I so wish that the elevated network was still intact. What a mistake it was to demolish it. As someone who is pursuing transit planning, I seriously am intrigued as to the feasibility of rebuilding it in the future.
I think it was pulled down when it needed heavy repairs, but replacing it with a bus in the street could not be satisfactory. Unfortunately Greenie types would prevent a railway being built over any street these days.
@@tressteleg1 The city neglected the lines so that they would would have an excuse to demolish them. I think it would take a lot of muscle and coercion to build elevated rail in New York but it does seem that realtors are slowly starting to warm up to the idea as now there are many expensive apartments going up along the elevated IRT Flushing Line in Queens.
You are probably correct about intentional neglect. Nevertheless I think that today the only acceptable method of subway construction in areas already fully built up would be to go underground, and as you can see from the snail’s pace construction of other routes in New York, that is extremely slow and expensive.
I’m not saying that you should not try, but knowing how the world thing has changed in the last hundred years or so since the last elevated line was built along a street in the USA, you will need more than just a little bit of good luck.
My husband told me that ,in 1965 and 1966, when he was in high school, he worked part time at Nadel's Bookbindery at the corner of Myrtle avenue and bridge street on the second floor....the Jay street station was outside his window.....he never rode that train ......
Thanks Trainluvr. Richard sure knew his subject. I have looked at quite a few of your photographic videos and they contain plenty of great photos. Other New York enthusiasts should also look at those. So far there have been 152 views of this video, more than I expected for a foreign (to me) subject. And this is the first US evening that it is been available.
An excellent film of the Myrtle Avenue El. I never got to ride it. Unfortunately, the only thing I remember about the Myrtle Avenue El is when they were taking it down.
When I was 8 years of age back in 1968, my friends and I used to play at Fort Green park. The park has a high hill where you can look down at the Myrtle Ave el. When looking at the trains (Q cars) I knew even at that age there was something unique about them compared to the other subway cars in service at that time. Unfortunately I never had a chance to ride the el and they were closed the following year.
It’s a pity that it closed, being only replaced with buses which nobody likes. Unfortunately in life we miss opportunities assuming things will be there forever, but as you saw, often they disappear very suddenly. At least you saw it, even if a ride was missed.
I was born in 1964 and I remember as small child the last day before the Myrtle Ave line was shutdown, taking me and my brother on the train, riding from Broadway/Myrtle, to Jay St. I grew up in the Eleanor Roosevelt Houses on Dekalb Ave and from my bedroom window, I could see the Broadway/Myrtle trainstation. The Myrtle Ave train on top and the J train on Broadway on the bottom. A part of the old structure still exists, on Myrtle Ave, between Broadway and Lewis Ave
1960s the station's had coal stove for heat I also remember the conductor had to open the car. Door manually with a wood handle the cars were cold in the winter and hot in the summer but it was an experience to sit in those trains the last time they ran was 1969🎉😂
9:46 wow, if the line wasn't demolished, it's very likely that the Marriott Hotel would've never been built! (The part of Myrtle Avenue between Jay Street and Adams street was demapped when The Marriott Hotel was built)
They foust to tair down all the extra elevated lines down on purpose. It was not a mistake . It was the old president LaGuardia and Robert mosses fusted the TA workers to tair down these extra elevated lines down. The IND and the BMT and the iRT lines down. Especially the Third Ave Elevated line down in south Bronx wich was a big crime and a terrible thing to do is to tair down all these extra elevated lines down for nothing. What a big waste of money.
Politicians are often keen to make decisions which affect those less likely to vote for them, just to win votes from, in this case, people who never use public transport. And to think that an airport is named after that LaGuardia! I wonder how much he paid for the honour?
10:10 An that stub is still there in 2021. It's the longest stub of abandoned elevated in the entire city. Even longer than the stub at West Farms Sq and nearby Atlantic Avenue/Broadway Junction. (Though before 2003, the Atlantic Ave Stub for the former Fulton El was longer.)
When preparing the video I checked with Google Earth images, and was surprised to see that such a long stretch remained but without tracks. I suppose they have some reason for leaving it there. Thanks for the other details.
@@tressteleg1 I agree with you 100 percent. Back in 1968 we took a trip on the Myrtle Ave El and went to Downtown Brooklyn and back to the terminal at Metropolitan Ave on ground level. The stations were Island platforms and had wood roofs and wood columns holding the roofs. From the Bridge Jay St. Terminal we could see the stone towers of the Brooklyn Bridge 4 blocks away. Unfortunately we did not think to bring our camera along. Those were the Times of the Mad Men era!
