The Myrtle Avenue Line, also called the Myrtle Avenue Elevated, is a fully

elevated An elevated railway or elevated train (also known as an el train for short) is a rapid transit railway with the tracks above street level on a viaduct or other elevated structure (usually constructed from steel, cast iron, concrete, or bricks ...

line of the

New York City Subway The New York City Subway is a rapid transit system owned by the government of New York City and leased to the New York City Transit Authority, an affiliate agency of the state-run Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA). Opened on October ...

as part of the BMT division. The line is the last surviving remnant of one of the original

Brooklyn Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York. Kings County is the most populous county in the State of New York, and the second-most densely populated county in the United States, be ...

elevated railroads. The remnant line operates as a spur branch from the Jamaica Line to

Bushwick Bushwick is a neighborhood in the northern part of the New York City borough of Brooklyn. It is bounded by the neighborhood of Ridgewood, Queens, to the northeast; Williamsburg to the northwest; East New York and the cemeteries of Highland Par ...

, Ridgewood, and Middle Village, terminating at its original eastern terminal across the street from Lutheran Cemetery. Until 1969, the line continued west into

Downtown Brooklyn Downtown Brooklyn is the third largest central business district in New York City after Midtown Manhattan and Lower Manhattan), and is located in the northwestern section of the borough of Brooklyn. The neighborhood is known for its office and r ...

and, until 1944, over the

Brooklyn Bridge The Brooklyn Bridge is a hybrid cable-stayed/ suspension bridge in New York City, spanning the East River between the boroughs of Manhattan and Brooklyn. Opened on May 24, 1883, the Brooklyn Bridge was the first fixed crossing of the East Rive ...

to the

Park Row Terminal The Park Row station was a major elevated railway terminal constructed on the Manhattan side of the Brooklyn Bridge, across from New York City Hall and the IRT’s elevated City Hall station. It served as the terminal for BMT services operating ...

Manhattan Manhattan (), known regionally as the City, is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the five boroughs of New York City. The borough is also coextensive with New York County, one of the original counties of the U.S. state ...

Extent and service

The following services use part or all of the BMT Myrtle Avenue Line: The Myrtle Avenue Line is served by the service. The line begins at Metropolitan Avenue in

Middle Village, Queens Middle Village is a mainly residential neighborhood in the central section of the borough of Queens, New York City, bounded to the north by the Long Island Expressway, to the east by Woodhaven Boulevard, to the south by Cooper Avenue and the form ...

. It heads southwest along a private

right-of-way Right of way is the legal right, established by grant from a landowner or long usage (i.e. by prescription), to pass along a specific route through property belonging to another. A similar ''right of access'' also exists on land held by a gov ...

, eventually joining an elevated structure above Palmetto Street in Ridgewood and

Myrtle Avenue Myrtle Avenue is a street that runs from Duffield Street in Downtown Brooklyn to Jamaica Avenue in Richmond Hill, Queens, in New York City, United States. Route description Queens Myrtle Avenue has been a major thoroughfare since the early ...

in the

neighborhood of

. Just before reaching Broadway (on which the

BMT Jamaica Line The BMT Jamaica Line, also known as the Broadway - Brooklyn Line is an elevated rapid transit line of the B Division of the New York City Subway, in Brooklyn and Queens, New York City, United States. It runs from the Williamsburg Bridge southea ...

operates), the line curves to the left and merges into the Jamaica Line tracks just east of the

station. The still-existing upper level of the station, which was called "Broadway", opened in 1889 and closed on October 4, 1969.

