BMT West End Line

Route designation on BMT Triplex equipment

The West End Line, now a subway line in Brooklyn, New York City, is a branch line from the Broadway (Manhattan)-Fourth Avenue (Brooklyn) subway, serving the communities of Borough Park, New Utrecht, Bensonhurst, Bath Beach and Coney Island. It is served full time by the D, and rush hours by the M, which provides direct access to the financial district.

The elevated line, originally mapped as the New Utrecht Avenue Line (though the common name prevailed after construction), replaced the surface West End Line.

History

Elevated line over 86th Street at Bay Parkway station

Under the Dual Contracts of 1913, an elevated line was built over New Utrecht Avenue, 86th Street and Stillwell Avenue, fully opening to Coney Island on July 21, 1917. The original surface right-of-way was retained for use by trolley cars to provide local service and protect the company's franchise. Over the years, the West End line has been featured in movies and television shows. The famous chase scene from "The French Connection" (1971) was filmed under the West End line in Brooklyn, and the opening scene of "Saturday Night Fever" (1977) features Tony Manero (John Travolta) walking down 86th Street, with the West End elevated line above. Additionally, the opening credits of the television show "Welcome Back, Kotter" (1975) also featured the West End line.

Service patterns

BMT West End Line

Legend South Brooklyn Railway BMT Fourth Avenue Line South Brooklyn Railway formerly to 5th Avenue El 36th–38th Street Yard Ninth Avenue (lower level abandoned) formerly to BMT Culver Line Fort Hamilton Parkway 50th Street 55th Street 62nd Street BMT Sea Beach Line 71st Street 79th Street 18th Avenue 20th Avenue Bay Parkway 25th Avenue Bay 50th Street Coney Island Complex Stillwell Avenue Yard BMT Sea Beach Line Coney Island–Stillwell Avenue BMT Brighton and IND Culver lines

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The West End Line has had an express (on the BMT Fourth Avenue Line) service - labeled 3 in 1924 - since it opened in 1916, passing over the Manhattan Bridge and onto the BMT Broadway Line express tracks. In the late 1950s, midday trains were switched to the local Fourth Avenue tracks and through the Montague Street Tunnel, and late night and Sunday service became a shuttle between Coney Island and 36th Street. The express and local services were assigned the designations T and TT in the early 1960s. With the opening of the Chrystie Street Connection in late 1967, the B was extended to Coney Island, absorbing the T and TT (both express on Fourth Avenue). The TT late night and Sunday shuttle survived until 1968, when the B became full-time; it ran local on Fourth Avenue at late nights but express otherwise. Late night operation was cut back to the shuttle - now B - in the mid-1980s, and in 2001, during the reconstruction of the Manhattan Bridge subway tracks, the portion of the B in Brooklyn became the W, running as a shuttle not only to 36th Street at nights but also to Atlantic Avenue–Pacific Street on weekends. But in 2002 the West End Line became the only line to serve Coney Island–Stillwell Avenue during its reconstruction, and the W was extended full-time into Manhattan, using the local Fourth Avenue tracks and tunnel at late nights and on weekends. Finally, in 2004, the Manhattan Bridge reconstruction was completed, and the W was replaced with an extended D, running over the bridge at all hours and express on Fourth Avenue except late nights.

The other service pattern was the "West End Short Line", a rush-hour local (on Fourth Avenue) service between the BMT Nassau Street Line in Lower Manhattan and 62nd Street or Bay Parkway. It became part of the TT in the early 1960s and was discontinued in 1967. However, in 1987 the short line service was essentially recreated when the rush-hour M extension was moved from the BMT Brighton Line to the West End Line, and it has extended to Bay Parkway during rush hours since then. (At times, the M has extended to Ninth Avenue middays.)

Station listing

Station service legend
	Stops all times
	Stops rush hours only
Time period details

Neighborhood		Station	Tracks	Services	Opened	Transfers and notes
splits from the BMT Fourth Avenue Line (D  M )
Center Express track begins (No Regular Service)
connecting tracks to 36th-38th Street Yard from local tracks
Sunset Park		Ninth Avenue	all	D  M	June 24, 1916
Borough Park		Fort Hamilton Parkway	local	D  M	June 24, 1916
		50th Street	local	D  M	June 24, 1916
		55th Street	local	D  M	June 24, 1916
Bensonhurst		62nd Street	all	D  M	September 15, 1916	BMT Sea Beach Line at New Utrecht Avenue (N )
		71st Street	local	D  M	September 15, 1916
		79th Street	local	D  M	September 15, 1916
		18th Avenue	local	D  M	September 15, 1916
		20th Avenue	local	D  M	September 15, 1916
		Bay Parkway	all	D  M	December 29, 1916	south terminal for M
		25th Avenue	local	D	December 29, 1916
connecting track to Coney Island Yard
Gravesend		Bay 50th Street	local	D	December 21, 1917
connecting track to Coney Island Yard
Center Express track ends
Coney Island		Coney Island–Stillwell Avenue	all	D	December 23, 1918	BMT Brighton Line (Q ) BMT Culver Line (F ) BMT Sea Beach Line (N )

See also

• Transportation to Coney Island

External links

• Gunther and His Railroad by Morton Morris
• BMT West End Line on NYCSubway.org

References

• Opening of the Brooklyn, Bath and Coney Island Railroad, New York Times June 9, 1864 page 2
• Railroad History Database

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