TheNEW YORK DIVISION BULLETIN - NOVEMBER, 2005 Bulletin New York Division, Electric Railroaders’ Association Vol. 48, No. 11 November, 2005 The Bulletin THE FIRST PCC LINE, CONEY ISLAND AVENUE, QUIT Published by the New York Division, Electric 50 YEARS AGO Railroaders’ Association, Coney Island Avenue cars ceased operat- colored CI&B letters and “ELECTRIC LINE” Incorporated, PO Box 3001, New York, New ing 50 years ago, November 30, 1955. The in silver. The fare zone, car house, and York 10008-3001. PCC cars that were in service were only 19 power house were located at Kings Highway. years old. With proper maintenance, they Because the work on the power house was could have run several years longer. not complete, power was temporarily sup- For general inquiries, contact us at nydiv@ This line has an interesting history. plied from a small power house at Brighton electricrailroaders.org or On December 10, 1860, the Coney Island & Beach. by phone at (212) 986- Brooklyn Rail Road Company was incorpo- The Coney Island & Brooklyn Railroad 4482 (voice mail rated to build a horse car line from Fulton Company and the Brooklyn Rapid Transit available). ERA’s website is Ferry to Coney Island. Company were al- www.electricrailroaders. Horse cars started lowed to charge two org. operating on July 3, fares to passengers 1862. Running time traveling to Coney Is- Editorial Staff: Editor-in-Chief: was more than an land because they ran Bernard Linder hour and a half on the on tracks originally News Editor: first car line to reach used by steam rail- Randy Glucksman Coney Island. Fare roads charging three Contributing Editor: Jeffrey Erlitz was 5 cents to the City cents a mile. In 1876, Line (Windsor Place the CI&B operated Production Manager: and Coney Island Ave- steam dummies at a David Ross nue) and 20 cents to 25-cent fare. It Coney Island. PCC 1083 waits to leave Bartel Pritchard Square in charged the same fare From January to 1950. on its horse cars. June, 1876, the com- Robert J. Wasche photograph When electrified, the pany tried operating a fare for a round trip ©2005 New York steam dummy. It was not satisfactory and the between Fulton Ferry and Coney Island was Division, Electric horse cars continued operating. 30 cents. Railroaders’ Electric operation began on April 19, 1890 Passengers always objected to the com- Association, between Park Circle and Coney Island. This pany charging a second fare at Kings High- Incorporated line was the first all-Brooklyn line to be elec- way. A newspaper article reveals that nobody In This Issue: trified. An electric car and an open car cou- paid a second fare on December 7, 1902 and pled to it made the first trip. Twelve electric they were transported to their destinations for Hudson Park cars were available. Each electric car was a nickel. Line—History coupled to a 16-foot, 24-passenger horse car On Saturday, July 2, 1904, the three In- and Track Plan built by Lewis and Fowler. The electric cars spectors who were on duty at Kings Highway ...Page 2 were illuminated by a three-light cluster in the were unable to enforce the law and 30 cars center and one light at each end. The cars proceeded to Coney Island without passen- were painted yellow and orange with wine- (Continued on page 5) 1 NEWNEW YORK YORK DIVISION DIVISION BULLETIN BULLETIN - NOVEMBER,OCTOBER, 2000 2005 HUDSON PARK LINE by Bernard Linder Owners: STREET CARS September 25, 1885 New Rochelle Street Horse Railroad Company September 1, 1887 New Rochelle & Pelham Railway Company September 20, 1890 New Rochelle Railway & Transit Company June 2, 1893 Westchester Electric Railroad Company January, 1899 Third Avenue Railroad Company April 13, 1900 Metropolitan Street Railway Company January 18, 1908 Third Avenue Railroad Company January 1, 1912 Third Avenue Railway Company BUSES August 1, 1939 Westchester Street Transportation Company December 17, 1956 Fifth Avenue Coach Lines, Incorporated December 12, 1969 Bus Associates, Incorporated, whose principal stockholders were Arthur and George Bernacchia and Raymond Murphy. In 1973, Liberty’s principals had equal ownership in two New York City operations — Pelham Parkway and Pioneer Bus (whose name was subsequently changed to Command Bus) — and had a 25% interest in the operation of Westchester Street and West Fordham through a hold- ing company, Bus Associates. About mid-1982 Liberty Coaches, Club Transportation, and Westchester Street were merged to form Liberty Lines Transit, Incorporated Route: STREET CARS About 1886 Horse cars started operating from downtown New Rochelle via Main Street and Franklin Avenue to the foot of Franklin Avenue December 22, 1898 Electric cars stared operating July 16, 1899 Extended via Hudson Park Road to the Hudson Park gate 1908 Through-routed with P/Webster Avenue Line 1909* Extended to E. 233rd Street and White Plains Road—discontinued September 6, 1909 1911* Extended to Mount Vernon—discontinued