Re: (rshsdepot) Canarsie station flowered trolley loop

["Paul S. Luchter" <luckyshow_@_mindspring.com>]

Canarsie RR: The Brooklyn, Canarsie & Rockaway Beach RR-1865; reorganized as
Canarsie RR-1906, even though this is what everyone called it for years...A
side wheeled steamer brought travelers to Hammel's on the north side of the
Rockaways, of the Rockaway Peninsula. New York's first "resort"...

Hammel's is approximately where the current elevated subway line enters
south off of Jamaica Bay, also where the bridge from the Cross Island enters
Rockaway today...

I have never found out when the Canarsie line ceased these
Steamboats...Probably soon after the South Side RR in 1869, or whatever year
the SS completed to Rockaways..

Later in 1906 it was electrified and leased to the Brooklyn Union Elevated,
and El cars ran down on the surface, mid-block south of Rockaway Parkway
until 1927, when the trains began terminating at Rockaway Parkway and the
use of the flowered trolley loop commenced. A free trolley shuttle took you
to the shore. My Dad went to the amusement park there as a child. This was a
free transfer. This Elevated Railroad streetcar on it's own ROW, with many
street crossings, ran until 11/21/1942. {The El was a different division of
the BMT (BRT ended not long after the Malbone Street disaster/crash) than
the streetcar system]

The free transfer to the Canarsie shore was transferred to the BRT
streetcars, the Rockaway Avenue and Wilson Avenue lines which ran down
Rockaway Parkway.

May 27, 1951-last day of streetcar service on both these lines; the free
transfer transferred to a bus. I took it as a kid. The free transfer would
still be today, but I think every bus is a free transfer today.

Those big black three door, three car-articulates, (three cars, four trucks.
Big bolts lining the cars, City of New York still and always written above
in a railroad font (to use the incorrect computer term for a typeface), the
white cane poles, art-nouveau curved white ceramic loops to grab above on a
white pole, white wicker seats that lasted without somehow tearing for
decades, some 50 years....the rolling destination signs which still
contained Park Row and Fulton El and all sorts of "exotic" routings; that
tremendous aroma of ozone, of "metallic", that they gave off. The maddening
rumble, the sounds of acceleration, it was maybe the best subway trip, the
portholed windowed aluminum cars on the N train were neat too)..Some jerk
melted every single set down. They have two car articulates at the museum,
but they are dainty in comparison to the Canarsie trains. Only the SIRT old
cars ever came close (on those the doors may have been operated by the
conductor)

The site on the flowered trolley loop is nice, but it was hard to follow.
The run-on sentence at that site was meant to convey what I wrote above
(except the near-poetic moment about riding those massive Canarsie beasts,
oh so wide with three huge fans on the ceiling, oh they were so great. Even
as I garble the grammar above a bit, I think you get what it means. It
follows in order...

You may not take it seriously, that is your problem.

Paul

November 21, 1942
- -----Original Message-----
From: Dan <d44494449_@_home.com>
To: RSHSDepot <rshsdepot_@_lists.railfan.net>
Date: Thursday, April 26, 2001 6:45 PM
Subject: Re: (rshsdepot) Canarsie station flowered trolley loop


>Paul S. Luchter
>
>> if you can somehow translate the grammar of the first sentence
>
>And of course he wants to be taken seriously.
>

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