New York and Manhattan Beach Railway
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The New York and Manhattan Beach Railway was a narrow gauge excursion railroad constructed in stages in Kings County, New York (now the borough of Brooklyn) in the mid-1870s and completed to Manhattan Beach on the shore of the Atlantic Ocean on Coney Island in the town of Gravesend, in 1878.
[edit] Route through south-central Kings County
The line originated at the shore in Bay Ridge, in the town of New Utrecht at its western end, where it connected with ferries from New York City and the City of Brooklyn and at East New York in the Town of New Lots, where connections were made to other railroad lines. Most of this line is currently the freight-only Bay Ridge branch of the Long Island Rail Road, with service provided by lease by the New York and Atlantic Railway.
[edit] Route to Manhattan Beach
The route to Manhattan Beach connected to the central Kings County line at a junction at the current location of East 17th Street between Avenues H and I at the southern border of Fiske Terrace near the border of the Towns of Gravesend and Flatbush, just east of the current BMT Brighton Line. From that point the route proceeded more or less directly to Manhattan Beach with an extension east to Orient Beach on Coney Island, and a branch to the Sheepshead Bay Racetrack.
The Manhattan Beach route was upgraded to a standard gauge railroad in 1883-1884 after acquisition by the LIRR. It was later further upgraded to a grade-separated embankment shared with the aforementioned Brighton Line during 1907-1909. A New York State prohibition on racetrack wagering and the decline of the more upscale resorts on Coney Island, combined with more direct and lower-priced competition from nearby rapid transit and streetcar lines led to a rapid decline in the Manhattan Beach's economic viability. Passenger service ended completely in 1924, and freight ended in the early 1930s.
