IRT Ninth Avenue Line

The IRT Ninth Avenue Line, often called the Ninth Avenue Elevated or Ninth Avenue El,<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> was the first elevated railway in New York City. It opened in July 1868 as the West Side and Yonkers Patent Railway, as an experimental single-track cable-powered elevated railway from Battery Place, at the south end of Manhattan Island, northward up Greenwich Street to Cortlandt Street. By 1879 the line was extended to the Harlem River at 155th Street. It was electrified and taken over by the Interborough Rapid Transit Company in 1903.

The main line ceased operation in June 1940,<ref name=Closure>Ninth Avenue Elevated Closure Poster</ref><ref name=Ninth>Template:Cite news</ref> after it was replaced by the IND Eighth Avenue Line which had opened in 1932. The last section in use, over the Harlem River, was known as the Polo Grounds Shuttle. It closed in August 1958.<ref name=155Shuttle>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> This portion used a now-removed swing bridge called the Putnam Bridge,<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> and went through a still-extant tunnel with two partially underground stations.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

The line had the worst accident in the history of New York City elevated railways, on September 11, 1905, when a train derailed and fell to the street. Of the 61 casualties, 13 were killed and 48 were injured.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref><ref name=":0">Template:Cite book</ref>

History

West Side and Yonkers Patent Railway

File:Harvey Cable Car.jpg

West Side and Yonkers Patent Railway test run, 1867

The predecessor of the Ninth Avenue Elevated was the West Side and Yonkers Patent Railway, which was built on Greenwich Street by Charles T. Harvey and ran from July 1, 1868, to 1870. The line used multiple one-mile-long (1.6 km-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.

In 1885, the first demonstration of an electric traction engine in New York took place on the Ninth Avenue El.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>

Extension

The Ninth Avenue Elevated was extended up Greenwich Street and Ninth Avenue by 1891. The Ninth Avenue El and several other lines of the Manhattan Railway Company were taken over with a 99-year lease by the Interborough Rapid Transit Company on April 1, 1903.<ref name="feinman">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref name="walker">Template:Cite book</ref> The Ninth Avenue Elevated extended over Template:Convert above the street at "Suicide Curve", where the line made two 90-degree turns above 110th Street to travel from Columbus Avenue to Eighth Avenue.<ref name="History 2013">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> On September 11, 1905, the worst accident in the history of New York's elevated railways took place at a curve at 53rd street, resulting in 13 deaths and 48 serious injuries.<ref name=":0" /> The rebuilding project was extended all the way north to 116th Street, creating Manhattan's first three-track elevated, although center-track express service did not begin until 1916.

File:El' station, Sixth and Ninth Avenue Lines- downtown side, 72nd Street and Columbus Avenue, Manhattan (NYPL b13668355-482803).jpg

Berenice Abbott photograph of Ninth Avenue El station at 72nd Street, 1936

The line began at South Ferry and ran along Greenwich Street from Battery Place to Gansevoort Street in lower Manhattan, Ninth Avenue in midtown (joining with the Sixth Avenue El at 53rd Street, continuing along Columbus Avenue in upper Manhattan between 59th Street and 110th, turning east on 110th and running north on Eighth Avenue (Central Park West and Frederick Douglass Boulevard) until the Harlem River.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>

In January 1917, the installation of a third track was completed.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> The third track allowed the IRT to begin running express trains on the line in July 1918, from 125th Street to 155th Street; trains began using the new express station at 145th Street for the first time.<ref name=1918Extension>Template:Cite news</ref> At the same time, the line was extended to 162nd Street in the Bronx, and stations were opened at Sedgwick Avenue and Anderson–Jerome Avenues.<ref name=1918Extension /> In December 1921, Lexington Avenue–Jerome Avenue subway trains began running north of 167th Street at all times, replacing elevated trains, which ran to Woodlawn during rush hours, but terminated at 167th Street during non-rush hours.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

As of 1934, the following services were being operated:Template:Citation needed

• 9th Avenue Local — South Ferry to 155th Street all hours, extended Sundays and late nights to Burnside Avenue via Jerome Avenue Line.
• 9th Avenue Express — Rector Street to Burnside Avenue via Jerome Avenue Line weekdays and Saturdays daytime, extended to Fordham Road weekday rush periods, also Saturday morning rush and afternoon thru PM peak. These trains ran express south of 155th Street southbound until noon and northbound after noon, and made all stops in the opposite direction.

