TheNEW YORK DIVISION BULLETIN - AUGUST, 2011 Bulletin New York Division, Electric Railroaders’ Association Vol. 54, No. 8 August, 2011 The Bulletin IRT OPERATED FREQUENT, DEPENDABLE SERVICE Published by the New 75 YEARS AGO York Division, Electric Railroaders’ Association, by Bernard Linder Incorporated, PO Box 3001, New York, New (Continued from July, 2011 issue) York 10008-3001. At the beginning of 1936, Lenox and Lex- 3700, 3739- March 14, 1936 November 9, 1936 ington Avenue locals still operated trains with 56, 3815, For general inquiries, 3915 contact us at nydiv@ manually operated doors. About half of the th erausa.org or by phone 137 Street-Broadway locals also had manu- Hi-V trailers January 16, 1936 November 20, at (212) 986-4482 (voice ally operated doors, but the others were com- 1936 mail available). The bination trains, IRT’s designation for trains Division’s website is www.erausa.org/ composed of MUDC cars and one or two On cars with high-voltage controllers, 600 nydiv.html. HVreg (abbreviation for regular) cars with volts d.c. power from the third rail was fed manually operated doors. Ten– and six-car directly into the master controller, after which Editorial Staff: combination trains were composed of HVreg it was fed to relays that turned on the motors, Editor-in-Chief: cars at the front and rear of the train and accelerated them, and shut them off. The Bernard Linder News Editor: MUDC cars in the rest of the train. Only one cars had manual acceleration with ten points Randy Glucksman HVreg car was operated in five-car locals. of power in the master controller, five in se- Contributing Editor: During the year, additional cars with manu- ries and five in parallel. A heavy duty spring Jeffrey Erlitz ally operated doors, 3514 and 3517-3649, prevented the Motorman from accelerating Production Manager: most of the 4223-4389 cars, and a few too rapidly. David Ross higher-numbered cars, were converted to On low-voltage cars, batteries supplied MUDC. The remaining cars with manually power to the master controller and to relays operated doors, 3351-3513, 3515, 3516, that controlled the 600 volt d.c. power sup- 3650-3756, 3815, and 3915, were never con- plied to the traction motors. The controller verted to MUDC. But they were modified by had only three points of power and accelera- ©2011 New York adding steps for the Conductors and an iron tion was automatic. Division, Electric box covering the gears controlling the center THE HYBRID FLIVVERS Railroaders’ door. The Flivvers were equipped with controllers Association, Most of the work was performed in 1936, as Incorporated and pneumatic equipment used by Hi-Vs, but shown in the following table. rewired for Lo-V operation. CAR FIRST CAR CON- LAST CAR CON- In 1915, there were 124 Composite motor In This Issue: NUMBERS VERTED VERTED cars, which were removed from the subway A History of the and were replaced by 124 Flivver motors, 3351-3516 January 14, 1936 October 26, 1936 4037-4160. The company expected to trans- A Train 3517-3649 N/A N/A fer the motors, trucks, and Hi-V control (Continued) equipment from the Composites to the new ...Page 2 3650-3699 January 14, 1936 February 2, 1937 Flivvers. But they changed their minds and 3701-38 July 24, 1934 November 29, installed Lo-V controls instead. Unfortunately, 1934 (Continued on page 18) NEXT TRIP: LIRR HILLSIDE/MORRIS1 PARK SHOP TOUR, AUGUST 6 NEWNEW YORKYORK DIVISIONDIVISION BULLETINBULLETIN -OCTOBER, AUGUST, 20112000 A HISTORY OF THE A TRAIN by George Chiasson (Continued from July, 2011 Issue) GENESIS OF THE A TRAIN: PART TWO— cates that KCER was able to meet potential summer- THE FULTON STREET EL IN BROOKLYN time demand for access to the well-known beach desti- Early Days On The Kings County Elevated nation at Brooklyn’s resort oceanfront. At this early (1888-1913) stage, no physical connection was made between the Fulton Street and Broadway-Brooklyn Els (the latter The outer (outdoor) end of A uses the east- having been opened by the Brooklyn Elevated Railroad erly portion of the former BMT Fulton Street Line, one of four years previous), though they literally came within the original routes of the Brooklyn elevated system, as yards of each other. Past the station at Manhattan extended into Queens. Known as the Kings County Ele- Beach Crossing, the Kings County line jogged south vated Railway, the Fulton Street El was opened on April above Snediker Avenue, progressed to Pitkin Avenue, 24, 1888. It originated at the Fulton Ferry Terminal in and there resumed its easterly course. Full service was Downtown Brooklyn, where a direct connection was opened to Atlantic Avenue on July 4, 1889 and then available to the Brooklyn Bridge, and proceeded as far finally to Pennsylvania Avenue on November 18, with a as