BusTalk

[NEW YORK OMNIBUS 2629]

All:

Came across this nostalgic 1957 photo earlier today, and wanted to be sure to share it here....enjoy!

"NYO"

http://www.trainsarefun.com/lirr/polo/EL_pologroundstruncatedline1957.jpg

[Mr. Linsky]

NEW YORK OMNIBUS 2629,

Great photo! looks as though they're all NYCO 4509's.

In my many years of living in New York I must have gone to Shea and Yankee Stadiums dozens of times and even saw the Dodgers when they were still playing at Ebbets Field in Brooklyn.

But we never went to the Polo Grounds because my father said it was impossible to park!

Regards,

Mr. 'L'

[NEW YORK OMNIBUS 2629]

Mr. "L"......

I had the feeling that you would like this nostalgic old view of New York buses past!

Even though parking was only 50 cents, I am sure many sports fans availed themselves to the buses and the El......leave the driving to someone else, for the least amount of hassle!

Those classic GM's alone more than date this wonderful old scene.....

"NYO"

[andy47]

Wonderful photo. I remember the Polo Grounds well. I believe that the 50 cent parking and the el structure of the old 155th-167th Street shuttle dates this photo to 1958. The Giants had moved to SF after the 1957 season and in 1958 the el shuttle stopped running for good. The 50 cent parking was no doubt a means to attract park and ride patrons to the PG lot, not baseball fans since there was no baseball any more - or not till the Mets began in 1962, by which time the el was gone.

There was midget auto racing at the PG for those few years between the Giants and the Mets but that did not draw baseball type crowds - hence the 50 cent parking.

Another giveway of the late 50s is that the FACO buses sported ads on their exteriors - which only became legal in NYC about 1958.

[traildriver]

Great photo! That stub end 'el' structure intrigues me....what was the history of that?
It was gone when I first went to the Polo Grounds in the two years before Shea opened to see both the Mets, and the NY Titans....

[andy47]

To answer the question about the el structure:

The structure was originally part of the old 9th Ave. Elevated. North of 110th Street it ran along 8th Ave. and thus right outside the Polo Grounds. It reached 155th Street in the 1880s and ended at 155th Street. The Giants began playing there in 1890. The NY Central RR Putnam Division trains crossed the Harlem River to a terminal at that location as well, creating one of the first rapid transit-suburban rail transfers in NYC.

Fast forward to 1918. Under the Dual Contracts, the 9th Ave. el was extended over the former NYC RR Putnam Bridge into the Bronx, and a short tunnel was constructed under the High Bridge neighborhood to enable the el trains to connect with the then-new IRT Jerome Ave. elevated, enabling the el trains to run all the way to Woodlawn concurrent with Lexington Ave. subway trains. At the same time, the NYC RR Putnam trains relocated to a new terminal on the Bronx side of the Harlem River, alongside what is now the Major Deegan Expressway.

In 1940 the 9th Ave. El was demolished south of 155th Street (the IND 8th ave. subway made the el redundant). A shuttle stub was retained northward, between 155th and 167th Streets, using the route originally built in 1918. A free paper transfer was provided at 155th between the old el (now called the Polo Grounds Shuttle) and the IND D train directly below.

The picture shows the el structure in its last days, when it was reduced in size because it only needed one track as a turnback for the PG Shuttle trains. In late August 1958, with the Giants gone to SF and the Putnam Division rail service ended, the shuttle was abandoned, ending the last part of the 9th Ave. El. The El in the photo was razed soon afterward.

Today, if you stand outside the outfield wall of the new Yankee Stadium, you can see the old connection from the Jerome Ave. El that led to the 9th Ave. El. It would have gone right through the new stadium!

[traildriver]

Thanks so much for that detailed explanation. Some times I wish I could go back in a 'time-machine' to experience New York as it was the year I was born (1947)....