IRT Third Avenue Line

The Third Avenue Line, or Third Avenue El, was an elevated railway in Manhattan and the Bronx, New York City. It passed into the ownership of the Interborough Rapid Transit Company (IRT) and eventually the New York City Subway.

In the 1940s, as part of the integration of the different subway companies in New York City—the IRT along with Brooklyn–Manhattan Transit (BMT) and Independent Subway System (IND)—the Third Avenue El and its counterparts on Second, Sixth, and Ninth Avenues came under criticism from New York mayor Fiorello LaGuardia and his successors. The Els were regarded as blights to their communities and obsolete, given that subways were being built, or were on the drawing board, to replace them.

The IND Sixth Avenue Line and the IND Eighth Avenue Line did indeed render the Sixth and Ninth Avenue Els obsolete. Save for a small shuttle service for the Wikia:baseball:Polo Grounds on the Ninth Avenue Line, they were closed by 1940 and demolished by 1941. The Second Avenue El was also gradually demolished from 1940 to 1942, leaving only the Third Avenue El, which was intended to stay in use until and the Second Avenue Subway was built to replace it. However, government bureaucracy and pressure from private developers, eager to redevelop Third Avenue, forced the closure of the El prematurely with no adequate subway replacement, leaving residents on the East Side of Manhattan with the overcrowded IRT Lexington Avenue Line as the only subway east of Fifth Avenue.

The system was closed in sections from 1950 to 1973. First, the South Ferry spur was closed in 1950, which connected South Ferry to Chatham Square in Manhattan. This forever closed the South Ferry elevated station, which had serviced all four IRT El lines that originally ran in Manhattan. Next to close was the City Hall spur in 1953, which started at Park Row in Manhattan and then connected with the South Ferry spur at Chatham Square. On May 12, 1955 the main portion of the line from Chatham Square to East 149th Street in the Bronx closed, ending the operation of elevated service in Manhattan. Finally, the remaining portion of the line in the Bronx from East 149th Street to Gun Hill Road closed in April 1973.

In the Bronx, the portion of the line between The Hub and Fordham Center was replaced by the Bx55 Limited bus route making the same stops the former line made. Other than a route extension on weekdays (on 15-minute headways, 7:00 AM–7:00 PM), the portion between Gun Hill Road and Fordham Road is serviced by the Bx41. TheBx41 throughout its route runs close to where the el formerly was. The route still mimics a subway line headway and employs articulated buses. While no night service is provided, the Bx15, a local complement of the Bx55 Limited, runs every 20 minutes, a standard subway headway for late nights. The Bx41 also offers late night el replacement service between Gun Hill Road and Fordham Road.

In popular culture

The El was most prominently featured in:

• The Ray Milland drama The Lost Weekend (1945)
• The film noir drama The Naked City (1948)
• The Frank Sinatra/Gene Kelly musical On the Town (1949)

In the alternate history book Sideslip by Ted White and Dave van Arnam, depicting a alternate reality where Earth is ruled by aliens from space, the Third Avenue El survives into 1968.

