BMT Lexington Avenue Line

Lexington Avenue Elevated
A 1924 BMT route map; the Lexington Avenue El is at center.
Overview
Other name(s)	BMT Lexington Avenue Line
Owner	City of New York
Termini	Fulton Street 65th Street
Service
Type	Rapid transit
System	Brooklyn–Manhattan Transit Corporation
Operator(s)	Brooklyn–Manhattan Transit Corporation
History
Opened	1885–1893
Closed	1889 (Park Avenue Elevated) 1950 (section west of Gates Avenue)
Technical
Number of tracks	2
Character	Elevated
Track gauge	4 ft 8+1⁄2 in (1,435 mm)
Route map Legend Brooklyn Bridge to Park Row Fulton Ferry[1] closed 1904 York–Washington Streets closed 1904 Bridge Street closed 1904 Fifth Avenue Line via Hudson Avenue Navy Street closed 1889 Cumberland Street closed 1889 Washington Avenue closed 1889 Myrtle Avenue Line Myrtle Avenue – Grand Avenue Myrtle Avenue Line to Metropolitan Avenue DeKalb Avenue Greene Avenue Franklin Avenue Nostrand Avenue Tompkins Avenue Sumner Avenue Reid Avenue Broadway (Brooklyn) Line to Broadway Ferry or Williamsburg Bridge Gates Avenue Halsey Street Chauncey Street Eastern Parkway Canarsie Line to Rockaway Pkwy and Fulton Street Line to Lefferts Blvd Alabama Avenue Van Siclen Avenue Cleveland Street Norwood Avenue Crescent Street Cypress Hills Jamaica Line (Dual Contracts section) to 168th Street This diagram: view talk edit

The BMT Lexington Avenue Line (also called the Lexington Avenue Elevated) was the first standard elevated railway in Brooklyn, New York, operated in its later days by the Brooklyn Rapid Transit Company, the Brooklyn–Manhattan Transit Corporation, and then the City of New York.

The original line, as it existed at the end of 1885, traveled from Fulton Ferry in Downtown Brooklyn east to East New York, passing over York Street, turning right onto Hudson Avenue (which is now a pedestrian walkway within the Farrugut Houses), left onto Park Avenue, right onto Grand Avenue, left onto Lexington Avenue, right onto Broadway, and slight left onto Fulton Street.

The structure above Broadway and Fulton Street is now part of the BMT Jamaica Line. The original structure east of Alabama Avenue in East New York still exists, although it has been rebuilt to support subway cars, which are heavier than the former elevated cars. The remaining elevated structure is the oldest such structure in the subway system.