Flatbush - LIRR

The old 1892 Flatbush Avenue terminal building entrance (above) on 4/8/1904. The elevated column on the left supports the Fifth Avenue El on Flatbush Avenue. The steel work above the station was for the BRT-LIRR connecting tracks to enable rapid transit trains to operate from Sands Street to Rockaway Park via the Chestnut Street incline. Courtesy of the New York Transit Museum via the New-York Historical Society to document "existing conditions" along the route of the IRT's Contract 2 subway line (Brooklyn Bridge to Atlantic Avenue). Archive: Jeff Erlitz
Flatbush Ave Station Waiting Room 1979 Huneke-Keller	FLATBUSH AVE. OLD DEPOT RENOVATED: JULY-AUG/ 1878 RENOVATED AGAIN: 6/1880, REBUILT: 1893 2ND DEPOT OPENED: 4/1/07 WITH DEPOT AT STREET LEVEL AND TRACKS UNDERGROUND. REFURBISHED AND EXTERIOR SANDBLASTED: EARLY 1940s. TRACK #1 OUT OF SVC: 4/10/59. FORMER EXPRESS TRACKS #s 9-14 (“EX” YARD) OUT OF SVC: 3/3/71. TRACKS ORIGINALLY NUMBERED SOUTH TO NORTH RENUMBERED NORTH TO SOUTH: 7/1/78. STREET LEVEL TERMINAL BLDG. CLOSED: 1988. RAZED: c. 1990s. 3RD DEPOT OPENED: 1/5/2010. OFFICIALLY RENAMED “ATLANTIC TERMINAL” IN ETT #1, PER G.O. #104 EFF. 3/8/2010. Research: Dave Keller
H. Wilhelm Map - VD yard 7/31/1927	Flatbush 1908 map12 Merchandise Terminal-BRT		Flatbush 1908 map13 Passenger/Express coach yard
Emery map Flatbush 4/1959	Pechter's Bakery, on Pacific St., across from No. 2 Lead, VD Yard, Brooklyn. View S 5/1987 Photo/Archive: Jay Bendersky	Who would have thought that on this steamy June day in 1987, that this scene would eventually be the approximate center ice line at Barclay's Center! It was all M3's laying over at VD Yard on this particular afternoon. Some of them were less than a year old when this photo was taken. Photo/Archive: Jay Bendersky
“BROOK” TOWER: 1 FLATBUSH AVE. , BROOKLYN (UNDERGROUND: E. END OF STATION PLATFORM BETWEEN TRACKS 4 AND 5. FORMERLY “FT”. 35-LEVER US&S MODEL 14 ELECTRO-PNEUMATIC MACHINE IN SVC: 1906. RENAMED: 4/15/37. OUT OF SVC: SUMMER/1999. Research: Dave Keller
BROOK Interlocking 12/01/1954	BROOK Interlocking 8/01/1996 Archive: Jeffrey Erlitz BROOK "1" Interlocking 11/07/1999		1st BROOK Tower Flatbush Ave Brooklyn 10/13/78 (Madden-Keller)
Vanderbilt Ave Passenger Yard - MP54 Electrics at left along Pacific St. view E from the 6th Ave. overpass and in the far distance can be seen the overpass for Carleton Avenue. Beyond that overpass is the VD Team Yard. 06/1959 Photo/Archive: Art Huneke	The elevated tracks, (photo left) according to Emery's map, were for milk cars. He said on the map that the tracks went across Atlantic Ave. before 1940 and connected with the merchandise terminal, to which his map #789 refers. The track curved upward eastbound for the potato warehouse. (photo right) The other track in front of it curved upward westbound for the elevated milk platform indicated on Emery's map. Info: Dave Keller		Vanderbilt Ave Yard McCauley Potato Co. Warehouse View E just west of the Carleton Avenue overpass. 06/1959 Photo/Archive: Art Huneke
VD Team Yard View east end of Yard Brooklyn view SE 5/11/79 (Madden-Keller)	VD Passenger Yard view SE 5/11/79 (Madden-Keller)		Barclay's Center Brooklyn view SE c.6/2011
Flatbush Ave/Atlantic Terminal and the new Barclay's Center - LIRR trains are now being stored for service to and from Atlantic Terminal. VD yard exists, but is down to 5 tracks and a lead...one way in and out...one track. You go in on a lead, which holds 10 cars...you go in west and then east are brand new tracks 1,2,3,4...1 holds 6 cars, 2-4 hold 8 cars, track 5, which is to the west and just north of the lead track holds 8, and the switching lead (which gets you to all tracks, holds 10). For simplicity's sake of explaining it, the lead track and track No. 5 both end at bumper blocks at the basement wall to the new Barclay Center. You can see the tunnel portal at the far left of the yard which accessed the yard from the Atlantic branch below the street and into which was built the subterranean "VD" tower. The Barclay's Center is at the west end of the former VD passenger yard. There is no yard under the Barclay's Center. The center was constructed at the depressed grade of the former yard. The former VD Passenger Yard EAST of 6th Ave. AND VD Team Yard at the far left is to be covered over for new, multi high-rises of "affordable housing" being constructed above it but it's not covered over as of this time, from info I've received from Bob Myers. The work is still in progress. It's called the "Atlantic Yards Project." Data: Dave Keller
ATLANTIC YARDS ARENA AND REDEVELOPMENT PROJECT 2010
