Evergreen Branch

The remnants of the Evergreen Branch crossing Halsey Street in Bushwick.

The Evergreen Branch was a branch of the Long Island Rail Road that ran in Brooklyn and part of Queens in New York City. It was inherited as a former segment of the New York and Manhattan Beach Railroad and ran from Greenpoint, Brooklyn to what is today Ridgewood, Queens.

History

The origin of the Evergreen Branch traces back to the Glendale and East River Railroad, which was incorporated on March 26, 1874,^[1][2] to build from Greenpoint, Brooklyn, east to Glendale, Queens.^[3] It was acquired by Austin Corbin in November 1876 to be integrated into the New York and Manhattan Beach Railroad.^[4]

The line north from East New York to Jefferson Street was built by the NY&MB under the charter of the Brooklyn and Rockaway Beach Railroad (Canarsie Line),^[5][6] which gave its right to construct an extension to Hunter's Point to the NY&MB.^[7] The rest of the line, from Jefferson Street to Greenpoint, was built by the G&ER and leased by the NY&MB.^[2] This extension beyond East New York to Greenpoint opened at the beginning of the season on May 16, 1878.^[8][9]

In 1883, the standard gauge connection from Cooper Avenue Junction to the Montauk Division at Fresh Pond was built, and the lines to Manhattan Beach from Cooper Avenue Junction and Bay Ridge were made standard gauge;^[10] the Evergreen Branch remained narrow gauge until 1884. From 1883 to 1885, a shuttle connected at Cooper Avenue Junction with every Long Island City train.^[10]

In 1886, Greenpoint service was abandoned and a Bushwick shuttle was instituted which ran through the 1894 season.^[10] Between 1896 and 1897 the right of way between Greenpoint and South Side Crossing was abandoned.^[10] There is supposedly no trace of the Greenpoint service to the west of South Side Crossing.

Upon the dissolution of the Manhattan Beach Branch in 1924, the line became a freight spur between the Bushwick Branch and Bay Ridge Branch in Brooklyn. Eight blocks of tracks were removed on February 9, 1939. The following crossings were closed on that date: Himrod Street; Stanhope Street; DeKalb Avenue; Hart Street; Suydam Street; Willoughby Avenue and Starr Street.^[10]

Further dismantling took place between 1957 and 1962 and throughout much of the late 20th century. In 1965, when New York State purchased the Long Island Railroad, the Bay Ridge and Evergreen branches remained part of the Pennsylvania Railroad.^[10] Subsequently, they became part of Penn Central and Conrail.^[10] In 1984, the Long Island Railroad again took over the Bay Ridge Branch but decided to abandon the Evergreen Branch and its sole consignee.^[10]

Origin of the name of the branch

The Evergreen Branch traces its name to the time period when map printers applied the name ‘Ridgewood’ to an area larger than that of the town limits. As a result, the tight-knit community changed its name to ‘Evergreen' after the large nearby Cemetery of the Evergreens. In 1910, the name Ridgewood was officially bestowed upon the entire area nestled between Glendale and Bushwick.^[11]

Acquisition of property along the ROW

In 2014 there were three applications to acquire property along the former right of way of the Evergreen Branch. The three properties are at: 375 Grove Street, for which the sale was completed; 406 Cornelia Street; and 1503 Jefferson Avenue.^[12]

Route description

Originally the Evergreen Branch began at the East River in Greenpoint, with a depot at Oak and West Streets. From there it ran southeast along North 15th Street to Richardson Street. Then it turned east along Richardson to Vandervoort Avenue where it turned southeast.

It then crossed Metropolitan Avenue, Grand Street, and a portion of Newtown Creek, the South Side Railroad's Bushwick branch. After that, it crossed over Varick Avenue, continued across Johnson Avenue, and alongside the main tracks was Varick Avenue Yard.

Varick Avenue Yard was on the northwest side of Flushing Avenue and was a rather substantial yard with a number of team tracks and sidings. It consisted of a passing siding, which allowed access to the seven team tracks, the house track, and four tracks stubbing against the Bushwick freight house, which was located along Varick Avenue. Also located along the Varick Avenue side of the yard was the LIRR’s freight shed and some other warehouses. There was a traveling overhead crane that straddled two shorter sidings paralleling Varick Avenue and a scale track and scale house on the other side of the main, opposite the team tracks. The Varick Avenue yard was removed in 1963, and the LIRR freight houses along Varick Avenue were torn down.

The Evergreen Branch then proceeded east between Wyckoff and Irving Avenues. Along this route, between Flushing Avenue and Jefferson Street, there were some more sidings and factories. The B&QT trolley ran along Flushing Avenue and crossed the Evergreen Branch. There was then a siding between DeKalb Avenue and Stockholm Street. And up to Himrod Street, there were diamond crossing signs which indicated the presence of the Evergreen Branch to motorists.

After Himrod Street there was an unusual arrangement in which the gates were all across the tracks, protecting the streets, instead of vice versa with the crossing gates being across the streets to protect the tracks. There was a siding between Grove Street and Menahan Street. The Evergreen Branch then crossed under the Myrtle Avenue Elevated, and there was a siding between Gates and Linden. The arrangement concerning the gates stopped at Palmetto Avenue.

At Putnam Avenue was the start of the “Evergreen Yard” at Evergreen freight station, identified as “E-6.” The Evergreen freight office was a small, square block building. The Evergreen Yard consisted of a private siding and two team tracks, stubbing behind the freight office.

At Cornelia Street the tracks dipped southward and continued to the regular alignment after Cornelia Street. The line continued across Halsey Street, where there was an old B&QT trolley line; the trolley frogs crossing the LIRR tracks were still visible as of November 1958. There were some sidings for warehouses and factories at Halsey, Covert and Decatur Streets. The line then proceeded southeast and connected with the Bay Ridge branch at Cooper Avenue Junction near the Cemetery of the Evergreens.^{[13][14][15][16]}

Station list

See also

• Manhattan Beach Branch
• Rail freight transportation in New York City and Long Island

References

External links

• Long Island Rail Road Evergreen Branch (ForgottenNY.com)
• 1873 Beers Map Evergreen Branch
• Corporate Genealogy: Glendale and East River Railroad
• A Phantom Ride on the Evergreen Branch (Brooklyn BK via Internet Archive)
• Robert Emery Evergreen Branch notes
• Arrt's Arrchives:
  • Evergreen Branch: Main Page
  • West and East