Everything about Brooklyn Bath And Coney Island Rail Road totally explained
The
West End Line or
New Utrecht Avenue Line was a
surface transit line in
Brooklyn,
New York City,
United States, running along
New Utrecht Avenue and other streets between
Coney Island and
Sunset Park. Built by the
Brooklyn, Bath and Coney Island Railroad as a steam line, it became a
trolley line, along which
elevated trains ran until the new elevated
BMT West End Line opened. Only the portion south of
Bath Beach is now part of a
bus route - the
B64, which replaced the
86th Street Line trolleys.
History
Steam railroad (1863-1893)
The
Brooklyn, Bath and Coney Island Railroad, incorporated in 1862 with
Charles Godfrey Gunther as president, opened the first part of its line, from 25th Street and Fifth Avenue to
Bath Beach mainly along New Utrecht Avenue (then the Bath Plank Road), on
October 9,
1863. The extension to
Coney Island was opened on
June 9,
1864, making it the first
steam railroad to bring
beachgoers from downtown Brooklyn. (The
Coney Island and Brooklyn Railroad had been operating horse cars to the island since 1862.) At the Brooklyn end, the steam line ended at 36th Street and Fifth Avenue, where the BB&CI's own
horse cars ran to a connection with those of the
Brooklyn Central and Jamaica Railroad's
Fifth Avenue Line and the
Brooklyn City Railroad's
Greenwood Line at 25th Street and Fifth Avenue. The odd double transfer was made necessary by Brooklyn's refusal to allow the line to operate steam cars within its city limits.
The road took its common name from the area of its terminal on Coney Island, where a hotel of the same name, but unconnected to the railroad, existed. Its terminal was known as
West End Terminal, a name which survived upon major rebuilding in
1919 as
New West End Terminal before that name fell into disuse.
The road was reorganized in
1868, on
January 22,
1879, and again on
December 1,
1885, the latter time changing its name to the
Brooklyn, Bath and West End Railroad, formalizing the use of
West End in the line's name. Before that time, the original steam dummy cars, which consisted of a locomotive and passenger car in one railroad-coach-type frame, were replaced by conventional
steam locomotives pulling unpowered coaches.
Trolley line (1893-1947)
The
Atlantic Avenue Railroad gained control of the West End in January 1893, leased it on
May 8,
1893, and began to
electrify it immediately without the permission of the town of
New Utrecht. Effective
May 21,
1893, the Atlantic Avenue extended its
Fifth Avenue Line (which was electrified
March 14,
1893) along the West End's trackage to the
Union Depot at 36th Street, where West End trains were subsequently terminated. Electric trolleys began running on the West End Line from the Union Depot to Coney Island on
November 18,
1893, and soon from the
39th Street Ferry. The
Nassau Electric Railroad leased the Atlantic Avenue, and thus the West End, at midnight at the end of
April 4,
1896, implementing its universal five-cent fare between
Downtown Brooklyn and Coney Island. In late May the
86th Street Line was placed in operation, using the West End trackage from
Bath Beach to Coney Island. Some West End cars were extended over the
Brooklyn Bridge to
Park Row in
Lower Manhattan on
February 15,
1898. The Brooklyn, Bath and West End Railroad and
Atlantic Avenue Railroad were consolidated into the
Nassau Electric Railroad in July 1898.
The
Brooklyn Rapid Transit Company (BRT) gained control of the Nassau Electric in November 1898 and leased it (and the
Brooklyn Union Elevated Railroad, operator of the
Fifth Avenue Elevated, among other lines) to the
Brooklyn Heights Railroad on
April 1,
1899. On
June 4,
1899, a new switch at
Bath Junction was placed in service, and the Park Row-Coney Island cars were rerouted via the
Sea Beach Line; West End cars from
Downtown Brooklyn continued to use the West End Line through
Bath Beach.
BRT control paved the way for the line to be connected to the elevated system, and, on
December 19,
1900, trolleys between
36th Street and
Bath Beach were replaced with elevated trains from
Park Row in
Lower Manhattan; the line beyond Bath Beach to Coney Island was part of the
86th Street Line. Trains operated by
third rail power over the
Fifth Avenue Elevated to a ramp at 37th Street, and, from that point, trains raised
trolley poles to operate using
overhead wire to Bath Beach. A new bridge over
Coney Island Creek was built to allow heavy elevated trains to run to Coney Island, and this service, from Park Row to Coney Island, began on
July 13,
1902 for ten cents.
The
Nassau Electric Railroad lease to the
Brooklyn Heights Railroad was canceled on
June 30,
1904,
Elevated operations on the surface ended on
June 24,
1916, when the new elevated
West End Line, connecting into the
Fourth Avenue Subway, opened to
18th Avenue. The line was built as part of Contract 4 of the
Dual Contracts, but at the BRT's own expense. Trolleys continued to operate on the portion south of the
Church Avenue Line (39th Street) until
June 28,
1947.
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