RE: (rshsdepot) A Trolley Grows in Brooklyn

[james.dent_@_itochu.com]

OK, so it's THAT Atlantic Ave. tunnel.  I wasn't sure.  Construction on that
tunnel began in 1844 and the tunnel was abandoned in 1859. 

This tunnel has some fascinating stories and intrigue attached to it
(abandoned locos, German spies, FBI searches).

More info is here:
http://www.nycsubway.org/faq/earlysubway.html

Pictures from inside are here:
http://wt.mit.edu/Subway/Tunnel/diamond.html

and here:
http://wt.mit.edu/Subway/Tunnel/mypics.html

This page includes pics of writing on the walls from when the tunnel was
searched in 1916 for German spies:
http://wt.mit.edu/Subway/Tunnel/mar14.html

> -----Original Message-----
> From: Steven Delibert [mailto:stevdel_@_prodigy.net]
> Sent: Tuesday, June 11, 2002 1:12 PM
> To: rshsdepot_@_lists.railfan.net
> Subject: Re: (rshsdepot) A Trolley Grows in Brooklyn
> 
> 
> 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
> 
> =================================
> The Railroad Station Historical Society maintains a database 
> of existing
> railroad structures at: http://www.rrshs.org
> 
=================================
The Railroad Station Historical Society maintains a database of existing
railroad structures at: http://www.rrshs.org

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