New York City’s transit map is filled with ghosts. Elevated trains once rattled above Manhattan and Brooklyn, short shuttles connected neighborhoods and stadiums, Staten Island had passenger branches that vanished in the 1950s, and Long Island Rail Road trains once used a Queens corridor that has been silent for more than six decades.
Some of these lines disappeared because newer underground subways made them redundant. Others fell victim to declining ridership, competition from buses and automobiles, municipal transit policy, changing development patterns, or the fiscal problems of the 1970s. This first installment in our Lost Railways of New York series looks at 15 vanished subway, elevated, and railroad lines within the five boroughs and what, if anything, remains of them today.
1. The Ninth Avenue Elevated
Boroughs Served: Manhattan and The Bronx
Original Route: The mature line ran from Lower Manhattan north along Greenwich Street, Ninth Avenue, and Columbus Avenue to 155th Street, with later service continuing into The Bronx…