Closing and Polo Grounds Shuttle

Most of the line was closed June 11, 1940, and dismantled, following the purchase of the IRT by the City of New York.<ref name=Closure /><ref name=Ninth/> A small portion of the line north of 155th Street remained in service as the "Polo Grounds Shuttle".<ref name="Norwood 2018 p. 351">Template:Cite book</ref><ref name="Sansone 2004 p. 43">Template:Cite book</ref> Service ended in August 1958 as a result of the departure of the New York Giants baseball team, which had relocated to San Francisco, and the ending of passenger service on the New York Central's Putnam Division.<ref name=155Shuttle /><ref name=":13">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Station listing

From north to south, the stations were:

Station	Tracks	Opening date	Closing date	Transfers and notes
Anderson–Jerome Avenues	Express	July 1, 1918<ref name=1918Extension />	August 31, 1958<ref name=155Shuttle />	Still exists in ruins; continued north via the Jerome Avenue Line to 167th Street, and later to Woodlawn on January 2, 1919<ref name=nycsubway>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>
Sedgwick Avenue	Express	July 1, 1918<ref name=1918Extension />	August 31, 1958<ref name=155Shuttle />	Still exists in ruins; transfer point with NYC Putnam Division<ref name="nycsubway"/>
155th Street	Express	citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>	August 31, 1958<ref name=155Shuttle />	Built next to NYC Putnam Division southern terminus, former transfer point until Putnam Division service to Manhattan ended in 1918<ref name="nycsubway"/>
151st Street	Local	November 15, 1917	June 11, 1940<ref name=Closure />
145th Street	Express	December 1, 1879	June 11, 1940<ref name=Closure />
140th Street	Local	September 27, 1879	June 11, 1940<ref name=Closure />
135th Street	Local	September 27, 1879	June 11, 1940<ref name=Closure />
130th Street	Local	September 27, 1879	June 11, 1940<ref name=Closure />
125th Street	Express	September 17, 1879	June 11, 1940<ref name=Closure />
116th Street	Express	September 17, 1879	June 11, 1940<ref name=Closure />
110th Street	Local	June 3, 1903	June 11, 1940<ref name=Closure />
104th Street	Local	June 21, 1879	June 11, 1940<ref name=Closure />
99th Street	Local	June 21, 1879	June 11, 1940<ref name=Closure />
93rd Street	Local	June 21, 1879	June 11, 1940<ref name=Closure />
86th Street	Local	June 21, 1879	June 11, 1940<ref name=Closure />
81st Street	Local	June 9, 1879<ref name="tmc"/>	June 11, 1940<ref name=Closure />
72nd Street	Local	June 9, 1879<ref name="tmc"/>	June 11, 1940<ref name=Closure />
66th Street	Express		June 11, 1940<ref name=Closure />
59th Street	Local	June 9, 1879<ref name="tmc">Template:Cite news</ref>	June 11, 1940<ref name=Closure />	Transfer to Sixth Avenue Elevated
55th Street	Local	January 18, 1876	Before 1887
53rd Street	Local	June 2, 1878	Before 1887
50th Street	Local	January 18, 1876	June 11, 1940<ref name=Closure />
42nd Street	Local	November 6, 1875<ref name="nycsubway"/>	June 11, 1940<ref name=Closure />
34th Street	Express	July 30, 1873<ref name="nycsubway"/>	June 11, 1940<ref name=Closure />
30th Street	Local	December 13, 1873	June 11, 1940<ref name=Closure />
29th Street		July 3, 1868<ref name="Fifty Years of Rapid Transit 1918"/>	1873	Original northern terminus
23rd Street	Local	October 21, 1873	June 11, 1940<ref name=Closure />
21st Street	Local	October 21, 1873	Before 1887
14th Street	Express		June 11, 1940<ref name=Closure />
Little West 12th Street	Local	June 17, 1872	1880?
Bethune Street	Local	November 5, 1875	Before 1887
Christopher Street	Express	November 3, 1873	June 11, 1940<ref name=Closure />
Houston Street	Local	November 3, 1873	June 11, 1940<ref name=Closure />
Watts Street	Local	May 6, 1872	Before 1887
Desbrosses Street	Express	November 23, 1873	June 11, 1940<ref name=Closure />
Franklin Street	Local	January 21, 1873	June 11, 1940<ref name=Closure />
Warren Street	Express	February 14, 1870	June 11, 1940<ref name=Closure />
Barclay Street	Local	February 14, 1870	June 11, 1940<ref name=Closure />
Dey Street		July 3, 1868<ref name="Fifty Years of Rapid Transit 1918">Template:Cite book</ref>	1874	Original southern terminus
Cortlandt Street	Express	May 25, 1874	June 11, 1940<ref name=Closure />
Rector Street	Local	May 25, 1874	June 11, 1940<ref name=Closure />
Morris Street	Local	August 15, 1872 April 15, 1877	March 19, 1873 September 27, 1879
Battery Place	Express	June 5, 1883<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>	June 11, 1940<ref name=Closure />	Sixth Avenue Line
South Ferry	Express	April 5, 1877	June 11, 1940 (9th Avenue) December 22, 1950 (other services)<ref name=Closure />	Second, Third and Sixth Avenue Lines; various ferries

External links

• 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
• Time Traveling on the NYC Ninth Ave El — A History of New York City (Manhattan) Elevated Railways