The IRT Ninth Avenue Line, often called the Ninth Avenue Elevated, was the first elevated railway in New York City, opened in 1868 as the West Side and Yonkers Patent Railway, a cable-hauled line.
The last section in use, over the Harlem River, was known as the Polo Grounds Shuttle, and was closed in 1958. This portion used the now-removed Putnam Bridge swing bridge[1][2] and went through a tunnel, complete with partially-underground stations.[3]
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History
The West Side and Yonkers Patent Railway
The West Side and Yonkers Patent Railway was built by Charles T. Harvey and ran from July 1, 1868 to 1870. The line used multiple one-mile-long cable loops, driven by steam engines in cellars of buildings adjacent to the track. Each loop was started when a car neared it and stopped when it had passed. The cables were equipped with collars that the car connected to with "claws". As the claws could not be "slipped" the car was jerked each time it moved to the next cable. The system proved cumbersome, broke down several times and eventually the company ran out of money and the system was abandoned. The new owners replaced the cable cars with steam locomotives.
The Ninth Avenue Elevated was extended up the avenue by 1891. The Ninth Avenue and several others of the Manhattan Railway company were taken over with a 999 year lease by the Interborough Rapid Transit Company on April 1, 1903.[4][5] The rebuilding project was extended all the way north to 116th St., creating Manhattan's first three-track elevated, although center-track express service did not begin until 1916. Some parts weren't triple-tracked until the Dual Contracts.[citation needed] The 9th Ave El was over 100 feet above the street at "Suicide Curve", which made a 90-degree turn from 9th Ave onto 110th St. then another from 110th St. onto 8th Avenue. The line along 9th and Columbus Avenues in Manhattan ran until it was closed in 1940 and dismantled, following the extension of the Eighth Avenue subway up Central Park West. The line from 155th Street north into the Bronx was continued as the "Polo Grounds Shuttle" until 1958.
Station listing
From the southern tip of Manhattan north into The Bronx the stations were:
References
- ^ "Image 8282". nycsubway.org. 1958-06-14. http://nycsubway.org/perl/show?8282. Retrieved on 2007-11-27.
- ^ "Image 8296". nycsubway.org. http://nycsubway.org/perl/show?8296. Retrieved on 2007-11-27.
- ^ Walsh, Kevin. "When Is a Subway Not a Subway?". Forgotten NY. http://www.forgotten-ny.com/SUBWAYS/9thavel/9Ave.html. Retrieved on 2007-11-27.
- ^ Feinman, Mark S.. "Continuing the Story of the 9th Avenue El". http://www.nycsubway.org/lines/9thave-el.html. Retrieved on 2009-08-04. "On April 1, 1903, the entire Manhattan Elevated system was leased to the IRT Company for 999 years. Subway system construction was planned to connect with the Els at various points. By June 25th, 1903, the last steam-powered elevated train was operated in passenger service on the 9th Ave El."
- ^ Walker, James Blaine (1918). Fifty Years of Rapid Transit, 1864-1917. pp. pp. 182-186. http://books.google.com/books?vid=OCLC03638541&id=lpEgAAAAMAAJ.
- ^ a b c "The Manhattan Company. Opening of the West Side to Eighty-first Street - The Sunday Trains" (PDF). The New York Times Company. 10 June 1879. p. 8. http://query.nytimes.com/mem/archive-free/pdf?res=9F04E3D8133EE63BBC4852DFB0668382669FDE. Retrieved on 11 February 2009.
External links
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Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Interborough Rapid Transit Company#Maps |
- "Open New Subway to Regular Traffic" (PDF). New York Times: p. 11. 1918-07-02. http://query.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=9D02E0DA173BE033A25751C0A9619C946996D6CF#. Retrieved on 2007-11-27.
- Beach Pneumatic Transit Co by Joseph Brennan Full of Photographs and information about the line, particularly Chapter 14.
- NYCsubway.org - The 9th Avenue Elevated
- 1939 track map
- The Sedgwick Avenue station is at 40°49′53″N 73°55′56″W / 40.831423°N 73.932264°WCoordinates: 40°49′53″N 73°55′56″W / 40.831423°N 73.932264°W
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