The West End Line or New Utrecht Avenue Line was a

surface transit A surface, as the term is most generally used, is the outermost or uppermost layer of a physical object or space. It is the portion or region of the object that can first be perceived by an observer using the senses of sight and touch, and is ...

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 primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

, 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 train 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 ...

s 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. A ...

opened. This route is no longer part of any bus line; its southern part (south of Bath Beach) was part of a

bus route A bus (contracted from omnibus, with variants multibus, motorbus, autobus, etc.) is a road vehicle that carries significantly more passengers than an average car or van. It is most commonly used in public transport, but is also in use for ...

(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 Bath Beach 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 Various terms are used for passenger railway lines and equipment; the usage of these terms differs substantially between areas: Rapid transit A rapid transit system is an electric railway characterized by high speed (~) and rapid acceleratio ...

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 shel ...

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 was k ...

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 car A horsecar, horse-drawn tram, horse-drawn streetcar (U.S.), or horse-drawn railway (historical), is an animal-powered (usually horse) tram or streetcar. Summary The horse-drawn tram (horsecar) was an early form of public rail transport, wh ...

s 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 R ...

'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 Boroughs of New York City, borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York (state), New York. Kings County is the most populous Administrative divisions of New York (state)#County, county i ...

'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 West or Occident is one of the four cardinal directions or points of the compass. It is the opposite direction from east and is the direction in which the Sun sets on the Earth. Etymology The word "west" is a Germanic word passed into some ...

, 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 locomot ...

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 R ...

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 New Utrecht ( nl, Nieuw Utrecht) was a town in western Long Island, New York (state), New York encompassing all or part of the present-day Bath Beach, Bay Ridge, Bensonhurst, Borough Park, Brooklyn, Borough Park, Dyker Heights and Fort Hamilton n ...

. 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 The Nassau Electric Railroad was an electric street railway company in the U.S. state of New York. The company operated throughout the borough of Brooklyn, as well as over the Brooklyn Bridge and Williamsburg Bridge into Manhattan. The company wa ...

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 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 ...

and Coney Island. In late May the 86th Street Line was placed in operation, using the West End trackage from Bath Beach 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 River ...

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

in July 1898. The

Brooklyn Rapid Transit Company The Brooklyn Rapid Transit Company (BRT) was a public transit holding company formed in 1896 to acquire and consolidate railway lines in Brooklyn and Queens, New York City, United States. It was a prominent corporation and industry leader using ...

(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. Un ...

, 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 Th ...

, 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 The 62nd Street/New Utrecht Avenue station is a New York City Subway station complex shared by the open-cut BMT Sea Beach Line and the elevated BMT West End Line. It is located at New Utrecht Avenue and 62nd Street in Borough Park and Benson ...

was placed in service, and the Park Row-Coney Island cars were rerouted via the

Sea Beach Line The BMT Sea Beach Line is a rapid transit line of the BMT division of the New York City Subway, connecting the BMT Fourth Avenue Line at 59th Street via a four-track wide open cut to Coney Island in Brooklyn. It has at times hosted the faste ...

; West End cars from

continued to use the West End Line through Bath Beach. 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 Bath Beach 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 t ...

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. Th ...

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 equipmen ...

to Bath Beach. A new bridge over

Coney Island Creek Coney Island Creek is a tidal inlet in Brooklyn, New York City. It was created from a series of streams and inlets by land filling and digging activities starting in the mid-18th century which, by the 19th century, became a continual strait an ...

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

lease to the

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

and New York Consolidated Railroad) 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 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 ...

, 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)