page_title: Third Avenue Railway
section_title: Early history
hierarchical_section_title: Third Avenue Railway / Early history
caption_attribution_description: English: Identifier: electricrailway341909newy (find matches) Title: Electric railway journal Year: 1908 (1900s) Authors: Subjects: Electric railroads Publisher: (New York) McGraw Hill Pub. Co Contributing Library: Smithsonian Libraries Digitizing Sponsor: Smithsonian Libraries View Book Page: Book Viewer About This Book: Catalog Entry View All Images: All Images From Book Click here to view book online to see this illustration in context in a browseable online version of this book. Text Appearing Before Image: GASOLINE-ELECTRIC CAR FOR THE THIRD AVENUERAILROAD, NEW YORK The Third Avenue Railroad Company, at the suggestionof F. W. Whitridge, receiver, has begun experimentaloperation of a gasoline-electric car to determine the possi-bilities of this type of vehicle for the lines which it nowoperates by horse traction. The car, which was built by Text Appearing After Image: Third Avenue Railroad Gasoline-Electric Car the General Electric Company, was received on Oct. 25and is now in service on the 125th Street cross-town linewhere it is being operated on the same schedule as theelectric cars which are running on this route. The 125thStreet line is 2.1 miles long, and in this distance from15 to 21 stops are made in each direction. The round-trip running time is 30 to 33 minutes and the headway is Gasoline Engine and Generator Unit much sooner than if the experimental runs were made onthe lightly patronized routes for which self-propelledvehicles may ultimately be used. The specifications underwhich this car was purchased state that it should be capableof running on a 5 per cent grade and when on level trackmaintain a schedule speed of 8 m.p.h. with 10 stops permile. These conditions have been met easily; in fact,shortly after the car was received it was run successfullyon Amsterdam Avenue up an 8 per cent grade about 1000ft. long. As shown in the accompan Note About Images Please note that these images are extracted from scanned page images that may have been digitally enhanced for readability - coloration and appearance of these illustrations may not perfectly resemble the original work.
context_page_description: The Third Avenue Railway System, founded 1852, was a streetcar system serving the New York City boroughs of Manhattan and the Bronx along with lower Westchester County. For a brief period of time, TARS also operated the Steinway Lines in Long Island City.
  The conversion from streetcar to bus operation came from great pressure applied by New York City's Board of Transportation for a unified bus transportation system across the city. TARS applied for its first bus franchises in 1928. By 1948, all streetcar lines in Manhattan and The Bronx were converted to bus operation. The lines in Westchester County continued to operate, until the Yonkers city lines were shut down in 1952. Third Avenue Railway was purchased by New York City Omnibus Corporation in 1956, and transferred the remaining transit operating franchises to subsidiary Surface Transportation, Inc.
context_section_description: The origins of the Third Avenue Railway System can be traced back to a simple horsecar line operated by the Third Avenue Railroad Company between City Hall and 62nd Street in Manhattan in 1853. By the 1870s, routes had been extended as far north as 129th Street and across the length of 125th Street. At its peak, more than 1,700 horses were stabled by the railway to keep up with demand. By 1885, Third Avenue Railroad had opened its first cable car line on Amsterdam Avenue. The 125th Street and Third Avenue lines were converted to cable car operation by 1893. The lines were converted to electric operation in 1899. Because of a ban on overhead trolley wires in Manhattan, streetcars collected power from a conduit in between the rails, by means of a plow, a method also used in Washington, D.C. and London. Some cars were equipped with trolley poles for operation on lines outside Manhattan into the Bronx. In many cases the conduit was run in the former channel occupied by the propulsion cable.
  The Third Avenue Railroad expanded in 1898 with the acquisition of the Dry Dock, East Broadway and Battery Railroad and the Forty-Second Street, Manhattanville and St. Nicholas Railroad. Additional properties include the Belt Line Railway Corporation, the Mid-Crosstown Railway, the Brooklyn and North River Railroad (a joint operation with Brooklyn Rapid Transit, New York Railways, and TARS operating streetcars over the Manhattan Bridge), the Kingsbridge Railroad, the Westchester Electric Railroad, and the Yonkers Railroad:
  The Central Park, North and East River Railroad was formed in 1860. In 1912 the line was sold at foreclosure and the Belt Line Railway was incorporated in 1912 to take over. Third Avenue Railway assumed control in 1913, gaining the busy 59th Street crosstown line that extended from the Hudson River ferries across mid-town Manhattan to 10th Avenue.
  The Mid-Crosstown Railway was incorporated in 1912 to acquire the Twenty-Eighth and Twenty-Ninth Streets Crosstown Railroad, which was sold at foreclosure following the collapse of the Metropolitan Street Railway system. After a period of operating the line, Third Avenue Railway purchased the Mid-Crosstown Railway in 1914.
  The Kingsbridge Railway was chartered in 1898 to build a railway from Manhattan Street to the city line. An agreement was made with the New York City Railway in 1906 to operate their cars over Kingsbridge Railway tracks. With the collapse of the Metropolitan Street Railway in 1908, the agreement was terminated. Third Avenue Railway began leasing the Kingsbridge Railway the same year.
  The Dry Dock, East Broadway & Battery Railroad was chartered in 1863, and later came under the control of Third Avenue Railroad in 1897. The Avenue B and East Broadway Transit Company was formed independently of TARS in 1932 to operate buses over the same routes upon the termination of streetcar service. The bus operations were taken over by New York City Transit Authority in 1980.
  Chartered in 1878, the Forty-Second Street, Manhattanville & St. Nicholas Railway opened in 1884. Acquisition of this line in 1896 gained Third Avenue Railroad the lucrative 42nd Street crosstown line. Electrification began in 1898, and completed in 1901. The Third Avenue Bridge Company was formed in 1910 for the purpose of constructing and operating a streetcar line across the Queensboro Bridge to Long Island City. Operation over the bridge began in 1912 and placed under control of the FSSM&StN.
  The Union Railway was a consolidation of the Bronx Traction Company and the Southern Boulevard Railroad. By the turn of the century, Third Avenue Railroad controlled the majority of streetcar lines in Manhattan, as well as all service in The Bronx and lower Westchester County.
caption: 1909 3rd Avenue Gasoline-Electric streetcar.
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