The #58 trolley, the Ridgewood-Flushing Line, ended service on 7/17/1949, but here on 60th Place and Kleupfel Court (near 67th Avenue) it’s like it never left. In Ridgewood, the line had its own right of way under the el train bound for Metropolitan Avenue (this is the Nassau Street line in Manhattan, Broadway Line in Brooklyn).
The #58 followed roughly the same route as today’s Q58 bus, with the exception being that the trolley followed a brick-paved route called Strong’s Causeway through Flushing Meadows; today, the Q58 bus uses the service road of the Long Island Expressway.
62 years and the city still hasn’t paved over the tracks.
At least we get to see some history.
Not sure it is still true, but along part of the route under the el near Myrtle Ave, there were not only tracks but the overhead wires were still there, at least in the late 70s and 80s.
The M is no longer via Nassau St. It now goes up 6th Ave and via 53rd to 71st Ave, Forrest Hills. This was part of the service cuts in 2010.
The only other cross street that currently has tracks is Putnam Avenue. The accompanying photos shows an eastbound Flushing-Ridgewood car No. 8494 crossing Madison St. Year unknown. Courtesy photo by Walter Broschart – used for educational purposes only.
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Sorry about the image. Copy and paste but delete the [IMG] from both ends.
Used to live in this part of Ridgewood and often wondered if/when the city would ever pave over the tracks. So far, so good!
Prior to this line being elevated in the 1915, the BMT ran trains at street level where the trolley tracks are now. I’ve seen pics of trains running along the ROW with the third rail right on the street. Even earlier, a steam railroad from Myrtle Ave to Lutheran Cemetery at the end of the Myrtle Ave Line at Metropolitan Ave was in service dating back to the 1870s or so.
I had always known the surface cars continued after the elevated ran above them, but I thought they terminated at Fresh Pond Depot, never realized they turned N on Fresh Pond, then E on Grand Ave working their way to Flushing. Similar to the route followed by the #58 bus today.
If I.m not mistaken, Ridgewood was one of the sites of the Battle of Long Island at the begining of the Reveolutionary War.Continental Army troops that were supposed to have stopped the pursuing Red Coats were instead outflanked & George Washington & his troops were fortunate to reach the East River before the Red Coats could overtake them. The retreat continued until Washington found safe haven in Pennsylvania.
If you do a street-view Google map of Woodbine St where the M crosses over, you can easily see the tracks sticking out of the pavement.
Down by Dekalb and Seneca Avenues, there are more trolley tracks peering out of the blacktop. They are right outside the entrance to the Associated supermarket parking lot. That parking lot was possibly a depot to the Dekalb Ave trolley. That line is now served by the B38 bus. The tracks make a right turn out of the supermarket parking lot onto Seneca Ave, then, it’s assumed, that the tracks make a left onto Dekalb Ave.
Yes, there were carbarns on Seneca and Dekalb Aves. A small shack across the street was the original home of Kozy Shack rice pudding. Was delicious way back around 1960 when I switched buses there to go to Grover Cleveland HS.