Flatbush 1908 map14 Merchandise Terminal and Car Storage	LIRR Flatbush Ave Merchandise Terminal drawing Archive: Art Huneke		LIRR Flatbush Ave Track Plan drawing Archive: Art Huneke
In this view looking west a Forney steam locomotive pulls an EL train eastbound along Atlantic Ave. In the distance is the 5th Ave. EL connection, and the original LIRR Flatbush Avenue terminal building is at the right. Passenger cars are visible at the open, ground level platforms in this 1903 view. In 3 more years this corner would look different as the new, LIRR brick terminal building is put into service. (Dave Keller archive)	Station Flatbush Ave Brooklyn tracks 1,2 7/17/1916 Keller		Station Flatbush Ave Brooklyn Meat tracks 7/17/1916 Keller
Station Flatbush Ave Brooklyn Ticket office at track level 06/1972 Keller	Station Flatbush Ave Brooklyn Gate Track 02/06/1978 Huneke-Keller
Track 6 gate and platform looking east from the subterranean concourse. M1 train #1240 bound for Hempstead (with connection to Babylon) is at the station awaiting to be boarded - 10-13-78 (Wm. Madden photo, Dave Keller archive)	Track 4 gate and platform looking east from the subterranean concourse. M1 train #1211 bound for Far Rockaway (with connections to West Hempstead, Babylon and Oyster Bay) is at the station awaiting to be boarded. Visible at the right are the timetable racks with the smaller, TDI timetables in the left rack and the full-sized, branch timetables at the two right racks - 10-13-78 (Wm. Madden photo, Dave Keller archive)		Track 2 looking west towards the bumpers and the subterranean concourse - 10-13-78 (Wm. Madden photo, Dave Keller archive)
View from track 2 looking southeast across to tracks 3 and 4 with an M1 train awaiting to be boarded on track 4 - 10-13-78 (Wm. Madden photo, Dave Keller archive)	Gate and stairs for tracks 5 and 6 as viewed from the street-level waiting room and concourse. A sign on the gate indicates that the ticket offices are located down at track level. The street-level ticket windows at the waiting room are no longer in service - 10-13-78 (Wm. Madden photo, Dave Keller archive)		Gate and stairs for tracks 1 and 2, 3 and 4 as viewed from the street-level waiting room and concourse. Visible in the left background is the row of old shoe-shine elevated seats and in the right background is an out-of-service lunch counter - 10-13-78 (Wm. Madden photo, Dave Keller archive)
A view of the out-of-service, street-level ticket windows in the waiting room - 10-13-78 (Wm. Madden photo, Dave Keller archive)	Another view of the out-of-service, street-level ticket windows in the waiting room, showing the decorative, arched windows above, which once allowed light to stream into the grand waiting room but which have, over the years, for some unusual and unexplained reason, been painted over, turning the well-lit concourse into a dreary venue - 10-13-78 (Wm. Madden photo, Dave Keller archive)		A view of the dreary, once-grand waiting room with more of the arched, painted-over windows seen above left and a balustrade balcony above center. This view is looking towards the gates to tracks 1 and 2, 3 and 4, just beyond the doorways in the wall. The shoe-shine booth is visible at the left - 10-13-78 (Wm. Madden photo, Dave Keller archive)
Tracks 5 and 6 looking west towards the rack of telephone booths and the subterranean concourse beyond - 10-13-78 (Wm. Madden photo, Dave Keller archive)	Tracks 3 and 4 looking west towards the bumpers and subterranean concourse beyond. An M1 train is awaiting boarding at track 4 at the left - 10-13-78 (Wm. Madden photo, Dave Keller archive)		Tracks 3 and 4 looking west towards the bumpers and subterranean concourse beyond but from a vantage point further east, showing the curved platform condition that was common at the Flatbush Avenue terminal. When the terminal building opened in 1906, these curved tracks and platforms were not an issue as they accommodated the much-shorter MP41 electric cars. As years progressed, and longer MU cars were placed in service, it became a hazard to spot a train of those cars here, as a huge gap was created at the platforms as a result. Seen here, an M1 train is awaiting boarding at track 4 at the left - 10-13-78 (Wm. Madden photo, Dave Keller archive)
MU 1632 Nassau County Heritage Train On Display - Flatbush Ave Brooklyn 10/13/78 (William Madden-Dave Keller)	Nassau County Heritage Train Sign Display Flatbush Ave Brooklyn 10/13/78 (William Madden-Dave Keller)
Photographers are William Madden, Art Huneke and Dave Keller (for the interior ticket office shot) Archive for all photos: Dave Keller.

Flatbush
Flatbush Terminal 4/08/1904 Archive: Jeff Erlitz	Flatbush Station Atlantic Ave., Brooklyn 1910 Archive: Rudolph Schubert	Flatbush Ave Station 06/1978 (Huneke-Keller)