Well at least you got to ride it once. I’m sure we have all made the mistake of not taking photographs on the assumption that whatever it was would remain forever but of course it did not. As an outsider, my observation was that instead of making the structure stronger, they simply took it away and dumped the riders onto buses which I suppose just got stuck in the traffic with everything else. Thanks a lot!😒
if you look at the metal colums on the brooklyn bridge you will notice that they are exactly the same as the ones on the old stub of the myrtle el and the alabama ave el over fulton ave
They could have rebuilt this structure. What a shame . If things could have been different. There was no money. Today it has been replaced by the B54 which runs to Downtown Brooklyn to Jay Street. They figured it would be cheaper. .
It’s surprises me that America is supposed to be such a rich country, but does things like this - closes something rather than upgrade it, and puts on what I guess must be just a miserable bus service.
@@tressteleg1 I used to live on Clinton Ave/Myrtle. The B54 is hot garbage! That area now needs a train line as the population has exploded since the 2000s.
When the city tore down the myrtle ave 'EL' in 1970 i think of the song from marmalade 'reflections of my life' that was released that same year. i called it "the end of the myrtle ave 'EL' song"
@@michaelquinones-lx6ks It seems to me that rather than make that El stronger, or build a set of new lighter trains, the city in all its ?wisdom decided that buses would be better (cheaper). Maybe the voters there supported the ’wrong’ party.
I enjoyed your video and sorry about your friend Richards passing a few years ago. I wished they would of kept it up, but as of now with this white house politicians in office now,don't know what the future will bring. I'm sure you heard everything that is going on.
Richard had been in an out of hospital with heart problems for many years prior to his passing. The Myrtle Avenue line was closed very many years ago, so today’s politicians can’t be blamed for that. Unfortunately elevated railways above streets are no longer acceptable and the cost of tunnels is too great, so unfortunately those residents will be stuck with buses caught in traffic.
@@EdwardM-t8p The issue was that the old structure was too weak for normal weight trains and was starting to become worn out so they chose the cheap bus option. I would suspect that plans to replace noisy steel with concrete anywhere would lead to calls for a tunnel.
LETS REBUILD AGAIN THE MYRTLE AVE EL FROM DOWNTOWN BROOKLYN JAY STREET-MYRTLE AVE ESPECIALLY JAY STREET-METROTECH TO METROPOLITAN-MIDDLE VILLAGE MJ LINE WITH NO LONGER BUS CAN’T WAIT TO SEE IT TO THE NEXT FUTURE.
Unfortunately in the 1960s when the line needed strengthening and heavy maintenance, the cheap and nasty bus option was taken. As fascinating as elevated railways are to myself, nowadays they are considered socially unacceptable while the tunnel option would be considered unaffordable. How long have they been working on the Second Avenue Tunnels? Many decades I think. Probably the best option you could ever expect would be a segregated light rail line along the corridor although I see from Google Maps that in places the street is a bit narrow and taking away parking spaces is also socially unacceptable. It’s just a pity the residents are stuck with crappy buses.
I have been friends with Richard and his family since 1975. On this later visit, he offered to show me his old movie films and I ran my video camera and you can see the results.
@@tressteleg1 Hopefully one day Richard could get that film scanned and graded - there's still a few places around that will do it for a reasonable fee. In the meantime, this is pretty amazing!
Unfortunately we lost Richard about 12 years ago, but I am still in occasional contact with his son who told me that his father transferred the films onto video tape using a camera like I did but those tapes no longer can be read and unfortunately the movie films were discarded after that video transfer was made. So what I have got is all that exists and now you have seen it. I have yet to publish his work on Staten Island when there were still road crossings of the tracks but sadly the quality is pretty poor.
@@tressteleg1 The last train ran on 10/4/69. They were the last wooden rapid transit equipment to operate in North America. The old AB Standard cars on the BMT were retired in the summer of 1969 with the last train running in August. They were replaced with R6, R7, and R9 cars which were displaced from the IND by new R40 and R42 car deliveries.
Richard Moncrieff told me, possibly in the video, that wooden cars were retained for Myrtle Avenue because they were lighter and so more suitable for the weak elevated structure. As for the date 4 October or 10 April? Neither are in summer.
