Bay Ridge Branch History question

Dave, thanks for the shot. I believe the shot was taken near 3rd Avenue and 65th Street (trolley is running on 65th St.).

JJ: Right, I had forgotten to mention that prior to the NYCTA flyover being built in '91, there was a connection to the LIRR trackage via a switch located about 100 feet north of the New Lots Ave. station on the Canarsie line. Story goes that in the early 80's the switch was put in primarily for the purpose of scrapping old cars -- the R-16's -- quickly w/o the expense and time needed to transfer them to Coney Island Yard. The crews merely moved the subway cars onto the barely-used Bay Ridge tracks and turned the wrecker's torch on them. After the R-16 fleet was gone, the switch was subsequently removed (along with whatever signal systems taht might have been involved). A remnant of the connection is visible if you're riding in a Canarsie-bound 'L' train.

Some added info:

1. - Seyfried's LIRR history, part 4, pg. 188 says passenger service on the branch from LIC to Man Bch was steam powered up to the end of service.

2. Bob Diamond's grade crossing elimination webpage
www.rapidtransit.com/net/gcbook/raw/index.htm

Fig E1, right hand track shows elongated ties needed to support 3rd rail

Fig F2, caption says freight track had ties for 3rd rail

In sum, it would appear that LIRR started to 3rd rail electrify the line. To what extent the project was completed remains unclear <IMHO>

Steamrun,

Legio X
Posted on Wed Apr 06, 2005 8:39 pm
Was New Lots Yard an LIRR facility, and what was it's configuration? When was it decommissioned?


I was asked over the weekend by BMT to be a little more specific on the answer to this question.
New Lots Yard was serviced by a yard job designated as M-80, or New Lots drill.
M-80 referred to the Manhattan Beach branch, 8.0 miles from LIC.
This until PC takeover in 1969.
The New Lots drill switched the New Lots team yard at Livonia as well as Sutter Ave. and Pitkin Ave team yards.
Other private sidings in the area were also serviced.
When time came to make up the train for LIC or Bay Ridge, cars were pulled across Linden Blvd to what was simply called, "the classification yard"
Cuts of cars could be switched from either end of this yard to make up trains for the MA16 for YdA or MA11 who would service the BR branch in the AM
A double end yard with a track that led down the hill toward Rockaway ave. at street level, where Holland Steel took gondolas of steel shapes into their building.
On the west end (Bay Ridge end) of the yard, the tracks all came together and led to a track on the north side of the ROW which led to several private sidings and to the cross-overs that was used by a drill move by the MA16 to cross over to Brooklyn Terminal Market, on the south side of the tracks.
The cars for BTM were switched out by the M80 drill and placed onto the MA16s engine for them to shove them to their destination.
The MA16 had brought a train from Yard A and would then take a train back to Yard A. (A visit to Coney Island Joe's was always on the drill order.)
As mentioned earlier, when PRR and NYC merged, floating operations ended in Bay Ridge and shortly afterward, all operation on the BR branch was taken over by PC.
LIRR regained operation around 1985 and the NYCTA yard was in the place of the former classification yard with a crossover leading to the Canarsie TA trackage.