Nostrand Avenue In the initial stage all Kings County temporary shuttle from that point to Van Siclen Avenue trains made a side relay via a short spur track to serve When a new lay-up facility, known as “AB” Yard, was the Brooklyn Bridge’s Sands Street terminal, but in a partially opened along Pitkin Avenue between Alabama short time this novel maneuver was replaced by a set of Avenue and Hinsdale Street in December, all Kings outside platforms on the Fulton Street alignment one County operations were extended to Van Siclen Avenue block away, from which access to the bridge became a The yard was finally completed by March 10, 1890 and pedestrian undertaking. The Brooklyn Bridge had its then over the next two years the rest of the line took own cable-powered intramural railway that shuttled be- shape, following Pitkin Avenue to Euclid, Euclid to Lib- tween Sands Street on the Brooklyn side and Park Row erty Avenue, and Liberty Avenue to the “City Line.” Seg- on the Manhattan side from its opening in 1883 until ments were opened from Van Siclen Avenue to Linwood 1908, but some Brooklyn el service began to run Street on February 22, 1892; Linwood Street to Mon- through to Park Row on its own as early as 1898. Con- tauk Avenue on March 21, 1892; and finally from Mon- struction of the initial route was completed in a short tauk Avenue to the City Line (Grant Avenue) on July 12, time, and additional segments opened from Nostrand to 1894. A trolley car ramp for direct transfer from Liberty Sumner and Albany Avenues on May 30, 1888; from Avenue to the El was added at the east end of Grant Sumner & Albany Avenues to Utica Avenue on August Avenue station, on behalf of the Long Island Electric 20; and from Utica Avenue to Rockaway Avenue on De- Railway Company., on April 24, 1897, but proved to be cember 5 (a portion that included a long middle siding short-lived and was closed on April 1, 1901 (though the for relays between the Utica and Ralph Avenue sta- streetcar that used it continued to run on the surface of tions). The structure was erected as far as Fulton and Liberty Avenue from Grant Avenue station to 95th Street Sackman Streets (between Stone and Van Sinderen (Rockaway Boulevard) until August 26, 1914). Avenues), but beyond that point a separate franchise At this time the stops along the way included Fulton was granted to a paper company called the Fulton Ele- Ferry, Sands Street, Tillary Street, Court Street, Boerum vated Railway, once it was determined which route Place, Elm Place and Duffield Street, Flatbush Avenue, should be followed. Lafayette Avenue, Cumberland Street, Vanderbilt Ave- On March 3, 1889, some rush hour Kings County Ele- nue, Grand Avenue, Franklin Avenue, Nostrand Avenue, vated Railway trains were extended from Rockaway Brooklyn and Tompkins Avenues, Albany and Sumner Avenue to Van Sic(k)len Avenue, stopping at Avenues, Utica Avenue, Ralph Avenue, Saratoga Ave- “Manhattan Beach Crossing” (the original version of nue, Rockaway Avenue, “Manhattan Beach Junction,” Broadway Junction, which was also variously known Atlantic Avenue, Eastern Parkway (actually at Glenmore over time as Manhattan Junction and East New York Avenue), Pennsylvania Avenue, Van Siclen Avenue, Loop), Atlantic Avenue, Eastern Parkway, and Pennsyl- Linwood Street, Montauk Avenue, Chestnut Street, vania Avenue en route. On May 30, 1889 all service Crescent Street, and Grant Avenue. Of these 29, to- was extended from Rockaway Avenue to the Manhattan day’s Fulton Street IND subway duplicates just seven— Beach Crossing station, located about at Fulton Street six along Fulton Street (Lafayette, Franklin, Nostrand, and Van Sinderen Avenue as a traffic interchange point Utica, Ralph, and Rockaway Avenues) plus the present to Long Island Rail Road steam trains on the former New York & Manhattan Beach Railroad (later the Bay (Continued on page 3) Ridge Division), which was then at grade. The date indi- 2 NEW YORK DIVISION BULLETIN - AUGUST, 2011 A History of the A Train ing all stops from the Sands Street Terminal and being turned back at Ralph Avenue or Eastern Parkway if not (Continued from page 2) continued all the way to the City Line. As much as any- station on Pitkin Avenue at Van Siclen Avenue. thing, the congestion this service pattern engendered Due to the incredible ridership transfer at the Brooklyn led to the physical tie-in of the Fulton Street (KCER) Bridge, which crowded onto and off of Fulton Street and Broadway-Brooklyn (BER) els just east of the Man- trains at the Sands Street station, KCER built an alter- hattan Beach Crossing, as both were under the com- native stub-end terminal there that was physically adja- mon control of the Brooklyn Union Elevated Railroad cent to the bridge’s intramural railway terminal.