I don’t think I didn’t think of it! Cameraman Richard died about 13 years ago. A few years ago his son recognised one of my other videos created by his father and got in contact with me. I asked him about the film, and he said his father made his own digital versions on tape, and then discarded the films. Unfortunately his father‘s digital versions did not last and what I have is all that can ever exist.
There is a few more videos of mine featuring Richard, and if you have not already seen them, you will find them amongst those in this list. I think I have covered everything else made by Richard. USA Trains Trolleys th-cam.com/play/PLLtOIHp49XNAIhdn1FN3Bw9Q9G5J7zJ9w.html
Silent movie film was very expensive in those days, especially for young workers. I’m not sure when sound was an option added to movie film but anybody purchasing that would have been up for considerably more money. Only the wealthiest of fans could afford sound movie and the special cameras which could record it.
I so wish that the elevated network was still intact. What a mistake it was to demolish it. As someone who is pursuing transit planning, I seriously am intrigued as to the feasibility of rebuilding it in the future.
I think it was pulled down when it needed heavy repairs, but replacing it with a bus in the street could not be satisfactory. Unfortunately Greenie types would prevent a railway being built over any street these days.
@@tressteleg1 The city neglected the lines so that they would would have an excuse to demolish them. I think it would take a lot of muscle and coercion to build elevated rail in New York but it does seem that realtors are slowly starting to warm up to the idea as now there are many expensive apartments going up along the elevated IRT Flushing Line in Queens.
You are probably correct about intentional neglect. Nevertheless I think that today the only acceptable method of subway construction in areas already fully built up would be to go underground, and as you can see from the snail’s pace construction of other routes in New York, that is extremely slow and expensive.
@@tressteleg1 I wouldn't be so fatalistic about the prospects of new rail though. At least why not try?
I’m not saying that you should not try, but knowing how the world thing has changed in the last hundred years or so since the last elevated line was built along a street in the USA, you will need more than just a little bit of good luck.
My husband told me that ,in 1965 and 1966, when he was in high school, he worked part time at Nadel's Bookbindery at the corner of Myrtle avenue and bridge street on the second floor....the Jay street station was outside his window.....he never rode that train ......
I bet he is kicking himself now!
His narration is very detailed and accurate. I have a video showing slides of most of the BMT car types very clearly on my channel.
Thanks Trainluvr. Richard sure knew his subject. I have looked at quite a few of your photographic videos and they contain plenty of great photos. Other New York enthusiasts should also look at those. So far there have been 152 views of this video, more than I expected for a foreign (to me) subject. And this is the first US evening that it is been available.
I remember riding this El. And many times,too! And what a memory! The footage showed the long smokestacks of “the late” Cascade Laundries!
😊😄👍
An excellent film of the Myrtle Avenue El. I never got to ride it. Unfortunately, the only thing I remember about the Myrtle Avenue El is when they were taking it down.
I’m pleased it helped with your knowledge of the line.
Yes it did. Keep up the good work and thanks.
@@danielwrynn4707 😊👍
@@tressteleg1 Thanks for the compliment.
When I was 8 years of age back in 1968, my friends and I used to play at Fort Green park. The park has a high hill where you can look down at the Myrtle Ave el. When looking at the trains (Q cars) I knew even at that age there was something unique about them compared to the other subway cars in service at that time. Unfortunately I never had a chance to ride the el and they were closed the following year.
It’s a pity that it closed, being only replaced with buses which nobody likes. Unfortunately in life we miss opportunities assuming things will be there forever, but as you saw, often they disappear very suddenly. At least you saw it, even if a ride was missed.
I was born in 1964 and I remember as small child the last day before the Myrtle Ave line was shutdown, taking me and my brother on the train, riding from Broadway/Myrtle, to Jay St. I grew up in the Eleanor Roosevelt Houses on Dekalb Ave and from my bedroom window, I could see the Broadway/Myrtle trainstation. The Myrtle Ave train on top and the J train on Broadway on the bottom. A part of the old structure still exists, on Myrtle Ave, between Broadway and Lewis Ave
1960s the station's had coal stove for heat I also remember the conductor had to open the car. Door manually with a wood handle the cars were cold in the winter and hot in the summer but it was an experience to sit in those trains the last time they ran was 1969🎉😂
I’m pleased that Richard’s movie film has brought back happy memories 😊
9:46 wow, if the line wasn't demolished, it's very likely that the Marriott Hotel would've never been built! (The part of Myrtle Avenue between Jay Street and Adams street was demapped when The Marriott Hotel was built)
And interesting thought. Maybe Marriott flashed some money around to hasten the line’s demise 😄
The part of Myrtle between Flatbush and Jay is also now demapped.
