Re: (rshsdepot) A Trolley Grows in Brooklyn

["Steven Delibert" <stevdel_@_prodigy.net>]

From: <jdent1_@_optonline.net>
>Also, does anyone know what tunnel was "discovered" under Atlantic Ave -
perhaps an original railroad structure?

    The Long Island RR, which now terminates at Flatbush & Atlantic Avenues,
used to run (in the mid-19C) all the way down Atlantic Avenue to the
Brooklyn waterfront, to connect with ferries for Manhattan.  Several blocks
worth were in a tunnel, which was abandoned when the RR was cut back to
Flatbush Avenue (sorry, don't recall the date, but it was early).
    There were rumors throughout the 20th C that the tunnel still existed,
and Bob Diamond was persistent enough to find the maps in city offices, then
get one of the local utilities to dig where he told them to in the late
1970's  -- and voila!! A beautiful, brick-arch tunnel, big  enough for what
would have been 19C double-track, full of crud but almost perfectly
preserved.   (The other rumor, that there was an engine buried down there,
didn't pan out, alas).  He's got most of the tunnel cleaned out now, and has
it open on occasional weekends for visits through a manhole at Court St and
Atlantic Avenue -- if there's a schedule to this or any regular announcement
of when it will be, though, I've never found it.
    Steve Delibert

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The Railroad Station Historical Society maintains a database of existing
railroad structures at: http://www.rrshs.org

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