History

Opening

The first section of the line ran over Myrtle Avenue from Johnson and Adams Streets to a junction with what was then known as the Main Line at Grand Avenue. It opened on April 10, 1888, by the Union Elevated Railroad Company, which was leased to the

Brooklyn Elevated Railroad The Brooklyn Elevated Railroad was an elevated railroad company in Brooklyn, New York City, United States, operated from 1885 until 1899, when it was merged into the Brooklyn Rapid Transit Company-controlled Brooklyn Union Elevated Railroad. Lines ...

for its operation. Trains continued along Grand Avenue and Lexington Avenue to Broadway, where the line joined the

Broadway Elevated The BMT Jamaica Line, also known as the Broadway - Brooklyn Line is an elevated rapid transit line of the B Division of the New York City Subway, in Brooklyn and Queens, New York City, United States. It runs from the Williamsburg Bridge southea ...

, and then along Broadway to

East New York East New York is a residential neighborhood in the eastern section of the borough of Brooklyn in New York City, United States. Its boundaries, starting from the north and moving clockwise, are roughly the Cemetery Belt and the Queens borough li ...

. On September 1, 1888, the line was extended westward along Adams Street and Sands Street, to a terminal at Washington Street for the Brooklyn Bridge. On April 27, 1889, the line was extended east along Myrtle Avenue to Broadway, and to Wyckoff Avenue (at the Brooklyn/Queens border) on July 20, 1889. However, the station at Knickerbocker Avenue did not open until August 15, 1889. The west end of the line was extended north along Adams Street to an elevated station over Sands Street and High Street in 1896. The connection to the Brooklyn Bridge tracks opened on June 18, 1898, along a private right-of-way halfway between Concord Street and Cathedral Place. The first trains to use it came from the

Fifth Avenue Elevated The Fifth Avenue Line, also called the Fifth Avenue Elevated or Fifth Avenue–Bay Ridge Line, was an elevated rail line in Brooklyn, New York City, United States. It ran above Hudson Avenue, Flatbush Avenue, Fifth Avenue, 38th Street, and T ...

(using the Myrtle Avenue El west of Hudson Avenue). In 1906 the el was connected via a ramp to the Lutheran Cemetery Line, a former

steam dummy A steam dummy or dummy engine, in the United States and Canada, was a steam locomotive enclosed in a wooden box structure made to resemble a railroad passenger coach. Steam dummies had some popularity in the first decades of railroading in the U. ...

line to Metropolitan Avenue that had opened on September 3, 1881. That section was elevated as part of the

Dual Contracts The Dual Contracts, also known as the Dual Subway System, were contracts for the construction and/or rehabilitation and operation of rapid transit lines in the City of New York. The contracts were signed on March 19, 1913, by the Interborough Ra ...

on February 22, 1915.

Connection to the Broadway Line

On July 29, 1914, the connection to the

Broadway-Brooklyn Line The BMT Jamaica Line, also known as the Broadway - Brooklyn Line is an elevated rapid transit line of the B Division of the New York City Subway, in Brooklyn and Queens, New York City, United States. It runs from the Williamsburg Bridge southeas ...

was opened, allowing Myrtle Avenue Line trains to operate via the

Williamsburg Bridge The Williamsburg Bridge is a suspension bridge in New York City across the East River connecting the Lower East Side of Manhattan at Delancey Street with the Williamsburg neighborhood of Brooklyn at Broadway near the Brooklyn-Queens Expressw ...

. Construction on this connection began in August 1913. This service became

BMT 10 The M Queens Boulevard/Sixth Avenue Local is a rapid transit service in the B Division of the New York City Subway. Its route emblem, or "bullet", is colored since it uses the IND Sixth Avenue Line in Manhattan. The M operates at all times. ...

in 1924, and the original Myrtle Avenue Line service to Park Row became BMT 11, later referred to as M and MJ (although the MJ designation never appeared on any equipment used on the line). As part of the

rebuilding of the Myrtle Avenue El, a third track was installed north of

. This track started from a point south of Central Avenue through Myrtle – Wyckoff Avenues to a bumper just south of Seneca Avenue. The only switches were at the southern end so the center track could only be used for layups (parking). It was never used in revenue service and was removed by 1946. In Fiscal Year 1930, the platforms at Seneca Avenue were lengthened to accommodate an eight-car train of

Standard Standard may refer to: Symbols * Colours, standards and guidons, kinds of military signs * Standard (emblem), a type of a large symbol or emblem used for identification Norms, conventions or requirements * Standard (metrology), an object th ...

subway cars.