They foust to tair down all the extra elevated lines down on purpose. It was not a mistake . It was the old president LaGuardia and Robert mosses fusted the TA workers to tair down these extra elevated lines down. The IND and the BMT and the iRT lines down. Especially the Third Ave Elevated line down in south Bronx wich was a big crime and a terrible thing to do is to tair down all these extra elevated lines down for nothing. What a big waste of money.
Politicians are often keen to make decisions which affect those less likely to vote for them, just to win votes from, in this case, people who never use public transport. And to think that an airport is named after that LaGuardia! I wonder how much he paid for the honour?
10:10 An that stub is still there in 2021. It's the longest stub of abandoned elevated in the entire city. Even longer than the stub at West Farms Sq and nearby Atlantic Avenue/Broadway Junction. (Though before 2003, the Atlantic Ave Stub for the former Fulton El was longer.)
When preparing the video I checked with Google Earth images, and was surprised to see that such a long stretch remained but without tracks. I suppose they have some reason for leaving it there. Thanks for the other details.
@@tressteleg1 Probably as as art to make Myrtle Ave look more interesting.
That, or quite likely declared a historic relic, or something like that.
@@tressteleg1 I agree with you 100 percent. Back in 1968 we took a trip on the Myrtle Ave El and went to Downtown Brooklyn and back to the terminal at Metropolitan Ave on ground level. The stations were Island platforms and had wood roofs and wood columns holding the roofs. From the Bridge Jay St. Terminal we could see the stone towers of the Brooklyn Bridge 4 blocks away. Unfortunately we did not think to bring our camera along. Those were the Times of the Mad Men era!
Well at least you got to ride it once. I’m sure we have all made the mistake of not taking photographs on the assumption that whatever it was would remain forever but of course it did not. As an outsider, my observation was that instead of making the structure stronger, they simply took it away and dumped the riders onto buses which I suppose just got stuck in the traffic with everything else. Thanks a lot!😒
11:51 thats the very definition of deferred maintenance.
👍😊
if you look at the metal colums on the brooklyn bridge you will notice that they are exactly the same as the ones on the old stub of the myrtle el and the alabama ave el over fulton ave
Well I guess the same company had contracts to build both.
They could have rebuilt this structure. What a shame . If things could have been different. There was no money. Today it has been replaced by the B54 which runs to Downtown Brooklyn to Jay Street. They figured it would be cheaper. .
It’s surprises me that America is supposed to be such a rich country, but does things like this - closes something rather than upgrade it, and puts on what I guess must be just a miserable bus service.
@@tressteleg1 I used to live on Clinton Ave/Myrtle. The B54 is hot garbage! That area now needs a train line as the population has exploded since the 2000s.
Thanks. Closing it was a very short sighted view. No doubt the structure needed repairs, but buses was the easy way out. Too bad for the passengers.
Excellent!!!
👍😊
The myrtle ave El Brooklyn bridge route was stopped in 1944 when the sand street was demolished.
Thanks for that.😊
@@tressteleg1 You are very welcome.
When the city tore down the myrtle ave 'EL' in 1970 i think of the song from marmalade 'reflections of my life' that was released that same year. i called it "the end of the myrtle ave 'EL' song"
@@michaelquinones-lx6ks It seems to me that rather than make that El stronger, or build a set of new lighter trains, the city in all its ?wisdom decided that buses would be better (cheaper). Maybe the voters there supported the ’wrong’ party.
@@tressteleg1 You know myrtle ave would be perfect for a underground subway just like the second ave subway over in Manhattan.
I enjoyed your video and sorry about your friend Richards passing a few years ago. I wished they would of kept it up, but as of now with this white house politicians in office now,don't know what the future will bring. I'm sure you heard everything that is going on.
Richard had been in an out of hospital with heart problems for many years prior to his passing.
The Myrtle Avenue line was closed very many years ago, so today’s politicians can’t be blamed for that. Unfortunately elevated railways above streets are no longer acceptable and the cost of tunnels is too great, so unfortunately those residents will be stuck with buses caught in traffic.
Wow, even a garbage train...just love the look of the old L infrastructure, the Ironwork
😊👍 You never know what might pop up on this Australian channel 😄
They should have rebuilt the line in a manner that would muffle the noise from the trains.
@@EdwardM-t8p The issue was that the old structure was too weak for normal weight trains and was starting to become worn out so they chose the cheap bus option. I would suspect that plans to replace noisy steel with concrete anywhere would lead to calls for a tunnel.
