TROLLEY POLE, East Flatbush

by Kevin Walsh

I haven’t been down this stretch of Church Avenue in East Flatbush since I was a kid, when my parents and I would take the B35 bus almost all the way out to Brownsville. Previously I had no idea this decommissioned trolley pole was still there at the SW corner of Schenectady Avenue, and this one is the rare bird with a crossbar that held multiple wires.  Now I know it’s there because of the magic of Google Street View.

The #8 trolley plied this route, and hung in there until 10/31/56 — the last surviving surface route in Brooklyn!

4/6/15

3 comments

Larry April 7, 2015 - 12:36 pm

Yes, the last route was the Church Ave line..they used the Streamline mid 30’s high speed cars that were also on the Coney Island Avenue and McDonald Ave trolleys after they junked all the older cars…..

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TJD April 8, 2015 - 11:00 am

The picture is interesting…is the car moving and the woman stopping or is the car stationary but parked in the crosswalk ?

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Dan November 9, 2015 - 2:35 pm

The Church Avenue Line was covered by two routes, 8 and 13. 8 Line ran from Canarsie Depot to ferry below First Avenue off 39th Street. 13 line ran from Canarsie Depot to Gravesend Avenue (later McDonald Avenue) and 16th Avenue Loop. Cars were 8000 type and later 6000 type. When the massive abandonments began around 1949, 1000 type Streamline Cars from 9th avenue Depot became surplus and 7th avenue Line cars of the “Century Series” out of 9th were switched to 8 Line replacing 6000 type cars out of Canarsie Depot.on Church. Line # 8 was changed to #35 and 13 Line routing was abandoned.

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