Rebuilding the 3rd Ave Subway?

[NJTRailfan]

I've heard so much abotu the rebuildign of the 2nd Ave subway to ease congestion. The West side of NYC has enough subway liens to compensate for the demolished ELs but on the East Side you have the current line and then the rebuild of the 2nd Ave. Is the 2nd Ave enough to take congestion off the 4,5 and 6 or will it be imperative to rebuild the 3rd Ave or would it be too close to the 2nd Ave Subway? They could put another line like along 4th Ave if not back on the 3rd Ave and still run it from the Bronx or 125th St in Manahttan to South Ferry.

[Allan]

I've heard so much abotu the rebuildign of the 2nd Ave subway to ease congestion. The West side of NYC has enough subway liens to compensate for the demolished ELs but on the East Side you have the current line and then the rebuild of the 2nd Ave. Is the 2nd Ave enough to take congestion off the 4,5 and 6 or will it be imperative to rebuild the 3rd Ave or would it be too close to the 2nd Ave Subway? They could put another line like along 4th Ave if not back on the 3rd Ave and still run it from the Bronx or 125th St in Manahttan to South Ferry.

There never was a 3rd Avenue Subway so it can't be rebuilt. There was a 3rd Avenue El though (don't confuse an underground line with a 100% elevated line).

The same goes for the 2nd Avenue subway. With the exception of the few sections built in the 1970's service there was a 100% elevated line.

Unless the 2nd Avenue subway is built to the length of Manhattan (and possibly into Brooklyn) there will not be much relief of the congestion on the Lex. At the present time the plan is to complete the section from 63rd St to 125th St. The train would connect to the BMT Broadway line via the 63rd St tunnel.

While cheaper to build elevated lines in Manhattan are a thing of the past. These days peeple working in offices would not want to look at the window to see and hear a train rumbling past. The darkened streets would not help either.

[pennsy]

Hi Allan,

Correct. Although NY'ers usually refer to the El as the Elevated Subway. In most cases this is correct since at some point the El goes underground as does the New Lots line of the IRT in Brooklyn.

What also strikes me as interesting is the fact that the steel from the Third St. El in Manhattan was sold to Japan, just before WWII. As one of my buddies that lived through WWII in the Pacific theater told me, It was hell realizing that the bullet that killed my buddy came from the steel from the 3rd Ave El.

[BMT Standard]

Hi Allan,

Correct. Although NY'ers usually refer to the El as the Elevated Subway. In most cases this is correct since at some point the El goes underground as does the New Lots line of the IRT in Brooklyn.

What also strikes me as interesting is the fact that the steel from the Third St. El in Manhattan was sold to Japan, just before WWII. As one of my buddies that lived through WWII in the Pacific theater told me, It was hell realizing that the bullet that killed my buddy came from the steel from the 3rd Ave El.

That would be the Second Avenue El, north of 59th St., which was demolished in 1940 and supposedly sold as scrap steel to Japan (other versions of the story say it was one of the other Manhattan or Brooklyn Els demolished between 1938 and 1940). I don't know how much truth there is to that story.

The Third Avenue El survived intact until the section from Chatham Square to South Ferry was discontinued in 1950, followed by other abandonments up until the remaining Bronx section bit the dust in 1975. So, if the scrap steel from the Third Ave. El went to Japan, it was well after WWII ended.