BRT/BMT 4th Avenue Line - Original Station Details

The 4th avenue line construction started in 1915 It was actually the Municipal Railway corporation in partners with the City of New York.  It was a subsidiary of the BRT .   The 1970's construction was basically to extend the platforms to handle 10 car trains and the newer 75 foot cars of 8 at the time.

There are a few spots you can still see the old 

45 St still has the round poles in spots and 9th street still has the old tile work in the culver corridor

The most interesting station is 36 street  It only has exit stairs on one end  The reason for this is that the original plan for the station was changed   The station was built with future connections for a 40 street connection to the West End and Culver  When that connection was made the station moved north by about 300 feet to accomadate the West End connection as it is today.  If you look south of the station the tile work extends to past the point of the West end.  The three original tunnel entrances for the 40 street connection are still there  The is one on track 2 going northbound.  There is a deep one in between tracks 2 and 4 ending at the West end portal and there is one in between tracks 1 and 3 going southbound  If you ever went local going southbound the train does a curve to the right as you leave 36 st  Thats to get around the downgrade for the 40 st connection

Its a little hard to see but this is looking at the deep entrance from 40 st in between tracks 2 and 4

At 59 street there are two tunnel entrances that were supposed to go to Staten Island   

AT 65 street there is a bridge over the LIRR Bay Ridge branch that has accommodations for 4 tracks   The plan was to eventually add 2 more tracks between 59 street and 95 street   That is also why 86 street is a middle platform   It was supposed to be an express stop with another mid platform on the other two tracks

Thank you for that info.  Based on what you said, I looked on the nycsubway.org website and found only this one picture of the original tilework at 9th street.  It would be great to find more.

Also found this for the 59th St station from the same website.

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https://www.goodreads.com/book.../157641.Subway_Style

Somewhere in the ever-encroaching tide of railroad books I have "Subway Style" published by the NYC Transit Museum. It is a book that is an excellent and thorough history of all the publicly-visible station features.  I will dig it out and see if they mention the 4th Avenue line, and if they have any photos or drawings.  It might take a few days.

There are a few copies available on Amazon, for low prices. I recommend the book for anyone modeling or just interested in the subways of NYC.

That is a great book, and I have been wearing out my copy looking up info! I'm pretty sure there's no mention of the 4th Avenue line in it, but maybe I've missed it.

I have asked the cat to move over to another pile of books, to allow access to Subway Styles.  After an open and frank exchange of opinions, he acquiesced.  Check the bottom of the first column of the index on page 239.  There are a few entries about the 4th Ave line. Probably not what you're looking for, though.  I agree, it's a book packed with wonderful photos of a complex system, built back when aesthetics counted as much as utility.

What part of the West Side, and when, did you inhabit? Our paths may have crossed.

I'll be sure to check that reference in Subway Style.

I lived in Manhattan on the West Side (80th and 108th Streets) from 1953 to 1967. Between then and 1978 I lived in the Bronx and for a short time in Greenwich Village. I emigrated to NJ afterwards.

State Street, Brooklyn Heights from 1970 to 1971. West 105 and Riverside from 1972 through 1979. W 121 between Bway and Amst. until 1990, then back to the ancestral home in the sticks.

As a kid from the country, visiting Manhattan with my family, I loved to buy a token (15 cents) and go through the turnstile to get to Macy's at Xmas time. Even as an adult, I still feel the rush of excitement when going down the stairs and getting onto the platform.

For me, a subway ride is still a treat.

Joe, what part of the Bronx?

It's great to have Ben on the forum, his interest in model railroading combined with his job as a motorman inthe NYC subway system make him a wealth of knowledge for those modeling subways.

@coach joe posted:

Joe, what part of the Bronx?

Kingsbridge, University Heights, and 238th St. near Broadway (we moved around a lot).

I grew up on the north end of the Grand Concourse, between Bedford Park and Mosholou Parkway and went to Manhattan college so I spent time in two of your old neighborhoods.

Manhattan Prep, class of 1971, and Manhattan College, Mechanical Engineering, Class of 1975. 😁

Manhattan Civil Engineering "79

Wow fond memories. I grew up on the East side near theZerega avenue station of the IRT 6.

Thanks for the tip about the Subway Styles book.  Got a very reasonably priced copy on abebooks.com

Also cool to see the 45th street station here, as it was the closest station to the apartment in Brooklyn in which I grew up (until age 7).

Years ago I remember seeing tiles near the stairwells at Bay Ridge Avenue ("BR") and 77th Street.

Thanks from me also. I just picked up a copy of Subway Style from Thrift Books for about $17. I am not a native New Yorker, but did a short stint in school there , got married and had one kid there and lived in three different boroughs in the 70s and 80s. I worked there on and off until about 2005. I consider my self an adopted New Yorker.

I rode a lot of subways. I loved to get in the first car and look through the window at the track ahead. Where else could you get a "cab ride" for 40 cents ( at the time, I think)

These were copied for nycsybway.org. The stairwells from 77thStreet, Bay Ridge Avenue, 53rd Street, 25th Street, Prospect Avenue, and 9th Street.  Nothing found for Union Street (which I frequented often when the original tile was there), 45t Street, or 86th Street (which I somewhat remember original tile there).  DeKalb Avenue, Pacific Street, 36th Street, and 59th Street still have original tiles or at least photos showing them.