA NY City Transit New York, New York HR 7 Extension 1.4 miles, 1 station Occidental/South Jackson to Broad- First Quarter Sound Transit Seattle, Washington SC First Hill Streetcar way/East Denny Way 2.5 miles, 10 stations (Continued on page 20) 8 ERA BULLETIN - DECEMBER, 2014 Commuter and Transit Notes No. 313 by Ronald Yee and Alexander Ivanoff METROPOLITAN TRANSPORTATION AUTHORITY operating cabs of the rail fleets of the Long Island Rail MTA released the results of its customer satisfaction Road and Metro-North Railroad. This contract will also surveys for 2014. NYC Subway improved its score to a begin the installation of cameras to monitor the passen- 74% satisfaction rating. NYC Bus scored 70%. Long ger areas of the rail cars to enhance security and dis- Island Rail Road received the highest score, at 84%, of courage crime. The in-cab cameras were prompted by a all of the MTA agencies, and Bridges & Tunnels scored recommendation from the National Transportation Safe- 83%, both remaining relatively unchanged from last ty Board in February, 2014 after a series of accidents on year. Metro-North Railroad slipped 20 points down to Metro-North in 2013. (MTA press release, November 73%, something that was not unexpected by manage- 17) ment given the unfortunate string of events that have MTA LONG ISLAND RAIL ROAD occurred on the railroad. Three bright spots for Metro- The Long Island Rail Road issued new timetables dat- North were an 87% customer satisfaction rating of its ed November 17, 2014 which will remain in effect quiet car program, an improving trend for restroom through December 14, 2014. This timetable change re- cleanliness with more M-8s coming on line on the New stores weekend and holiday train service to the West Haven Line, and a 96% rating of Grand Central Termi- Hempstead Branch offering two-hour headways. The nal. (MTA press release, November 14) 3:13 AM train from Long Beach was moved to 3:59 AM MTA has hired David Mayer as its Chief Safety Officer. to provide the ability for those customers needing to He will start on December 1, 2014, reporting directly to reach Manhattan in the 5-5:30 AM time frame and pro- MTA Chairman Tom Prendergast. Mr. Mayer was the vide for an arrival into Atlantic Terminal at 4:49 AM. It Managing Director at the National Transportation Safety also has some timing changes to accommodate track Board prior to joining MTA in a position created in the work on the Port Washington, Port Jefferson, and West wake of a series of serious and fatal accidents at Metro- Hempstead Branches. Additional weekend service for North Railroad. (New York Daily News, October 27) the holiday season started on November 29 as well as MTA will begin discussions regarding the extent and added service for the Thanksgiving holiday period start- means by which transit fares and bridge and tunnel tolls ing November 26, 2014.