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| Streetcars criscrossed the five boroughs like cobwebs. The Third Avenue Railway controlled most trolleys in the Bronx. The company was profitable for many years. But by the 1920s, the city's Board of Transportation wanted the trolleys to be replaced by a large-scale bus system. With this in mind, a bus subsidiary was formed to petition for a system of lines in the Bronx. It was successful, and by 1942 it would become the world's largest diesel bus fleet. For the trolley system, it was the beginning of the end. By 1948, all the trolleys were gone to be replaced by buses. It has been alleged that General Motors and an unspecified tire company conspired to speed the trolleys' demise. | |||||||||||
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| Looking SE at White Plains Road & 233 Street in Wakefield, Bronx directly below IRT station.
RIGHT: Tremont Avenue looking west at Third Avenue. Former stop for old Third Avenue elevated train. Bricks partly visible along with track. Track mirrors today's BX40/42 bus line. FAR RIGHT: 138 Street looking west at Major Deegan Expressway. Tracks crossed bridge to probably go across 135th Street as does today's BX33 bus line. |
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Meanwhile, in Brooklyn...
Fulton Street and S. Portland Avenue in 1929. By 1942 the trolleys and the el would be gone. Brooklyn Trolleys, James Greller and Edward Watson
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| LEFT:Looking west at Fulton Street & Franklin Avenue. Crosswalk is part of the newly renovated Franklin Avenue shuttle; right, Fulton Street, looking east at Washington Avenue.
The 25 ran on Fulton until its abandonment in 1941.--ed. |
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| Broadway and Conway Street looking west. Directly under Eastern Parkway Station for J train.
Likely a part of the 52. --ed. |
St. John's Place looking west at Nostrand Avenue. Tracks follow today's B45 bus route.
The 5 ran on St. John's Place, where it intersected the 44 at Nostrand. --ed. |
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| Flushing Avenue and Bedford Avenue looking northeast. Flushing Avenue, which hasn't been paved in decades, is a prime hunting ground for exposed tracks. This was the 48. --ed. RIGHT: Gold Street (here called Albee Square) between Fulton Street & Willoughby Avenue looking north in Downtown Brooklyn. Formerly the province of the #21. --ed. |
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Lorimer Street at Harrison Avenue in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. (where the 48 ran --ed.) | ||||
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Gary Fonville is an MTA employee and former bus driver.
Page completed Feb. 25, 2006 ©2006 Midnight Fish erpietri@earthlink.net |
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