IND World's Fair Line

The IND World's Fair Line, officially the World's Fair Railroad,^[2] was a branch of the Independent Subway System serving the 1939 New York World's Fair in Queens, New York City. It split from the IND Queens Boulevard Line at an existing flying junction east of Forest Hills – 71st Avenue station, ran through the Jamaica Yard and then ran northeast and north through Flushing Meadows–Corona Park (roughly where the Van Wyck Expressway, I-678, is now) on a wooden trestle to the World's Fair Railroad station, a bit south of Horace Harding Boulevard (now the Long Island Expressway (I-495)). The World's Fair Railroad and station are the only IND line and station to have been closed and demolished.^[3][4][1] Remnants of the line are still present in the Jamaica Yard.

History

The Jamaica Yard, which connected the World's Fair and Queens Boulevard Lines.

In December 1936, a request was sent to the Board of Estimate by the Board of Transportation and the Transit Commission in order to have adequate rapid transit facilities to handle World's Fair crowds in 1939. An extension of the IND's subway system to the World's Fair was part of this plan, facilitated by the extension of the Queens Boulevard Line to Union Turnpike and the nearby Jamaica storage yard which opened at the end of the month. It would cost about $1.2 million, with $700K of it for its construction and $500K for its equipment.^[5][6][7] The contract for the IND World's Fair Line was awarded on October 26, 1937 by the Board of Transportation to the P. T. Cox Contracting Company for a bid of $308,770.^[8] The World's Fair extension was opposed by Park's Commissioner Robert Moses, who oversaw the World's Fair.^[9]

In its planning stages in 1937, it was discussed by the City Board of Estimate to make the line a permanent connection to Flushing Meadows Park following the end of the fair, with the possibility of intermediate stations along the line to serve the local area (today's Kew Gardens Hills and Flushing). The upgrades to make the line permanent would have cost around $6 million. However, it was determined to be impractical due to the absence of permanent attractions in the park (Citi Field, USTA) that are present today.^[10][11]

In early 1938, construction on the IND World's Fair Line began. It originated at the Queens Boulevard portal of Jamaica Yard, using the western yard leads from 71st−Continental Avenues. The line ran along the eastern edge of Flushing Meadows–Corona Park for 8,400 feet to approximately what is now the interchange of the Long Island Expressway and the Van Wyck Expressway. The line consisted of two tracks ending in a stub-end terminal called World's Fair Station. It was built on a pine wooden trestle across the marshy swampland, which was then filled in. The line was designed to be removed following the fair in 1940.^{[5][6][8][10][11][12]}

Test trains on the IND World's Fair Line were run beginning on April 22, 1939, and it opened on April 30, 1939. The GG mostly serviced the line between Smith–Ninth Streets and the World's Fair Station, with E express service between World's Fair Station and Hudson Terminal during the PM rush hour and evening. Service generally ran until 1:00am.^[13][14][15]

The 1939 World's Fair had two seasons: one each in 1939 and 1940, which ended in the fall months of the year. The IND World's Fair Line was closed between seasons, and at the end of the Fair the line was set to be demolished. The last train ran on October 28, 1940, three days before the closure of the Fair. While most of the fairgrounds were torn down soon after the event, the line remained intact for several months afterward. Queens borough president George U. Harvey proposed extending the line to serve the then-developing neighborhoods of Flushing, College Point, and Whitestone, along with the recently opened Queens College. This plan was supported by the local communities, elected officials in Queens, and the president of Queens College. It was deemed to be unfeasible, however, by the Board of Transportation due to the fact that the trestle was constructed to be temporary, and due to regulations at the time which required permanent lines for subway service to be built underground. Parks and highway commissioner Robert Moses, meanwhile, wished to utilize the right-of-way for the further development of Flushing Meadows Park and the extension of the Van Wyck Expressway towards the Whitestone Expressway and the Whitestone Bridge. Demolition of the line was authorized in December of 1940, and on January 15, 1941, removal of the line commenced. The right-of-way was replaced with an extension of 136th Street, and eventually the northern portion of the Van Wyck Expressway which formed today's Interstate 678.^{[3][8][16][17][18]} Today, the seven grade time signals installed for the line in the Jamaica Yard leads, used to control revenue traffic, are now used instead to control yard traffic.^[3]

In 1960, one possibility for transit access to the 1964 World's Fair was an extension of the IND Queens Boulevard Line to the fair grounds. Robert Moses, who was going to take over as president of the World's Fair on May 15, 1960, rejected the proposal once he found out that the the line would have cost $10,000,000.^[19]

Station

World's Fair was the line's railroad southern (but geographically northern) terminus and its sole station, located in the Amusement Area of the World's Fair.^{[5][6][8][16]} The station was a temporary^[11][12] stub-end terminal with two tracks and three platforms, organized in what was essentially a Spanish solution. A third layup track was built south of the station.^[3] It was alternately named Horace Harding Boulevard, after the avenue where it was located.^[13] The station was open for just nineteen months, from April 22, 1939, to October 28, 1940.^[4][1]

To enter the station, an additional 5-cent fare was charged on top of the standard nickel fare. Special turnstiles were used at the World's Fair station that permitted traffic flow in both directions and accepted two different fares depending on the direction of travel. Fairgoers disembarking from trains paid a nickel as they exited through the turnstiles while passengers entering the station from the fairgrounds paid a ten-cent fare upon passing through the turnstiles.^[1][14] The stations on the IND Rockaway Line, opened in 1956, would later employ this fare system until 1975.^[20]

Competing IRT and BMT service

The Interborough Rapid Transit Company (IRT) and Brooklyn–Manhattan Transit Corporation (BMT) also served the World's Fair, but did so directly with World's Fair (now Mets – Willets Point) station on the dual-operated Flushing Line (which was rebuilt into an express station for the Fair). A Long Island Rail Road station (now Mets – Willets Point) was built next to the Flushing Line station.^[3]

References

External links

• NYCSubway.org
  • IND World's Fair Railroad
  • 1939 Rapid Transit Map of Greater New York
• O Gauge Railroading Forum - Vestiges of World's Fair spur

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