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TheNEW YORK DIVISION BULLETIN - AUGUST, 2006 Bulletin New York Division, Electric Railroaders’ Association Vol. 49, No. 8 August, 2006 The Bulletin NINETEENTH CENTURY Published by the New RAPID TRANSIT York Division, Electric RAPID TRANSIT Railroaders’ Association, Incorporated, PO Box DATE LINE FROM TO 3001, New York, New In 1863, the world’s first subway opened in York 10008-3001. London. When New Yorkers heard about this th big event, they also demanded rapid transit June 5, 1878 Sixth Ave- Rector 58 Street nue Street that was more adequate than ferries, horse- For general inquiries, August 26, Third Ave- South Ferry Grand Cen- contact us at nydiv@ drawn omnibuses, horse cars, and commuter 1878 nue tral electricrailroaders.org or railroads. At that time, New York suffered by phone at (212) 986- from overcrowded and unhealthy slums adja- March 1, Second South Ferry 65th Street 4482 (voice mail cent to business centers. Its new suburbs 1880 Avenue available). ERA’s website is were located east and west of the rivers in www.electricrailroaders. Brooklyn and New Jersey, and there were All lines were extended during the next dec- org. miles of undeveloped land in the northern ade. A complete record of these extensions part of Manhattan where a few farmers and was published in Electric Railroads #25, Editorial Staff: dated December, 1956. These elevated rail- Editor-in-Chief: squatters lived. Bernard Linder In 1866, the New York State Senate ap- ways were a stopgap solution that provided News Editor: pointed a committee of five members— temporary relief. Within ten years, they were Randy Glucksman Senators Andrews, Low, and Cornell, New inadequate, having created more traffic than Contributing Editor: York City’s Mayor Hoffman, and Alfred Cra- they could handle. Jeffrey Erlitz ven, the Engineer of the Croton Board—who Fares were originally set at ten cents be- th Production Manager: were ordered to submit plans for a rapid tran- tween the Battery and 59 Street, and 15 David Ross sit system. The committee preferred a sub- cents on the East Side, and 17 cents on the way, but they could not solve the problem of West Side between the Battery and the Har- removing the smoke generated by the steam lem River. Half-price fares were in effect dur- engines. Instead, they recommended a ca- ing rush hours. A ride on the elevated lines ble-powered elevated railway, which was was too expensive for the tenement dwellers built on Greenwich Street and Ninth Avenue. of the Lower East Side, whose salaries ©2006 New York Division, Electric Trains started running between Dey Street ranged from $8 to $17 a week. th Railroaders’ and 29 Street on February 14, 1870. Riding increased rapidly; the “L” carried Association, In 1875, Manhattan was very crowded. over 115 million passengers in 1886. Effec- Incorporated With a million people living south of 59th tive June 1, 1886, the company reduced the Street and a half million crammed into the fare to five cents on the Second Avenue In This Issue: area south of 14th Street, New Yorkers cer- Ninth Avenue “L”s, which ran through poor Rockaway Line tainly needed rapid transit. Construction of neighborhoods. Because the bulk of traffic — Track Plans Manhattan’s elevated lines proceeded rapidly occurred during rush hours, the company did ...Page 2 and trains started running on the following not expect to lose much money by reducing lines: (Continued on page 4) 1 NEWNEW YORKYORK DIVISIONDIVISION BULLETINBULLETIN -OCTOBER, AUGUST, 20062000 ROCKAWAY LINE Rockaway Line North Portion 1956 - Present In Service Rockaway 6/28/56 - 1/20/60 Blvd 1/20/60 LIRR to Ozone Park Crossover and Installed switch removed 1958 or 1959 Crossover 10/21/01 in service 2/17/02 These switches in service 6/13/55 Switches during LIRR operation removed Middle track for Aqueduct sometime disconnected and Racetrack specials after 1960 hardrail connection installed 10/21/01 Disconnected 2/9-17/02 Aqueduct Racetrack 10/20/01 - 9/25/04 Out of Service Aqueduct North Conduit Av Disconnected 10/20/01 Switch removed 9/25/04 Howard Beach JFK Airport Disconnected 2/9-17/02 Crossover removed Crossover removed 4/17-18/04 4/24-25/04 Up to 4/5/04 Switches reconfigured 4/5-6/14/04 Data: B. Linder Drawing: J. Erlitz (Continued on page 3) 2 NEW YORK DIVISION BULLETIN - AUGUST, 2006 Rockaway Line Rockaway Line (Continued from page 2) South Portion North Channel Bridge 1956 - Present (Drawbridge controls removed 5/5/98) 1956 - 10/87 Crossover installed 5/21/74 Removed 10/16/87 These crossovers were known as Crossover installed 12/18/64 Patterson Blvd Removed 10/16/87 Test track in service 5/20/01 All of these crossovers