Railroad Forums
Moderator: Nicolai3985
jaystreetcrr wrote:... Another good place to see old rails is the junction of Church Ave. and McDonald Ave. While not much of the railheads are visible you can see the traces under the asphalt ...Are those trolley tracks?
fordhamroad wrote:-I liked the PCC's a lot, took the Smith-9th whenever going downtown (Brooklyn) for shopping etc. There was a model RR store on the block behind A&S -- anyone recall its name? Also took the PCC's daily to High School, McDonald ave line to Bishop Loughlin. (Sorry no Barbra Streisand).i know the hobby shop you rae talking about it was behind A&s on bond street.....the ownesr were pat and harold but they closed and moved the store to somewhere in brooklyn
-also took the trolleys from Prospect Park down to Coney Island a lot, for the rides, or just to go swimming. Sometimes, for fun, we would jump on the back and ride the anticlimbers, just hang on. Of course the motorman would get annoyed, stop the car and come back to chase us away. We ran up the block. He couldn't leave the trolley. If he was very mean or particularly outspoken, we jerked his cord and sent the trolley up in the air. He had to stop to put it back on the overhead line, and then he was very outspoken. Dangerous sport, if auto traffic was heavy, but most drivers hung back if they saw us.
-the most exciting trolley moment was sneaking into the carbarns on 9th Ave after midnight. A couple of kids would avoid the watchman and browse around the empty cars, look at some of the old stuff in the corners. We were warned by the older kids to avoid the sand pit, you could get buried if it slipped. If they spotted us, we ran pretty fast, out into the city night. Never did any mischief or graffiti, those days. Just lookin.
-but, the best experience was getting one of the old red Fifth Ave. cars and riding it all the way downtown and across the Brooklyn Bridge, glimpses of the city, the river. Ultra neat. Or you could take the car the other way to the 69th st. ferry. Then cross to Staten Island. Then ferry back to Manhattan, walk up to Brooklyn Bridge, and so home again. Good city to be twelve in.
Roger