Station listing

Station	Tracks	Opening date	Closing date	Transfers and notes
South Ferry	all	August 26, 1878	December 22, 1950
merge from IRT Ninth Avenue Line
Hanover Square	all	August 26, 1878	December 22, 1950
Fulton Street	all	August 26, 1878	December 22, 1950
Franklin Square	all	August 26, 1878	December 22, 1950
split for IRT Second Avenue Line
Chatham Square	all		May 12, 1955	original station was north of an at-grade merge from the spur
City Hall	City Hall spur	March 17, 1879	December 31, 1953
Chatham Square	City Hall spur		December 31, 1953
merge from City Hall Spur
Canal Street	all		May 12, 1955
Grand Street	all		May 12, 1955
Houston Street	all		May 12, 1955
Ninth Street	all	August 26, 1878	May 12, 1955
14th Street	local	August 26, 1878	May 12, 1955
18th Street	local		May 12, 1955
23rd Street	all		May 12, 1955
28th Street	local	August 26, 1878	May 12, 1955
34th Street	local	August 26, 1878	May 12, 1955
34th Street Ferry	34th Street Spur		July 14, 1930
Second Avenue	34th Street Spur		July 14, 1930	IRT Second Avenue Line
34th Street	34th Street Spur		July 14, 1930
merge from 34th Street Spur
split for 42nd Street Spur
42nd Street	all	August 26, 1878	May 12, 1955	IRT Flushing Line, IRT Lexington Avenue Line and IRT 42nd Street Shuttle at 42nd Street-Grand Central (details on the free transfer)
42nd Street	42nd Street Spur		December 6, 1923
Grand Central Station	42nd Street Spur		December 6, 1923
47th Street	local		May 12, 1955
53rd Street	local		May 12, 1955
59th Street	local		May 12, 1955
67th Street	local		May 12, 1955
76th Street	local		May 12, 1955
84th Street	local		May 12, 1955
89th Street	local		May 12, 1955
split for 98th Street Yard
99th Street	local		May 12, 1955
106th Street	all		May 12, 1955
116th Street	local		May 12, 1955
125th Street	all		May 12, 1955
split for IRT Second Avenue Line
129th Street	local		May 12, 1955
merge with IRT Second Avenue Line
split for Willis Avenue Spur
Willis Avenue	Willis Avenue Spur		April 14, 1924	transfer to the New York, Westchester and Boston Railwa and the New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad's Harlem River Line
133rd Street	all		May 12, 1955	transfer to the New York, Westchester and Boston Railway (April 15, 1924 to December 31, 1937) and the New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad's Harlem River Line (April 15, 1924 to 1931)
138th Street	all		May 12, 1955
143rd Street	all		May 12, 1955
split for IRT White Plains Road Line from express tracks (also called the Bergen Avenue By-pass)
149th Street	all		April 28, 1973	IRT White Plains Road Line
split for IRT White Plains Road Line from local tracks
156th Street	all		April 28, 1973
161st Street	local		April 28, 1973
166th Street	local		April 28, 1973
169th Street	local		April 28, 1973
Claremont Parkway	local		April 28, 1973	originally Wendover Avenue
174th Street	local		April 28, 1973
East Tremont Avenue	all		April 28, 1973	originally 177th Street, then Tremont Avenue-177th Street
split for 179th Street Yard
180th Street	local		April 28, 1973	not part of the original construction
183rd Street	local		April 28, 1973
Fordham Road	all		April 28, 1973	originally Pelham Avenue
split for Bronx Park Spur
Bronx Park	Bronx Park Spur
200th Street	local		April 28, 1973
204th Street	local		April 28, 1973
210th Street	local		April 28, 1973	originally Williams Bridge-210th Street
Gun Hill Road	all		April 28, 1973	IRT White Plains Road Line
merges with IRT White Plains Road Line

External links

• nycsubway.org — The Third Avenue El
• archive.org - The Third Avenue El (ca.1950s)

References

• Rapid Transit on the Bowery, New York Times August 26, 1878 page 8
• Crossings on Elevated Roads, New York Times March 14, 1879 page 8
• 42d St. Elevated Stops, New York Times December 7, 1923 page 19
• City Brevities, New York Times April 15, 1924 page 10
• 34th St. Elevated Ends Long Service, New York Times July 15, 1930 page 15
• Westchester Line Passes with 1937, New York Times January 1, 1938 page 36
• Old 'El' Link Ends Its 72-Year Uproar, New York Times December 23, 1950 page 23
• City Hall 'El' Spur at End of the Line, New York Times January 1, 1954 page 25
• Last Train Rumbles on Third Ave. 'El', New York Times May 13, 1955 page 1
• Cars are Packed for Last 'El' Trip, New York Times May 13, 1955 page 16
• Third Ave. El Reaches the End of Its Long, Noisy, Blighted, Nostalgic Life, New York Times April 29, 1973 page 24