were hand-operated Siding in service 4/12/99 Double Crossover installed 12/21/56 crossover Removed 9/1 and 9/9/73 in service 10/16/87 Broad Broad Channel Channel Crossover installed 10/20/74 Removed 10/16/87 Beach Channel Bridge (South Channel) Beach Beach Beach 105th St 98th St 90th St A A Rockaway Park Beach 116th St 1956 - 11/17/04 Beach Beach Beach Beach Beach Far Rockaway 67th St 60th St 44th St 36th St 25th St A Mott Ave Data: B. Linder Drawing: J. Erlitz A 3 NEWNEW YORKYORK DIVISIONDIVISION BULLETINBULLETIN -OCTOBER, AUGUST, 20062000 MYSTERY PHOTOGRAPH While looking through our files for photographs for our have reason to believe it is from a different system. If “Nostalgia Corner” series (see page 15), we ran across anybody knows, please contact us using the information the photograph below. We initially thought the photo- on the front page of this issue. graph was of a Newark City Subway work car, but we Bernard Linder collection Nineteenth Century Rapid Transit five cents or more. In 1890, there were 1.5 million people crammed into (Continued from page 1) Manhattan south of 125th Street and the population was the fare. On the first day of the five-cent fare, Second increasing rapidly. Elevated trains were so overcrowded Avenue riding was 15,000 above average and there that there was no room for another passenger. To fur- were 8,000 additional passengers on Ninth Avenue. nish adequate rapid transit, the engineers planned a The fare on the Third Avenue “L” was reduced to a four-track subway, which was described in the October, nickel on October 1, 1886. The fare was reduced to five 2004 issue of Electric Railroads/The Bulletin. cents on all lines effective November 1, 1886. The com- Our source for a portion of this article is Historic pany revealed that the five-cent fare was a success. On American Engineering Record, which is in the public the first week of November, 1886, there were 3,134,806 domain. Historian Wallace B. Katz wrote the chapter passengers paying five cents. On the first week of No- whose title is The New York Rapid Transit Decision of vember, 1885, there were 2,048,951 passengers paying 1900: Economy, Society, Politics. 4 NEW YORK DIVISION BULLETIN - AUGUST, 2006 Commuter and Transit Notes by Randy Glucksman MTA Metro-North Railroad (East) knocked out service on the Waterbury Branch, where April was the best month ever for Metro-North, as the there had been a lot of flood damage and cave-ins. Bob on-time-performance of its trains reached 99%. At the Underwood wrote that Train #1948 was stopped be- end of April, OTP for the first four months was 98.2%, tween Naugatuck and Waterbury at about 6:45 PM due and if this trend continues the railroad should have no to mud, debris, and water over the tracks. In addition, problem attaining the goal, which is 97.5% for this year. the train could not return to Naugatuck because of large In March, OTP was 98.9%. It can’t get much better than boulders that had rolled down onto the tracks after it that. had passed the station. Buses were called, but some The current New Haven Line timetable (April 2- passengers became impatient and walked home. Bob September 30) was reissued with a July 5 date. It ap- heard these reports on two New Haven and Hartford pears that all references to the operation of pre-holiday television stations, but nothing appeared in print, at and holiday trains, which are now a part of history, have least in The New Haven Register. Initial reports had been removed. service suspended until the end of that week, but later it Metro-North issued the 2006 edition of “Weekend was reported that service would not resume until June Rail/Bus Service to the Berkshires.” Operating since 17 or 18. There was no mention of this service disrup- 1999, this year it runs between June 23 and September tion on Metro-North’s website. Full service was restored 4. When it first started, the Upper Harlem Line ran as far on Monday, June 19. as Dover Plains, and passengers boarded buses, which The New Haven Register published some artist’s made stops at Millerton, Copake, and Hillsdale, New drawings of the station that has been proposed for West York and Great Barrington, Massachusetts. In 2000, rail Haven. A press conference was held on June 19, with a service was extended to Wassaic. This area was for- number of elected officials in attendance, including merly served by New York Central/Penn-Central trains West Haven Mayor John M. Picard and U.S. Represen- until March 19, 1972. tative Rosa L. DeLauro, who announced that she ex- Looking to the future, Metro-North is already planning pected $1.2 million in federal funds would be allocated additional service to the upper Hudson Line.