Just the way I remember it
That’s what I like to hear from viewers 😊
LETS REBUILD AGAIN THE MYRTLE AVE EL FROM DOWNTOWN BROOKLYN JAY STREET-MYRTLE AVE ESPECIALLY JAY STREET-METROTECH TO METROPOLITAN-MIDDLE VILLAGE MJ LINE WITH NO LONGER BUS CAN’T WAIT TO SEE IT TO THE NEXT FUTURE.
Unfortunately in the 1960s when the line needed strengthening and heavy maintenance, the cheap and nasty bus option was taken. As fascinating as elevated railways are to myself, nowadays they are considered socially unacceptable while the tunnel option would be considered unaffordable. How long have they been working on the Second Avenue Tunnels? Many decades I think. Probably the best option you could ever expect would be a segregated light rail line along the corridor although I see from Google Maps that in places the street is a bit narrow and taking away parking spaces is also socially unacceptable. It’s just a pity the residents are stuck with crappy buses.
Not even the buildings remain. All gone and now Metro Tech in downtown Brooklyn.
Thanks for the update. Progress or steps backwards??
how did you got the film?
I have been friends with Richard and his family since 1975. On this later visit, he offered to show me his old movie films and I ran my video camera and you can see the results.
tressteleg1 okay thanks
@@tressteleg1 Hopefully one day Richard could get that film scanned and graded - there's still a few places around that will do it for a reasonable fee. In the meantime, this is pretty amazing!
Unfortunately we lost Richard about 12 years ago, but I am still in occasional contact with his son who told me that his father transferred the films onto video tape using a camera like I did but those tapes no longer can be read and unfortunately the movie films were discarded after that video transfer was made. So what I have got is all that exists and now you have seen it. I have yet to publish his work on Staten Island when there were still road crossings of the tracks but sadly the quality is pretty poor.
@@tressteleg1 oh no!!! well at least you've given us what exists - thanks so much mate!.
These were the Last Wooden El-Trains on the EL. I think the Last one ran Around 1967-66..
From what I have been told, yes. The last day they ran would have been the day this line closed.
@@tressteleg1 The last train ran on 10/4/69. They were the last wooden rapid transit equipment to operate in North America. The old AB Standard cars on the BMT were retired in the summer of 1969 with the last train running in August. They were replaced with R6, R7, and R9 cars which were displaced from the IND by new R40 and R42 car deliveries.
Richard Moncrieff told me, possibly in the video, that wooden cars were retained for Myrtle Avenue because they were lighter and so more suitable for the weak elevated structure. As for the date 4 October or 10 April? Neither are in summer.
AMO história MAnda mais
You will find more here. I also did Hershey Cuba.
USA Trains Trolleys
th-cam.com/play/PLLtOIHp49XNAIhdn1FN3Bw9Q9G5J7zJ9w.html
Wow!!!!
I guess you have seen something you never expected to see 😊😄
very interesting
😊👍
i think the R32s R38 R30 ran on the MJ im not sure
I will leave it up to US residents to comment here. 😊
MJ used wooden el trains to Bridge Jay St. terminal. The wood platforms were too wide. I rode on it in1968 with my parents.
You were lucky to ride it 😊
i did not ride the MJ line i was born in 2008
Unlucky, but you will see things we will miss in future years. I was replying to Luis Laplume.
👍👍
Glad you liked it 😊
I like the history but the video needs to be remastered.
I don’t think I didn’t think of it!
Cameraman Richard died about 13 years ago. A few years ago his son recognised one of my other videos created by his father and got in contact with me.
I asked him about the film, and he said his father made his own digital versions on tape, and then discarded the films. Unfortunately his father‘s digital versions did not last and what I have is all that can ever exist.
@@tressteleg1 wow I liked it I wish they were of best quality. Thank you for the info. If you find any others, I hope they are of better quality.
There is a few more videos of mine featuring Richard, and if you have not already seen them, you will find them amongst those in this list. I think I have covered everything else made by Richard.
USA Trains Trolleys
th-cam.com/play/PLLtOIHp49XNAIhdn1FN3Bw9Q9G5J7zJ9w.html
I only wish these videos were not silent.
Silent movie film was very expensive in those days, especially for young workers. I’m not sure when sound was an option added to movie film but anybody purchasing that would have been up for considerably more money. Only the wealthiest of fans could afford sound movie and the special cameras which could record it.