Fresh Pond Junction 

DF Tower 1925 NE view
Collection : Dave Keller


1917 DF Tower

1906 Fresh Pond Station*(see text at bottom) rebuilt in 1917 and the tracks went under the street. It was said to be the worst intersection in NY City for train accidents.

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East Yard

1929 brakeman at Fresh Pond East Yard view West

The forerunner of the west yard was built in 1910. The one track adjacent to the #2 track of the Montauk branch had signals and was the connection of the Bushwick branch.

The yard consisted of three (3) storage tacks and one (1) track that extended to Fresh Pond Road to access the freight house and team track. The 2nd team track was accessed off the Bushwick branch track.

The "new" West Yard as it became known, is listed on Bob Emery's maps as being placed in service on 1/25/21, but that can't be a true date as the yard appears on LIRR valuation plans in 1916, probably built in anticipation of the NYCRR, which began regular service on 1/17/1918.

The tracks of the West Yard connected by a ladder track to the Bushwick branch lead track, which was newly constructed in 1915. There were crossovers west of Metropolitan Blvd. connecting the Bushwick branch with the secondary main, then another connecting the secondary main with the first main, both in a westerly trailing direction.

So . . . there was access to the yard from the west end via the Montauk branch for trains heading eastbound.

According to the map notes, the East Yard was placed in service on 1/25/1921. Once again, I don't know if this is a true date, because it matches the incorrect date on Bob Emery's West Yard map. But then again . . . the East Yard could have been added later as more storage space was needed.    Info: Dave Keller

Photo: Richard F. Makse

Back 50 years ago, Fresh Pond Junction was an important place with freights of the New Haven and LIRR serving the 11 mile long Bay Ridge Branch. 36 year old Fremont Tower in Ridgewood, Queens, literally on the Brooklyn border, handled authorities for both railroads on the branch. Here a passenger extra approaches Fremont northbound, ready to make the right turn to the Montauk Branch.  Commentary:  Richard F. Makse


                         
 

LIRR  #411 Baldwin DS4-4-660 southbound on the interchange with the NYCRR photographed from Fremont Tower. LIRR bridge #35 crossing Montauk Branch distant in photo. Winter 1963-64. Info: Steve Lynch

H10s on Montauk Track 1 working
the west yard at Fresh Pond Station near MP 4 -1944
Collection : Dave Keller
 

 
 After 1968 remodeling; POND and  yard office between the BMT and  NYCRR bridge. Archive: Dave Keller 

POND 05/23/1975 
Archive: Henry Wagner

Mechanical interlocking and model board at Pond Tower, Fresh Pond, Queens, NY on 3/05/1978

LIRR #229 coming off the Bay Ridge Branch, west into Fresh Pond. Notice the doll head in the top grab! It is the last time I saw a C420 L-2 on the LIRR. 06/05/1989
Photo: A. Joseph Daly 


LIRR #229 westbound under Bridge #35 July, 1989
Photo: A. Joseph Daly 

1966 Fresh Pond Map

LIRR #272 Eastbound 1984
Photo: Mike Koehler

CR now CSX working the bridge lead 1999 Photo: Bernard Ente

More Action over at Fresh Pond
April 24, 2000
Photo: Bernard Ente

Bridge #35 NYCRR/Conrail/CSX
overpass built by the Pennsylvania Steel Company of Steelton, PA for $84,000 in 1916
Photo: Steve Lynch 6/2000

NYA GP38-2 #268 rounding the east leg of the wye interchange curve between LIRR and NYCRR tracks
Photo: Steve Lynch 6/2000

Out of service: 4/15/70 Interlocking and tracks between Fremont and tracks between Fremont and Bay Ridge under jurisdiction of  PC Transportation Co.: 01/20/71 

Tower abandoned , burned, and razed prior to 1995. (per Jim Minor, LIRR block opr.)

Abandoned Fremont Tower:  Junction of Montauk Branch and NYCRR. Previously "FN" Tower Closed: 1971 and abandoned. Razed: 07/2000 View SE
Collection : Dave Keller

East at Fresh Pond. CSX outbound upstairs and RS-70 switching
Photo: Joe Tischner 07/2006

Aerial Shot 12-03

NYA and westbound LIRR Feb '01 Photo: Bernard Ente

BMT Overpass view west 05/16/2003
Photo/Archive: Bernie Ente

Old Timer’s Notes: Ridgewood was the terminal (end of the line) for many of the street car lines in Brooklyn. Initially they were horse drawn, then steam dummies which were small steam engines pulling from one to three passenger cars and then in the 1890s electric trolley cars.

In the 1880s and early 1890s steam dummies operated from Ridgewood Depot at Wyckoff and Myrtle avenues, to Lutheran/All Faiths Cemetery in Middle Village, to Cypress Hills Cemetery in Cypress Hills and to what is now Richmond Hill along Myrtle Avenue. Steam locomotives operated from city to city, whereas the small steam dummy engines primarily operated within cities.
Steam dummies and locomotives operated on the Manhattan Beach Division of the LIRR from the Terminal at 68th Street in Bay Ridge to Bushwick Junction in Ridgewood. As Robert Nelson noted, some of the freight cars passing through Bay Ridge Terminal came by float barge across Upper New York Bay from Greenville, New Jersey.

A railroad station at Fresh Ponds dates back to 1868/1869 when the South Side Railroad established a branch line from Jamaica to the ferry docks on the East River in Williamsburg with stations at what is now Richmond Hill, Glendale, Fresh Ponds, etc.

Fresh Ponds was named from the two fresh water ponds which were on the east side of Fresh Pond Road and several hundred yards north of Metropolitan Avenue. These ponds were filled in the early 1900’s. In 1878, the Long Island Rail Road acquired the South Side Railroad. By the early 1900’s the intersection at Fresh Pond Road and Metropolitan Avenue was a busy one as the trains passed through there at street level. In 1913 the tracks were depressed on the southeast section of the intersection and then on the northwest side, raised to street level.

* In 1906 the Myrtle Avenue elevated line was extended at street level from Wyckoff Avenue to Metropolitan Avenue in Middle Village. This was known as the Lutheran/All Faiths Cemetery Extension. In preparation for this a car barn and a power plant were constructed, with the car barn on the east side of Fresh Pond Road and north of the tracks. The extension went into service on October 1, 1906.

In May, 1925, when the Philadelphia System of street numbers was placed in effect in Queens County, a number of the street names were discontinued and numbers substituted. However, some of the street names for important streets were continued and the designation “Avenue” used.