Truncation and later years

On March 5, 1944, the line west of Bridge–Jay Streets was closed coincident with the end of elevated service over the Brooklyn Bridge. On January 21, 1953, the Grand Avenue station was closed so that it could be torn down and therefore complete the demolition of the

BMT Lexington Avenue Line The BMT Lexington Avenue Line (also called the Lexington Avenue elevated) was the first standard elevated railway in Brooklyn, New York, operated in its later days by the Brooklyn Rapid Transit Company, the Brooklyn–Manhattan Transit Corpor ...

. The rest of the line from Broadway to Jay Street closed on October 4, 1969, and was demolished soon afterward, ending the MJ service. A free transfer to the B54 bus replaced the MJ, and service was increased on that bus. The free transfer at Jay Street was also replaced with a bus transfer. In July 2017, the

Metropolitan Transportation Authority The Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) is a public benefit corporation responsible for public transportation in the New York City metropolitan area of the U.S. state of New York. The MTA is the largest public transit authority in th ...

started rebuilding two parts of the Myrtle Avenue Line, the approaches to the junction with the

(which lasted until April 2018, requiring suspension of service between Wyckoff and Myrtle Avenues), and the Fresh Pond Bridge over the

Montauk Branch The Montauk Branch is a rail line owned and operated by the Long Island Rail Road in the U.S. state of New York. The branch runs the length of Long Island, 115 miles (185 km) from Long Island City on the west to Montauk on the east. Howe ...

in Queens (which lasted from July to September 2017). This work was undertaken in preparation for a reconstruction of the

BMT Canarsie Line The BMT Canarsie Line (sometimes referred to as the 14th Street–Eastern Line) is a rapid transit line of the B Division of the New York City Subway system, named after its terminus in the Canarsie neighborhood of Brooklyn. It is served by the ...

tunnels under the

East River The East River is a saltwater tidal estuary in New York City. The waterway, which is actually not a river despite its name, connects Upper New York Bay on its south end to Long Island Sound on its north end. It separates the borough of Quee ...

, which took place between 2019 and 2020. Regular service resumed on April 30, 2018.

Chaining information

*The entire line is chained BMT M. This has no relation to the fact that the M service operates on the line, though both letters may have been chosen because 'Myrtle' begins with 'M'. *The tracks on the line are M1 towards Metropolitan Avenue and M2 towards Manhattan. *''Chaining zero'' is ''BMT Eastern'', located at the intersection of the line of the

and the

Chambers Street station Chambers Street may refer to: Streets *Chambers Street (Edinburgh), a street in Edinburgh, Scotland *Chambers Street (Manhattan), a street in New York City, New York, USA New York City Subway stations *Chambers Street (BMT Nassau Street Line), s ...

on the

BMT Nassau Street Line The BMT Nassau Street Line is a rapid transit line of the B Division of the New York City Subway system in Manhattan. It is a continuation of the BMT Jamaica Line in Brooklyn after crossing the Williamsburg Bridge into Manhattan; it continues to ...

by way of the now-dismantled original BMT Brooklyn Bridge Elevated Line and the original Myrtle Avenue Elevated through downtown Brooklyn. *As originally surveyed, this line was measured in a railroad east direction from Park Row. Once the Board of Transportation took over the system, the direction was reversed so that railroad north on this line became towards Manhattan, and corresponds roughly to a westerly to southwesterly ''compass'' direction.

Station listing

References

External links

* * *
NYCsubway.org – BMT Myrtle Branch

"Myrtle Ave El, Oct. 1969, plus a few earlier shots"
{{DEFAULTSORT:Myrtle Avenue Brooklyn–Manhattan Transit Corporation New York City Subway lines Railway lines opened in 1889