TheNEW YORK DIVISION BULLETIN - JULY, 2003 Bulletin New York Division, Electric Railroaders’ Association Vol. 46, No. 7 July, 2003 The Bulletin CONCOURSE IND OPENED 70 YEARS AGO Published by the New The Concourse IND, which opened 70 years C—205th Street-Bergen Street: green/green York Division, Electric th Railroaders’ ago, Saturday, July 1, 1933, cost $44 million, CC—205 Street-Chambers Street: white/ Association, including $11,476,000 for cars at $38,000 white Incorporated, PO Box each. The first cars, 101-110, were delivered CC—Bedford Park Boulevard-Chambers 3001, New York, New to 207th Street Yard on August 8, 1930, long Street: green/white York 10008-3001. before the Eighth Avenue Subway was CC—Tremont Avenue-Chambers Street: opened on September 10, 1932. All 800 R-1 white/green and R-4 cars were in service on June 7, The July 3, 1933 schedule provided for C For general inquiries, contact us at 1933. trains operating during extended rush hours [email protected]. The first construction contracts were let making Concourse express stops in the di- early in 1928 and most of the work was com- rection of heavy traffic. C trains departed Editorial Staff: pleted by 1932. But the scheduled January 1, from 205th Street between 6:33 and 11:26 AM 1933 opening was postponed because the and from Bergen Street between 3:30 and Editor-in-Chief: city was unable to appropriate $200,000 to 6:50 PM. CC trains operated to Chambers Bernard Linder install lighting and other equipment. When Street at all times and to 205th Street when C News Editor: the civic groups complained, the Board of trains were not running. During the morning Randy Glucksman th Contributing Editor: Estimate found the money. The next sched- rush, CC trains continued running to 205 Jeffrey Erlitz uled opening date, June 24, was postponed Street until 7:30 AM, after which they were because of a delay in the shipment of turn- turned at Tremont Avenue until 11:30 AM. Production stiles. This problem was solved by transfer- There were several put-ins and layups from Manager: ring turnstiles from lightly patronized Eighth Bedford Park Boulevard. PM rush hour CCs David Ross Avenue Subway entrances to the Concourse were turned at Bedford Park Boulevard. On stations. The Board of Transportation saved August 17, 1933, Tremont Avenue was aban- even more money; the station columns were doned as a terminal. not painted. WEEKDAYS EFFECTIVE JULY 3, 1933 Starting June 27, 1933, light trains provided ©2003 New York full service. On June 29, 1933, civic organi- LINE MID- AM MID- PM EVE- NIGHT RUSH DAY RUSH NING Division, Electric zations held a luncheon at the Concourse Railroaders’ Plaza Hotel, after which they entered the HEADWAYS Association, st Incorporated 161 Street station and rode a light train. C — 4 — 4 — The first northbound passenger train, a CC from Chambers Street, passed 145th Street at CC 12 4 5 4 5, 6 In This Issue: 12:55 AM. It was a 4-car train and it was very NUMBER OF CARS Brighton Line crowded. The first southbound CC, a six-car C — 6, 7 — 6, 7 — train, departed from 205th Street at 12:57 AM — Track Plans CC 3 5 3 5 3 ...Page 2 with the Chief Engineer and other officials on board. Concourse riding increased rapidly while Marker lights were as follows: IRT Jerome Avenue and Sixth and Ninth Ave- A—207th Street-Bergen Street: red/red (Continued on page 16) 1 NEWNEW YORK YORK DIVISION DIVISION BULLETIN BULLETIN OCTOBER, - JULY, 2003 2000 BRIGHTON LINE TRACK PLANS Sheepshead Bay Race Track Spur 1909 Neck Rd E 16 St E 17 St E 18 St E 19 St Ave X Sidings removed between Jan & Mar, 1929 Tracks on surface east of E 16 St 1912 track layout between Neck Rd and Beverley Rd is the same as the present layout Ocean Ave Drawing: B. Linder Layout: J. Erlitz (Continued on page 3) 2 NEW YORK DIVISION BULLETIN - JULY, 2003 Brighton Line Track Plans (Continued from page 2) Brighton Line 1912 Fulton St "L" B B Franklin Ave To Trolley Prospect Park Sheepshead Bay Dean St Trolley Park Pl Neptune Ave Woodruff Ave d Coney Island Ave Island Coney e t a v le E Montgomery St Church Ave e c a f r u Consumers S Park BB Trolley Brighton Beach A A Culver Line P.R.W. on present day W 5th St 5th W Brighton Beach Ave A Trolley Ocean Pky Ocean Trolley A P.R.W. Culver Drawing: B. Linder Terminal Layout: J. Erlitz Surf Ave (Continued on page 4) 3 NEWNEW YORK YORK DIVISION DIVISION BULLETIN BULLETIN OCTOBER, - JULY, 2003 2000 Brighton Line Track Plans (Continued from page 3) Brighton Line - North Portion Franklin Avenue Shuttle 1937-Present Except as Noted DeKalb