new york city is akin to an urban onion with every skin one peels another layer of time is revealed
and when it comes to transportation there's a lot to be discovered although most associate the
city with its iconic yellow taxis subways or grand historic terminals there was a rather recent time
when new york city had one of the world's most premium streetcar networks and today
we will unearth its remains i'm your host ryan socash and you're watching it's history
the development of new york's streetcar network directly affected the rapid progress of this city
but began with extremely primitive technology horse cars were operated in some districts of
the city with animals pulling the cars along rails allowing riders to traverse the city and
connect to railroads ferries and other forms of transportation some complained about the slow
speed and the immense amount of waste left around the city by the new network but generally this
service was an effective alternative for riders who would otherwise experience harsh
weather conditions the expansion of the horse car lines fostered the city's development along their
corridors as the industrial revolution took hold new technologies became available shortly after
the civil war the cable car was introduced in many american cities replacing many of the horse
car lines the cable car operated by attaching a car to a constantly running cable underground to
stop the operator would detach from the cable and apply the brake cable cars were large and faster
than horse cars and provided an intermediary step in the development of the streetcar
however cable cars also had major drawbacks they were expensive to operate and maintain
also the cable propelled them at a constant speed and therefore could be quite deadly when rounding
sharp curves thus as a major form of transit in most cities the cable car was short-lived soon to
be replaced by a new far more efficient technology by the late 1800s electric generators and motor
technology had advanced to the point where it was to be used as a power source for street
cars in 1888 richmond virginia became the first city to successfully electrify a streetcar line
the city of brooklyn followed shortly thereafter electrifying the coney island avenue line in 1890.
subsequently the remaining horse car and cable car lines were replaced by this innovative highly
efficient energy source the last cable car line in new york city ended its run in 1905 the last
horse car line ran all the way up until 1917. the new electric street car spread rapidly throughout
american cities becoming a dominant mode of urban transportation in most cities throughout the first
half of the 20th century ultimately the trolley companies began to face a number of problems
remember this was a time of expanding automobile ownership and increasing automobile traffic
furthermore local governments were becoming increasingly hostile to trolley operators track
repairs were often hindered by demands on local transit companies to also repair adjoining streets
simultaneously municipalities made additional claims on their revenue in new york the nickel
fair was mandated despite inflation trends making once profitable trolley lines into
money losing propositions of course shortly after the city took over transit operations
the fair was raised perhaps the greatest factor in the demise of urban light rail
was the action taken by national city lines of purposefully undermining rail transit operations
jointly owned by general motors standard oil and firestone tires national city lines operated under
the cover of small bus companies systematically buying up privately owned streetcar companies then
replacing streetcars with fume spewing inefficient buses furthermore national city lines lobbied
local governments to eliminate trolley lines as a hindrance to street traffic national city lines
was ultimately found guilty of criminal conspiracy to destroy the american streetcar system
unfortunately the damage had already been done by the time of the verdict 1950 most american
trolleys were gone although national city lines sought for the demise of these networks and made
a real effort to entirely eradicate any evidence of their existence the vastness of the network
made them almost impossible to bury new york city is still filled with remnants you just
need to know where to look most elements of the former network are hiding in plain sight
hundreds if not thousands of minor pieces such as poles tracks or inscriptions found on buildings
there are also plenty of cases of the streetcar network being repurposed for the use of modern
day transport however i'd like to present you with some more magnificent examples let's start with
the queensborough bridge trolley terminal that was once a highly trafficked portion of the network
serving passengers between 1909 and 1959 there was an entire loop track and underground terminal here
trolleys from queens would have come down what is now a pedestrian lane on
the north side of the bridge the tracks ran straight into the portal of the terminal
now a lone remaining kiosk in the bridge plaza stands near its original location
parts are missing or broken and it has no stairs within just a solid concrete floor
