Bensonhurst
Here we have the Bensonhurst station of the Brooklyn, Bath and West End RR (aka Brooklyn, Bath Beach and West
End).
It began as the Brooklyn, Bath and Coney Island RR in 1864, the first steam line other than the LIRR in Brooklyn....it began as a
steam dummy line.
The original terminals were at 25th Street and 5th Avenue in Brooklyn and the west end of Coney Island..in 1885 it became the
BB&WE...it became part of the Nassau Electric Railway 1898, but wasn't electrified until 1901, after being bought by the BRT on
1/16/1899. Elevated in 1917 it has been called the West End line ever since, the B train on the New York City subway system.
There is a small amusement park called Nellie Bly Park near where Ulmer Park, a resort that held German singing festivals, once
was....most of Bath Beach today is the Belt Parkway near the Verrazzano
Bridge. Unbelievably the West End line was still using large dummy steam engines up through
1900. |