Ave Energized Jan 1959 To Franklin Ave 4th Ave In service Franklin Ave 11/14/58 Formerly 9 /9 8 Dean St /1 0 Closed 9/10/95 1 e ic Park Pl rv e s Atlantic Ave In Park Pl 7 Ave Botanic A A Garden Crossover Parkside Ave in service 3/20/58 Formerly Prospect Park Church Ave Double crossover in service 11/8/93 Beverley Rd Switch installed 1959 A A Cortelyou Rd Drawing: B. Linder (Continued on page 5) Layout: J. Erlitz 4 NEW YORK DIVISION BULLETIN - JULY, 2003 Brighton Line Track Plans (Continued from page 4) Brighton Line South Portion 1937-Present Except as Noted A A Newkirk AveKings Hwy Formerly to Norton's Point Trolley West 8th St Ave H Removed 1939 Lower Level Ave U Ave J Neck Rd Ave M Stillwell Ave track designations changed from A-H to 1-8 on 10/4/57 A A Stillwell Ave Sheepshead Bay West Ocean Pky B 8th St Upper Level Crossovers in service Culver 12/12-13/70 Line B Crossovers Brighton in service B Beach 5/31-6/3/66 Lower Level Crossovers in service 4/9/90 B Crossovers out of service Formerly 1996 due to platform extensions Stillwell Ave Turnout West Removed Ocean Pky 1954 8th St Upper level Culver Line Crossovers removed Lower Level 8/31/56 Crossovers Removed out of service July 1956 Drawing: B. Linder 12/12-13/70 Layout: J. Erlitz 5 NEWNEW YORK YORK DIVISION DIVISION BULLETIN BULLETIN OCTOBER, - JULY, 2003 2000 NEW MILLENNIUM, NEW TECHNOLOGY, NEW TROLLEYS, NEW LIGHT RAIL VEHICLES by Raymond R. Berger Most readers of the Bulletin are very much aware of good low floor car design. Car builders have responded the development of electrically propelled passenger to a low average of 500 new cars a year by concentrat- cars and locomotives in this Age of New Technology. ing on their standard system cars and consolidating The use of advanced computers, microprocessors, pro- their operations. Remember that most of the smaller car pulsion, and braking equipment has spurred invest- builders have been bought out, so those firms like ments that result in substantial savings over older cars Alstom, Bombardier, Breda-Ansaldo-Firema, and Kawa- and locomotives. New systems are more economical to saki are now multinational organizations. run, too, and this new technology gives impetus to con- Between April, 2002 and April, 2003 western carbuild- sideration of their employment over other modes of ers received orders for 236 low floor light rail cars, 239 transportation. low-to-mid-floor LRVs, and only 27 high-floor light rail In New York, we have seen the beginning of this new units, for a total of 502. Additionally, about 20 cars were era of electric railroading in the development of the New ordered in the United States, which are described as Technology Test Train Program. It resulted in the con- “heritage-style” cars. Of the 502 units, 351 were for ex- struction of one train of IRT-size cars built by Kawasaki tensions to existing lines or for new systems. Eighty- Rail Car, Inc. (the R-110A) and another train of BMT- four LRVs and 67 trolleys/trams were replacements for IND-size cars built by Bombardier Transit Services (the existing rolling stock. Bombardier received the largest R-110B) in the early 1990s. The results of these tests orders for trolleys/trams, for a total of 91, followed by served as the basis of the R-142 and spin-off R-142A Alstom for 89, Siemens for 59, and AnsaldoBreda for Programs. We now expect that over 1,500 cars of these 14. On the light rail side, Kinki Sharyo leads with 104 two car-classes will replace all R-26/28/29/33 and R36 cars, followed by Bombardier for 81 and Siemens for cars in the passenger car fleet in the next few months. 54. Communication-Based Train Control is another ele- In the electrical equipment market, Bombardier leads ment of New Train Technology and the decision to in- with Alstom, Siemens, Kiepe, AnsaldoBreda, and Elin stall it on L is the basis for another order of cars, R- following. 143, which are now all delivered. A further order was The total number of low-floor cars ordered during the placed with Alstom, with Kawasaki Rail Car as a sub- last year is now 3,949, of which 35.6 percent are spe- contractor, for as many as 1,700 BMT-IND size cars cially built for individual systems (1,424 cars). Of the under Contract R-160. These should replace all the 239-trolley/tram cars ordered this year, 179 are for indi- R32/38/40/42 cars. vidual systems. That number is broken down to 72 from Advances in New Train Technology have spread to the Alstom, 69 from Bombardier, 24 from Siemens, and 14 electrically propelled commuter train market in New from AnsaldoBreda.