but back in the day passengers would have been loaded and trolleys exited towards 59th street
the last known surviving bridge car is rotting away at the trolley museum in kingston new york
when it comes to depots or car barns as they were known we should visit brooklyn where there is a
three-story brick building which takes up an entire block between 2nd and 3rd 58th and 98th
street in sunset park this humongous building once housed countless trolley cars but now it's
occupied by a variety of small businesses and industries this depot was built for the brooklyn
city railroad which was first incorporated as a horse car line in 1853 and later by electrified
streetcars while many older trolley barns were demolished or turned into bus depots this historic
building which handled lines from 2nd and 3rd avenue was compartmentalized for local use over
in queens are the ornamental remains of the former new york and queens railroad company trolley barn
it was built in 1896 and the towers could be seen for miles the railway building contained
the largest car barn in queens and service trolley cars from flushing college point jamaica and long
island ironically the place where the streetcars were housed is now a parking lot accommodating
the same technology that made the entire streetcar industry obsolete in the first place
one building now operated by a laundromat still has the original company inscription in red
when it comes to some of the more subtle examples of the lost network i didn't find a cohesive or
up-to-date list of the areas where tracks are still visible in many cases it was like
a google earth easter egg hunt with enthusiasts reporting track sightings just a few years back
that have already been covered by fresh pavement today on the flip side when new pavement erodes
after a harsh winter segments of the track become available for sightings again near the approach to
the grand avenue bridge it was once possible to see tracks poking out not that long ago
but now the impressions made by the trek under the fresh pavement is all that's visible
on johnson avenue between union and broadway a small sliver has remained unpaved for decades
so you can see the former tracks for trolley line number 14 which traveled from williamsburg all
the way to canarsie via johnson avenue the line ended its service on may the 27th 1951
and was severed from the rest of johnson avenue when the housing project was being constructed
maybe the most moving site of new york city's lost abandoned trolleys can be found on the red
hook waterfront tucked behind fairway and the beard street warehouse is the last remnants of
an attempt to bring back trolleys to brooklyn renowned urban explorer bob diamond dreamed of
reviving the red hook trolley line that ran to the atlantic terminal in downtown brooklyn diamond and
his friend georgie costialo founded the brooklyn historic railroad association and through it
collected 17 decommissioned trolleys sourced predominantly from boston and cleveland with one
from oslo norway dating back to 1897 and another from the army corps of engineers the organization
also salvaged rails and constructed new tracks along the red hook waterfront this was possible
without government support due to the cooperation of george o'connell of the o'connell organization
which owns and operates many of the historic buildings in the neighborhood for a period of time
a one mile loop of trolley track went from the warehouse into the red hook neighborhood along the
conover street and van brunt street the pilot was short-lived however with the city determining that
trolleys were not the best option for improving transit across red hook apparently the project
ended the second day bloomberg was in office the rail tracks were quickly removed and diamond lost
access to the warehouse one trolley remains the 3303 boston tea greenlight dating back to 1951.
it has been painted blue in the last few years but the t logo is still visible the trolley car
now reads no stops on its front place card the doors are in rough shape and locked by chain and
padlock and long gone are the days when the public could enter the inside of the trolley now you
might be wondering why a video about old random track fragments found around new york city is of
any value and i'd like to offer you my thoughts on that anyone who enjoys urban exploring understands
that often the most graphic exhibition of time can be found within deterioration and whereas
major forsaken places such as pripyat ukraine in the chernobyl exclusion zone or centralia
pennsylvania for that matter makes a strong very impactful impression on those who choose to visit
or even research the topics i'd argue that the subtle notion of decaying track fragments
in the contrast of one of the world's richest cities is more of a commentary on vulnerability
that perhaps no matter how grand an idea at some point things will peak and at some point
things will fade only those of us who take the time to appreciate and observe little fragments
of history such as pieces of track in new york can keep that memory alive the zest of the time
thank you for watching its history if you enjoyed this video make sure you see our
episode about the lost chicago tunnels subscribe and definitely consider supporting us on patreon