The West End Line or New Utrecht Avenue Line was a surface transit line in

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 ...

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country Continental United States, primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., ...

, running along New Utrecht Avenue and other streets between

Coney Island Coney Island is a peninsular neighborhood and entertainment area in the southwestern section of the New York City borough of Brooklyn. The neighborhood is bounded by Brighton Beach and Manhattan Beach, Brooklyn, Manhattan Beach to its east, L ...

and Sunset Park. Built by the Brooklyn, Bath and Coney Island Railroad as a steam line, it became a

trolley line A tram (called a streetcar or trolley in North America) is a rail vehicle that travels on tramway tracks on public urban streets; some include segments on segregated right-of-way. The tramlines or networks operated as public transport are ...

, along which elevated trains ran until the new elevated

BMT West End Line The BMT West End Line is a line of the New York City Subway, serving the Brooklyn communities of Sunset Park, Borough Park, New Utrecht, Bensonhurst, Bath Beach and Coney Island. The D train operates local on the entire line at all times. ...

opened. This route is no longer part of any bus line; its southern part (south of

Bath Beach Bath Beach is a neighborhood in Brooklyn, New York City, United States. It is located at the southwestern edge of the borough on Gravesend Bay. The neighborhood borders Bensonhurst and New Utrecht to the northeast across 86th Street; Dyker Beac ...

) was part of a bus route (the B64, which replaced the 86th Street Line trolleys, until 2010). In 2013, the B64 route to Coney Island was restored.

History

Steam railroad (1863–1893)

The Brooklyn, Bath and Coney Island Railroad, incorporated in 1862 with Charles Godfrey Gunther as president, opened the first part of its line, from 25th Street and Fifth Avenue to

mainly along New Utrecht Avenue (then the Bath Plank Road), on October 9, 1863. The extension to

was opened on June 9, 1864, making it the first steam railroad to bring

beach A beach is a landform alongside a body of water which consists of loose particles. The particles composing a beach are typically made from rock, such as sand, gravel, shingle, pebbles, etc., or biological sources, such as mollusc s ...

goers from downtown Brooklyn. (The

Coney Island and Brooklyn Railroad The B68 is a bus route that constitutes a public transit line operating in Brooklyn, New York City. The B68 is operated by the MTA New York City Transit Authority. Its precursor was a streetcar line that began operation in June 1862, and ...

had been operating horse cars to the island since 1862.) At the Brooklyn end, the steam line ended at 36th Street and Fifth Avenue, where the BB&CI's own horse cars ran to a connection with those of the

Brooklyn Central and Jamaica Railroad The Atlantic Avenue Railroad was a company in the U.S. state of New York, with a main line connecting downtown Brooklyn with Jamaica along Atlantic Avenue. It was largely a streetcar company that operated its own trains, but the Long Island ...

's Fifth Avenue Line and the

Brooklyn City Railroad The Brooklyn City Railroad (BCRR) was the oldest and one of the largest operators of streetcars ( horsecars and later trolleys) in the City of Brooklyn, New York, continuing in that role when Brooklyn became a borough of New York City in 1898 ...

Greenwood Line Green wood is unseasoned wood. Greenwood or Green wood may also refer to: People * Greenwood (surname) Settlements Australia * Greenwood, Queensland, a locality in the Toowoomba Region * Greenwood, Western Australia, a suburb of Perth ...

at 25th Street and Fifth Avenue. The odd double transfer was made necessary by the

City of 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, beh ...

's refusal to allow the line to operate steam cars within its city limits. The road took its common name from the area of its terminal on Coney Island, where a hotel of the same name, but unconnected to the railroad, existed. Its terminal was known as West End Terminal, a name which survived upon major rebuilding in 1919 as ''New West End Terminal'' before that name fell into disuse. The road was reorganized in 1868, on January 22, 1879, and again on December 1, 1885, the latter time changing its name to the Brooklyn, Bath and West End Railroad, formalizing the use of ''West End'' in the line's name. Before that time, the original steam dummy cars, which consisted of a locomotive and passenger car in one railroad-coach-type frame, were replaced by conventional

steam locomotive A steam locomotive is a locomotive that provides the force to move itself and other vehicles by means of the expansion of steam. It is fuelled by burning combustible material (usually coal, oil or, rarely, wood) to heat water in the loco ...

s pulling unpowered coaches.

