Ditmas Avenue (IND Culver Line)

Ditmas Avenue is a local station on the IND Culver Line of the New York City Subway. Located at the intersection of Ditmas and McDonald Avenues in Kensington, Brooklyn, it is served by the F train at all times.

Layout

This elevated station, opened on July 16, 1919, has three tracks and two side platforms. The center track is not used in revenue service. Both platforms have beige windscreens along their entire lengths except for a small section at the north end. Brown canopies with green frames and support columns run along the center center of the platforms. The station signs are in the standard black plates in white lettering. There is an abandoned tower on the extreme south end of the Manhattan-bound platform.

This station has two entrances/exits, both of which are elevated station houses beneath the tracks. The full time one is at the south end. Two staircases from each platform outside the canopies go down to a waiting area/crossover, where a turnstile bank of three provides entrance/exit from the station. Outside fare control, there is a token booth and two staircases going down to either southern corners of McDonald Avenue and Ditmas Avenue.

The other station house at the north end also has one staircase from each platform, a waiting area/crossover, and two staircases going down to either side of McDonald Avenue between Cortelyou Road and Ditmas Avenue. However, the station house is unstaffed, containing two High Entry/Exit Turnstiles. Both station house balconies have a high turnstile to allow passengers to enter or exit the station without having to go through the station house. The one on the Manhattan-bound staircase is entry and exit while the one on the Coney Island-bound staircase is exit-only.

History

North of Ditmas Avenue, the Culver Line expands into four tracks, two local, and two express tracks and enters the tunnel into Church Avenue, allowing access to IND lines in the other boroughs. Before this connection opened on October 30, 1954, this station was the first on the former BMT section of the line and the Coney Island-bound platform was formerly an island platform with an extra track.

The line ran along 37–38th Streets, making stops at 13th Avenue and Fort Hamilton Parkway before entering the lower level of the Ninth Avenue, where it would continue along the current route to the BMT Fourth Avenue Line (or Fifth Avenue elevated before it ceased operation in 1940).

After the connection to Church Avenue and the IND opened, the Culver Line north of Ditmas Avenue was reduced to a single-track shuttle. The shuttle ceased operation on May 11, 1975 due to decreasing ridership and most of the structure above 37th-38th Streets were demolished. The fourth track at Ditmas Avenue was removed and the Coney Island-bound platform was converted back to a side platform.

Along the west side of McDonald Avenue, the remains of the fourth track are visible behind the windscreens of the Coney Island-bound platform and more remains show the two-track turnoff just before entering Ditmas Avenue. South of this station, the girders supporting the fourth track merge with the southbound local track.

References

External links

• nycsubway.org — BMT Culver Line: Ditmas Avenue
• Station Reporter — F Train
• The Subway Nut — Ditmas Avenue Pictures
• Ditmas Avenue entrance from Google Maps Street View
• Cortelyou Road entrance from Google Maps Street View