Forgotten NYC Elevated Subway Lines

[NJTRailfan]

Well those developers don't know what they're talking about. Apparently they haven't been to Chicago where the ELs dominate that city. Try telling Chicago that those neighboorhoods are loosing value over the ELs.

[Norb]

The El's would have been great for tourists who just want to sightsee the outside of some buildings in Manhattan, rather than just see the walls inside subway stations and tunnels.

It would be an alternative to riding on the upper level of a double decker bus during bad weather.

[jhdeasy]

The Second Avenue el had a branch across the top of the Queensborough Bridge to Willets Point (and Astoria?) until 1942.

Yes -- the 2nd Avenue El did run trains across the upper level of the Quuensborough Bridge, thru Queensboro Plaza, to both Astoria and Flushing until 1942. The IRT 2nd Ave el trains to/from Astoria used the tracks currently used by the N and W trains. Most of the original BMT tracks in and near the Queensboro Plaza station (actually the northern half of the station and 2 other tracks to/from tower near Beebe Ave station), dis-used since 1949, were town down circa 1963-1964.

[railfan365]

A few remarks, mostly in regard earlier posts.

First, the Bronx part of the Third Avenue El was torn down because it was originally built for wooden cars and couldn't take the weight of steel cars. In its last few years, it was serviced by R12's that had had the dynamic braking resistors torn off to reduce wieght, and the TA didn't want to eihter renovate the structure or buy lightweight cars that would be just for that line.

As to replacing the original Manhattan els, the 6th and 9th Avenues els were replaced by the 6th and 8th Avenue undergrounds as already explained. On the East Side, IMHO, the 2nd Avenue subway should be completed as promised, and a new 3rd Avenue would be good to have. Commenting realisitcally, I expect that Phase I of the Second Avenue will be completed between 2016 and 2020, and that Phase II has a moderate chance of eventually being built. However, I see a high risk that the southern half of a full Second Avenue line will again be deferred indefinitely based on financial considerations and that a new Third Avenue line will just remain an entry on a railfan's fantasy map.