BMT Myrtle Avenue Line

The Myrtle Avenue Line, also called the Myrtle Avenue Elevated, is a fully elevated line of the New York City Subway, as part of the BMT division. The line provides a spur from the Jamaica Line to points in Brooklyn and Queens. Until 1969, the line continued west into downtown Brooklyn, even earlier leading onto the Brooklyn Bridge.

Extent and service

The Myrtle Avenue Line is current served by only M service. Until 1969, MJ service ran over the full line to downtown Brooklyn; the J in the designation came from the line's end at Bridge-Jay Street.

The line begins at Middle Village-Metropolitan Avenue in Queens. It heads southwest along private right-of-way, eventually coming to rest on an elevated structure above Palmetto Street and Myrtle Avenue. Just before reaching Broadway (which the Jamaica Line runs over), the line curves to the left and merges into the Jamaica Line tracks just east of Myrtle Avenue station. The upper level of the station (called Broadway) still exists, but is no longer used.

Background

The first section of the line, over Myrtle Avenue from Adams Street to a junction with the Lexington Avenue Elevated at Grand Avenue, was opened at 11:00 on April 10, 1888 by the Union Elevated Railroad. Trains continued along the Lexington Avenue El to East New York. On April 27, 1889, the line was extended east along Myrtle Avenue to Broadway, probably at the station above the Broadway Elevated.

The west end of the line was extended north along Adams Street to an elevated loop, over Sands Street and High Street west to Liberty Street, in 1896. The connection to the Brooklyn Bridge tracks opened at 16:00 on June 18, 1898, along private right-of-way halfway between Concord Street and Cathedral Place. The first trains to use it came from the Fifth Avenue Elevated (using the Myrtle Avenue El west of Hudson Avenue).

The line was later extended east to Wyckoff Avenue (at the Brooklyn/Queens border). In 1906 the el was connected via a ramp to the Lutheran Cemetery Line, a former steam dummy line to Metropolitan Avenue that had opened on September 3, 1881. That section was elevated as part of the Dual Contracts on February 22, 1915.

On July 29, 1914, the connection to the Broadway (Brooklyn) Line was opened, allowing Myrtle Avenue Line trains to operate via the Williamsburg Bridge. This service became BMT 10 in 1924, and the original Myrtle Avenue Line service to Park Row became BMT 11; see those articles for more information about those services and their successors (M and MJ).

On March 5, 1944, the line west of Jay Street was abandoned coincident with the end of elevated service over the Brooklyn Bridge. The rest of the line from Broadway to Jay Street was abandoned on October 4, 1969, with the last train running just after midnight that morning.

Chaining information

• The entire line is chained BMT M. This has no relation to the fact that the M train service operates on the line, though both letters may have been chosen because 'Myrtle' begins with 'M'.
• The tracks on the line are M1 towards Metropolitan Avenue and M2 towards Manhattan.
• Chaining zero is BMT Eastern, located at the intersection of the line of the Brooklyn Bridge and the Chambers Street on the Nassau Street Line by way of the now-dismantled original BMT Brooklyn Bridge Elevated Line and the original Myrtle Avenue Elevated through downtown Brooklyn.
• Railroad north on this line is towards Manhattan, and corresponds roughly to a westerly to southwesterly compass direction.

Station listing

Every station is served by M trains and only M trains, 24 hours a day.

External links

• NYCsubway.org – BMT Myrtle Branch

References

• The New Road Opened, New York Times April 11, 1888 page 8
• City and Suburban News, New York Times April 28, 1889 page 6
• New of the Railroads, New York Times January 9, 1896 page 15
• Park Row to Sheepshead Bay, New York Times June 19, 1898 page 5
• 1,200 on Last Trip on Myrtle Ave. El; Cars Are Stripped, New York Times October 4, 1969 page 23