May 2003

*The New BMT Coney Island Terminal.. After 80 years of service, the huge Stillwell Avenue terminal in Coney Island, host to four rapid transit main lines, is being replaced. This article traces the terminal's history, and illustrates its startling new look by Paul Matus

January 2003

The Interborough Strike of 1919. The Brotherhood of Interborough Rapid Transit Employees, launched an amazing 100% percent effective strike against the entire IRT rapid transit system. The story in xontemporary news accounts, researched, compiled and written by Gregory J. Christiano

January 2002

Staten Island Rapid Transit, The Essential History. The rural rapid transit line that was Commodore Vanderbilt's first railroad venture by Irvin Matus and Paul Matus

Acknowledgement , Book Notes and Links

July 2001

Fallen Transit: New York's Second Avenue el was torn down amid political pressure during WWII, leaving a hole in East Side transit service ever since, by Alexander N. Cohen

April 2001

History of the Long Island Rail Road to 1925 Part II. The nation's largest commuter railroad is also its oldest Class I railroad, by Felix Reifschneider

Winter 2001

History of the Long Island Rail Road to 1925 Part I, by Felix Reifschneider

Autumn 2000

The Road to the Transit Museum: the Lines, the equipment, the 1965 New York World's Fair and the genesis of the Transit Museum by Irvin Matus and Paul Matus

July 2000

25 Years Ago in The Third Rail, Cover

State of the Art Car Visits New York, by IIrvin Leigh Matus

The First National Light Rail Conference, by James Seamon

Politics and History of the Transit Fare as the fare rises against the background of New York's Fiscal Crisis in 1975, by Paul Matus

The BMT Culver Shuttle Closes, by Paul Matus

Lght Rail Plans in Dayton Ohio Stymied, by Paul Matus

May 2000

Our Spring Number, Special Spring Cover and Poem

When National City Lines Came to Philadelphia: Three Critical Years for one of Americas's Largest Traction Systems, by S.L. Hackbridge

What Is It? A Mystery Bus from the Archives, by Paul Matus

March 2000

The Third Century: Rebuilt Again, Brooklyn's Historic Franklin Avenue Shuttle Reopens, by Douglas Diamond

January 2000

Back to the Future. Since municipal ownership, New York has had one of the most conservative transit managements in the U.S., but it once had one of the most aggressive and advanced in Brooklyn's BMT, by Paul Matus

December 1999

The Little Station in the Woods. It began life as a real estate office deep in the woods of Flatbush. Now it is one of the New York's oldest original subway stations, by Paul Matus

September 1999

Before it Was the "W". The West End Line began life as the first little steam road to reach Coney Island. This is a story of its early days, by Morton Morris

May 1999

American Ground Transport. Remembering U.S. vs. National City Lines, highlighting the role of highway-based businesses in the rapid decline of the U.S. street railway industry.

Brooklyn Grade Crossing Commission

The Brooklyn Grade Crossing Elimination Commission was created by the New York State legislature on May 9, 1903 to accompish the goal of providing fully grade separated rights-of-way for the BRT's Brighton Beach Line and the Bay Ridge and Manhattan Beach lines of the LIRR.
by Bob Diamond

Photo Gallery Maps

BRT Excursion Train to Rockaway

This was the "mystery photo" for August 2000. Includes some hints of sleuthing the location of old photographs. Bill Mangahas figured out the photo's secret first.

Miscellaneous

The Sea Beach Line has two, usually unused, express tracks--with no stations? Why?

The New York Subway is run by MTA New York City Transit, or is it?

The Atlantic Avenue (Cobble Hill) Tunnel in Brooklyn now sees only the ghosts of antique steam engines.

A turbulent year in New York, and national history, described in analysis and contemporary articles by Gregory J. Chrisiano.

Introduction
Part One The Police Riots
Part Two The Gang Riots

Where "the Gangs" Lived

Historical articles describing New York's Five Points neighborhoodin the mid-19th century, real home of the gangs described in the movie Gangs of New York, compiled and written by Gregory J. Christiano.

Vitagraph Company in Brooklyn

Illustrated history of one of the pioneers of motion pictures by Irvin Leigh Matus

The Malbone Street Wreck
 by Brian J. Cudahy. Reviewer: Paul Matus

On November 1, 1918, a five car wood-bodied elevated train of the Brooklyn Rapid Transit Co. smashed into the wall of a recently opened tunnel, killing about 100 people.

A Few Historical Errors in Cudahy's The Malbone Street Wreck, by Alan D. Glick

Capsule Review, by C.K. Leverett

722 Miles
by Clifton Hood. Reviewer: Paul Matus

A political history of the transit system in one of the nation's most political cities, with focus on the building of the first subway.

Tracks of the New York City Subway
by Peter Dougherty. Reviewer: Paul Matus.

Where does that track go? A detailed and fascinating study of the trackage of the vast New York City subway system.

The Underground Guide
to New York City Subways
by David Frattini. Reviewer Kevin Walsh.

The Third Rail Online is edited by Paul Matus.
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Updated June 26, 2019