August 19, 1911 1914 Operated branch to Beechmont Park June 3, 1916 Cut back to downtown New Rochelle. Cars were no longer through-routed with Webster Avenue cars April 22, 1919 Through-routed with Webster Avenue cars. They probably followed the route listed in the July 1, 1918 tariff: From Hudson Park via Hudson Park Road, Franklin Avenue, Main Street, Rose Street (present-day North Avenue), Huguenot Street, Bridge Street, Railroad Place, Mechanic Street, Huguenot Street, Division Street, Union Avenue, Charles Street, Washington Avenue, Webster Avenue, and May- flower Avenue to the city line. Return same as above, then Division Street, Rail- road Place, Mechanic Street, Huguenot Street, Lawton Street, Main Street, Frank- lin Avenue, and Hudson Park Road November 28, 1919 Cars were operated by one man September 26, 1921 Discontinued through-routing with P/Webster Avenue. Extended via North Avenue from Beechmont Park (probably Beechmont Avenue) to Broadview Avenue December 3, 1928 Extended via North Avenue to Wykagyl Drive About 1935 Cut back to Lawton Street Loop August 1, 1939 Buses replaced street cars *Service was extended when crowds traveled to Hudson Park BUSES August 1, 1939 Route L buses operated from Hudson Park to Mechanic Street (Continued on page 3) 2 NEW YORK DIVISION BULLETIN - NOVEMBER, 2005 Hudson Park Line (Continued from page 2) April 1, 1951 Extended to Centre Avenue About 1973 Renumbered to Route 44 About September 18, 1974 Route 48/Fifth Avenue (New Rochelle) extended via North Avenue, Huguenot Street, Lawton Street, Main Street, Franklin Avenue, and Hudson Park Road to Hudson Park. Return via Hudson Park Road, Pelham Road, Centre Avenue, Main Street, and North Avenue. Route 44 was discontinued September 4, 1979 Route 7/Yonkers Avenue was extended to Hudson Park and Route 48 was dis- continued September 4, 1981 or Hudson Park service was discontinued. Route 7 service was cut back to Main February 15, 1982 (our Street and North Avenue sources do not agree) SIGNS pany on June 2, 1893. Route letters were assigned on December 30, 1926. OPERATING DIFFICULTIES We do not know when route letters were first displayed, Most trolley lines encounter operating problems, but but we know that large metal signs with the route on the they are not usually recorded. This time, we were able bottom and a large letter above it were hung on the to gather useful information from newspaper articles. dash of most Westchester County cars as early as After Hudson Park was opened, the city gave the 1930. On this line, cars displayed signs with “HUDSON company a horse car franchise despite the neighbor- PARK” on the bottom and a large “L” above it. Cars con- hood’s opposition. tinued displaying these signs until abandonment. In 1915, the Mayor of New Rochelle was unhappy that CAR ASSIGNMENT Westchester Electric benefited from the crowds of peo- We did not check this line regularly. The following cars ple carried on the trolley to Hudson Park. He wanted were running on the dates listed below: access to the park restricted to New Rochelle residents. This rule was in effect in the 1930s, when access to the DATE CARS park was restricted to residents with passes. June, 1931 602-636 Hudson Park and Webster Avenue cars were through- routed since 1908. The company was ordered to dou- July, September, and October, 1932 701-767, 781-784 ble-track Franklin Avenue in 1915 because Webster April and September, 1933 582-634 Avenue cars were delayed when operating on the single May, 1936 269-300 track on Franklin Avenue. Each car lost 45 minutes a day. The company replied that this improvement was July and December, 1937 701-763 unnecessary; it needed two tracks only two months July, 1938 701-759 week- each year (probably the summer). days; 274-299 Sunday Meanwhile, the company officials and the Mayor blamed each other for the delayed double-tracking of January, 1939 279-299 Franklin Avenue. Westchester Electric’s Superintendent CORPORATE HISTORY accused the Common Council and the Mayor of pigeon- The New Rochelle Street Horse Railroad Company holing the double-tracking request. The city official ac- was incorporated on September 25, 1885. It was cused the company of furthering its own interests. awarded a franchise for the Hudson Park and North Webster Avenue and Hudson Park were operated Avenue Lines. separately in 1916 and Franklin Avenue was never dou- The New Rochelle & Pelham Railway Company ble-tracked, probably because all the property owners leased the New Rochelle Street Horse Railroad Com- objected. pany on September 1, 1887 and purchased it on June LAST TROLLEY CAR 13, 1888. It was sold under foreclosure on June 25, Car 282 was the last Hudson Park trolley car. A re- 1890 and was reorganized to the New Rochelle Railway porter was the only passenger on the car, which de- & Transit Company, which was incorporated on July 18, parted from Mechanic Street at 1 AM August 1, 1939.