Glendale, Queens

The Bay Ridge Line crosses into Queens over Cooper Avenue and Wycoff Avenue on a 96-foot steel girder bridge from 1913, leaving the cemetery behind to the southeast. The IRT Canarsie Line (L train) goes underground at this point, crossing under the Bay Ridge Line and heading northwest under Wycoff Avenue. St. Felix Avenue parallels the east side of the line for a few blocks.

7/16/2008 06:53 PM
Cooper Avenue Bridge

7/16/2008 06:54 PM
Closeup of Cooper Avenue Bridge abutment

7/16/2008 06:54 PM
BIN 7705190

7/16/2008 06:55 PM
Evergreens Cemetery

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Evergreens Cemetery

7/16/2008 06:55 PM
Cooper Avenue Bridge

7/16/2008 06:59 PM
Service stairway up to the track off St. Felix Avenue

Cypress Avenue Station

A station here on the Bay Ridge Line opened in 1883, with the name changed to Ridgewood in 1884 and to Cypress Avenue Station in 1891. The bridge is an 85-foot steel stringer built in 1913. There is a bricked-in arch in the bridge wall that seems to have been a stairway up to the station platform. A picture from 1914 shows the elevated line through the area with no station house and, presumably, an at-grade boarding area.

7/16/2008 06:59 PM
Cypress Avenue Bridge

7/16/2008 07:00 PM
BIN 7705180

7/16/2008 07:00 PM
Gas pipeline under the bridge

7/16/2008 07:06 PM
Bricked-in stairway leading up to the old station platform?

7/16/2008 07:01 PM
Cypress Avenue Bridge viewed from the west

7/16/2008 07:02 PM
Art Deco warehouse - 1626-1630 Cody Street, south of Cypress

7/16/2008 07:03 PM
Art Deco warehouse

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Art Deco warehouse

7/16/2008 07:09 PM
Seneca Avenue Bridge (BIN 7705170?)

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Hopper cars parked on the Seneca Avenue Bridge

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1913 year marker on trestle

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Seneca Avenue Bridge

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Old houses along St. Felix Avenue

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PS 68

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PS 68

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60th Street at St. Felix Avenue

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Evergreen Park

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Evergreen Park

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Art deco seating stands in Evergreen Park

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Row houses on 60th Place

7/16/2008 07:18 PM
Row houses on 60th Place

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Row houses on 75th Avenue

7/16/2008 07:19 PM
The 75th Avenue Bridge (BIN 7705160?)

7/16/2008 07:20 PM
Broken Jersey barrier near curve under the 75th Ave. Bridge

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Box cars parked on the 75th Ave. Bridge

7/16/2008 07:21 PM
1913 mark on trestle

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75th Avenue Bridge

7/16/2008 07:24 PM
Row houses on 75th Avenue

7/16/2008 07:25 PM
Row houses on 75th Avenue at 60th Lane

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Rusting cornice on 75th Avenue

7/16/2008 07:27 PM
Sidewalk and retaining wall on 60th Lane

Myrtle Avenue Station

The Bay Ridge Line had a stop at Myrtle Avenue that opened in 1893. While there is no trace of it now, there is quite a bit of forested clearance on both sides of the tracks that would probably leave room for new subway platforms. The bridge is a 114-foot steel stringer built in 1913. As with Cypress Avenue, there was a short platform between the east- and west-bound tracks reached via a staircase from street level. aRRts-Archives had photos from when the station was active but I couldn't find any traces of the old staircase.

7/16/2008 07:29 PM
Myrtle Avenue Bridge (BIN 7705150)

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Myrtle Avenue Bridge

7/16/2008 07:34 PM
Myrtle Avenue Bridge

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Billboard with no respece for the date marker

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Myrtle Avenue businesses west of the bridge

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Fresh Pond Road north of Myrtle Avenue

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Retaining wall on east side of tracks

7/16/2008 07:33 PM
Retaining wall on east side of tracks

The Cypress Hills Street bridge is an othewise unremarkable 78-foot steel stringer bridge from 1913, except for some piers running along the west side. They may have served as the elevated portion of a siding as there are siding rails poking out of the pavement a few hundred feet to the north. The piers now serve as parking place dividers in the parking lot of Glenridge Mews, an upscale apartment building housed in the old Philip Dietz Coal Company Building

7/16/2008 07:37 PM
Cypress Hills Street Bridge

7/16/2008 07:38 PM
BIN 7705140

7/16/2008 07:38 PM
Old insulators on the trestle?

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1913 date marker

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Erika and Teri Buchmiller's flag painting from 9/1/1980

7/16/2008 07:39 PM
Cypress Hills Street Bridge

7/16/2008 07:39 PM
Elevated siding piers?

7/16/2008 07:40 PM
Glenridge Mews

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Philip Dietz Coal Company

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Glenridge Mews

7/16/2008 07:44 PM
Vestigial siding rails in Shaler Avenue

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Low-rise storage garages along the east side of the track on Shaler Avenue

7/16/2008 07:45 PM
Storage garages

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R and M Auto Repairs

7/16/2008 07:46 PM
Row houses on Shaler Avenue

Fresh Ponds Station / Bushwick Junction

At 65th Street, the track splits into two branches before entering the Fresh Ponds Yard and meets the east-west LIRR Montauk Branch. Originally, the Bay Ridge Line turned to the west here with stops at Maspeth, Haberman and Penny Bridge before terminating in Long Island City. A separate freight branch forked at Maspeth to procede past a number of industrial customers before ending at the Bushwick Terminal.

Later, the portion of the Bay Ridge Branch to Long Island City became part of the City Terminal Zone, providing service from Long Island City, through the Fresh Ponds Yard on east to Jamaica for transfer to other Long Island destinations.

To the north, the freight line continues as the New York Connecting Railroad, ultimately leading to the Hell Gate Bridge which provides the only direct rail link between Long Island and the U.S. mainland.

The Circumferential Line is proposed pass through the yard headed north on the NYC Connecting Railroad line. While a "Fresh Ponds" station could conceivably be placed near the 65th Street Bridge, such a station might be too close to the BMT Myrtle Avenue Line (M Train) Fresh Pond Road stations to justify the additional expense.

For a detailed overview of the Fresh Ponds rail yard (with diagrams and historic photos), visit aRRt's aRRchives and TrainsAreFun.com.

7/16/2008 07:46 PM
65th Street Bridges

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West span of the 65th Street Bridge

7/16/2008 07:48 PM
East span of the 65th Street Bridge

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More storage garages on Otto Road

7/16/2008 07:50 PM
Service access drive up to tracks

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Businesses to the east of Fresh Ponds Yard

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Tree-lined single family homes on 65th Place

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Laundry behind row houses on 75th Avenue

7/16/2008 08:05 PM
Glen Ridge Park - west of Fresh Ponds Yard

7/16/2008 08:07 PM
Glen Ridge Park - large rail bridge obscured by trees

7/16/2008 08:08 PM
Glen Ridge Park

7/16/2008 08:09 PM
BMT Myrtle Ave. Line (M Train) passing Glen Ridge Park

The Fresh Pond railyard is not readily accessible to civilians, however the New York Connecting Railroad bridge over the LIRR Montauk Branch is briefly visible from the M Train right before the M Train terminates at the Metropolitan Avenue station. The bridge was built in 1916 along with the NYCRR and supposedly is unusually long because the LIRR didn't want the bridge infringing on any of their right of way.

7/29/2008 05:34 PM

7/29/2008 05:44 PM