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Photo Credit: Nicole Brown -
Photo Credit: Nicole Brown -
Photo Credit: Nicole Brown -
In 1888, the Jamaica Line was extended west toward the East River. Driggs Avenue and Broadway Ferry were the two stations past Marcy Avenue. At the time the access to the river was crucial.
“The waterfront was very important for communication,” Cunningham said.
When the Williamsburg Bridge was built and the line was extended across it in 1908, only a shuttle train connected Marcy Avenue and the Broadway Ferry station. The shuttle closed in 1916, and in 1942, the stations and tracks past Marcy Avenue were demolished. You can still see some evidence of the track though. Looking toward the river, to the left of the curve toward the bridge, above Broadway and just past Havemeyer Street, some of the original structure remains. The structure is lighter in weight than modern structures, Cunningham said.
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Photo Credit: New York Transit Museum; Nicole Brown -
Photo Credit: Nicole Brown -
Photo Credit: Nicole Brown
The J train, traveling along the Jamaica Line in Brooklyn and Queens and the Nassau Street Line in Manhattan, has a history that many commuters may not realize. Some of the elevated tracks in Brooklyn that the J train serves are considered the oldest remaining elevated train routes in the world, first opening in the 1880s. It also has one of the sharpest curves in the subway system.
Scroll down for more facts and history of the J train.