Trolley line (1893–1947)

The

Atlantic Avenue Railroad The Atlantic Avenue Railroad was a company in the U.S. state of New York, with a main line connecting downtown Brooklyn with Jamaica along Atlantic Avenue. It was largely a streetcar company that operated its own trains, but the Long Island Ra ...

gained control of the West End in January 1893, leased it on May 8, 1893, and began to electrify it immediately without the permission of the town of New Utrecht. Effective May 21, 1893, the Atlantic Avenue extended its Fifth Avenue Line (which was electrified March 14, 1893) along the West End's trackage to the Union Depot at 36th Street, where West End trains were subsequently terminated. Electric trolleys began running on the West End Line from the Union Depot to Coney Island on November 18, 1893, and soon from the 39th Street Ferry. The Nassau Electric Railroad leased the Atlantic Avenue, and thus the West End, at midnight at the end of April 4, 1896, implementing its universal five-cent fare between Downtown Brooklyn and Coney Island. In late May the 86th Street Line was placed in operation, using the West End trackage from

to Coney Island. Some West End cars were extended 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 Park Row in

Lower Manhattan Lower Manhattan (also known as Downtown Manhattan or Downtown New York) is the southernmost part of Manhattan, the central borough for business, culture, and government in New York City, which is the most populated city in the United States with ...

on February 15, 1898. The Brooklyn, Bath and West End Railroad and

were consolidated into the Nassau Electric Railroad in July 1898. The Brooklyn Rapid Transit Company (BRT) gained control of the Nassau Electric in November 1898 and leased it (and the

Brooklyn Union Elevated Railroad Starting in 1899, the Brooklyn Rapid Transit Company (BRT; 1896–1923) and Brooklyn–Manhattan Transit Corporation (BMT; 1923–1940) operated rapid transit lines in New York City — at first only elevated railways and later also subways. Unt ...

, operator of 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 ...

, among other lines) to the

Brooklyn Heights Railroad The Brooklyn Heights Railroad was a street railway company in the U.S. state of New York. It leased and operated the streetcar lines of the Brooklyn Rapid Transit Company, but started out with the Montague Street Line, a short cable car line con ...

on April 1, 1899.McGraw Electric Railway Manual: The Red Book of American Street Railways Investments
1908, pages 202-210 On June 4, 1899, a new switch at Bath Junction was placed in service, and the Park Row-Coney Island cars were rerouted via the Sea Beach Line; West End cars from Downtown Brooklyn continued to use the West End Line through

. BRT control paved the way for the line to be connected to the elevated system, and, on December 19, 1900, trolleys between 36th Street and

were replaced with elevated trains from Park Row in

; the line beyond Bath Beach to Coney Island was part of the 86th Street Line. Trains operated by

third rail A third rail, also known as a live rail, electric rail or conductor rail, is a method of providing electric power to a railway locomotive or train, through a semi-continuous rigid conductor placed alongside or between the rails of a railway ...

power over the

to a ramp at 37th Street, and, from that point, trains raised

trolley pole A trolley pole is a tapered cylindrical pole of wood or metal, used to transfer electricity from a "live" (electrified) overhead wire to the control and the electric traction motors of a tram or trolley bus. It is a type of current collector. ...

s to operate using

overhead wire An overhead line or overhead wire is an electrical cable that is used to transmit electrical energy to electric locomotives, trolleybuses or trams. It is known variously as: * Overhead catenary * Overhead contact system (OCS) * Overhead equipm ...

to Bath Beach. A new bridge over Coney Island Creek was built to allow heavy elevated trains to run to Coney Island, and this service, from Park Row to Coney Island, began on July 13, 1902, for ten cents. The Nassau Electric Railroad lease to the

was canceled on June 30, 1904, and dual operation began, where the Brooklyn Heights (later the

and

New York Consolidated Railroad Starting in 1899, the Brooklyn Rapid Transit Company (BRT; 1896–1923) and Brooklyn–Manhattan Transit Corporation (BMT; 1923–1940) operated rapid transit lines in New York City — at first only elevated railways and later also subways. ...

) operated the trains to 38th Street, and the surface operation beyond to Coney Island was done by the Nassau Electric. Elevated operations on the surface ended on June 24, 1916, when the new elevated West End Line, connecting into the

Fourth Avenue Subway The BMT Fourth Avenue Line is a rapid transit line of the New York City Subway, mainly running under Fourth Avenue in Brooklyn. The line is served by the D, N, and R at all times; the R typically runs local, while the D and N run express dur ...

, opened to 18th Avenue. The line was built as part of Contract 4 of the Dual Contracts, but at the BRT's own expense.James Blaine Walker
Fifty Years of Rapid Transit, 1864-1917
1918, pages 254 to 255 Trolleys continued to operate on the portion south of the Church Avenue Line (39th Street) until June 28, 1947.

Stations

References

{{BMT companies Streetcar lines in Brooklyn Brooklyn–Manhattan Transit Corporation 1863 establishments in New York (state)