Abandoned Stations by Joseph Brennan. Copyright 2001, 2002.

Elevated Stations


This page is restricted to stations that were part of the New York subway and elevated system and that were not underground. There are certainly many more abandoned stations and station sites in the city, but that will be a subject for other pages.

I drew up this list in 1994. Many of the listed stations have since been destroyed.


Manhattan


155th Street stairways: DESTROYED

Stairways from the 155th St viaduct down to Douglass Boulevard (8th Ave), which had offered access to the 155th St el station halfway between the two streets, were closed as unsafe in the 1980's and were removed entirely sometime in the late 1990's. They had the delicate cast iron detail typical of Manhattan el station stairways. The station was in use from 1878 to 1957, but the viaduct is somewhat later than 1878.


Brookyn


Franklin Avenue: DESTROYED 1998

The remaining part of the Fulton St El's Franklin Ave station (1888) was torn down in 1998. It had been listed here. Most of the station had been removed in 1940 when the Fulton St El was closed. Remaining was the small stationhouse (ticket office) building on the north side and a short piece of the elevated structure showing the unusual design of the ironwork.

Dean Street: DESTROYED 1998

This station opened in 1907 was torn down in 1998 during renovation of the Franklin Shuttle line. It had been closed in 1995 and will not be replaced when the line is reopened in late 1999. It had side platforms and a brick building under the tracks.

Misreported in the press in September 1995 as 117 years old, this elevated-era station was closed for several reasons: very low patronage (about 50 paying customers per day), closeness to Franklin Avenue station (which has better train service), and physical deterioration. The wooden platforms were nearly rotted through, part of the general lack of maintenance on the whole Franklin shuttle line. The line here is on embankment with light bridges over streets.

The original Brighton line ended in 1878 at Bedford Station, at the corner of Atlantic Ave and Franklin Ave, on ground adjacent to the northeast corner of this station. In 1894-1896 a lightweight elevated incline was built here, including a Dean Street station, to permit through service to the Fulton Street El. That was replaced in 1904-1907 by the stronger embankment line as part of an upgrade project on the Brighton line, with this station opening probably in 1907.

The station was wiped out in the general upgrade of this line that caused it to be closed in 1998-1999.

Broadway

The western part of the Myrtle Ave El was closed in 1969 after eighty years of operation. This station is located crossing over the Broadway El and supports the tower for switches below. The Broadway El (trains J M Z) was built at the same time, but was enlarged and strengthened in 1915-1916 and looks very different. For some reason the token booth area, which dates from 1888, escaped the rebuilding project, possibly simply because it is under the Myrtle Ave line and was considered part of it. Some simple but agreeable woodwork has survived.

Atlantic Avenue platforms: TO BE DESTROYED, 2001

A replacement for the original Fulton St El in this area had 6 tracks to accommodate the interworkings of the 3-track Fulton St El and the Canarsie line, running along the same route for a few blocks. Four tracks ran over one street and two over the next, but converging at this station to one very wide elevated structure. There are 8 tracks to the north where the Canarsie line connects to two other routes and all connect to a yard.

For all this, there are now just two tracks for the Canarsie line (L) in passenger service, and additional tracks for train storage. The middle one of the three platforms is not open to passengers.

The immense structure is to be rebuilt into a simpler viaduct. The MTA plan of 1968 proposed rerouting the Canarsie line into the adjacent Bay Ridge railroad tunnel through this area, from the north portal (between Wilson Ave and Bushwick Ave stations) to New Lots station. New stations would probably have been placed at Atlantic Ave for Broadway Junction and at Sutter Ave. Instead, now the el will be rebuilt.


The Bronx


East 180th Street

Like the rest of the line from here to Dyre Ave, this was built as part of the heavy-rail electric line New York, Westchester and Boston Railroad (which ran from Harlem River to White Plains and Port Chester), and closed in 1937. The portion from here to Dyre Ave, near the city line, was reopened as a subway shuttle using this station. In 1957 it was connected to the subway for through service and this station was no longer needed. Some work trains still run through it from the adjacent yard.

The large station house east of the station is still in use for the subway.

Gun Hill Road lower level: mostly DESTROYED circa 1998

The 3d Ave El was extended in 1920 from Fordham to meet the elevated subway line here. The grade put the "el" on the lower of two elevated levels in this station. The el closed in 1973. Most of the platform remained till an unreported date probably in 1998 when it was cut back to a small section near the entrance mezzanine.

Bronx terminal platforms

Four elevated terminals in the Bronx have a center platform in use and side platforms not in use: 242d St (Broadway), Woodlawn, 241st St, and Pelham Bay Parkway.


Abandoned Stations