Stillwell Ave

by Joseph D. Korman

With the closing of the F and Q service to Stillwell Ave on 9/7/2002, the following changes were made in the basic BMT southern services:

LINE	SOUTH	NORTH	TIME	VIA
	Ave X	179th	All times	63rd
	86th St	Pacific	Nights	4th Av Express
	86th St	Astoria	Days	Tunnel
	Brighton Beach	57th-7th	All times	Bridge
	95th St	Pacific St	Nights	4th Av Express
	Coney Island	Astoria	Nights	4th Av Local - Tunnel
	Coney Island	Astoria	Days	Bridge

Stillwell Ave Notes

The Stillwell Avenue station has eight tracks and four platforms. It is the terminal for the all the old BMT lines in Coney Island. From its opening in 1920, all of the trains were linked to either the Fourth Ave or Broadway subway or the 5th Ave el. In 1954, the IND line that terminated at Church Ave was connected to the Culver line and the F trains that terminated there were swapped with the D trains from the Bronx and through-routed to Stillwell. The ad said from the Bronx to Coney Island on one train.
In 1967, Chrystie St opened and Stillwell hosted more 6th Ave trains than Broadway. The D used the terminal at all times at first, but operations at Brighton Beach became a problem and the mid day locals (QJ or M at different times) used Stillwell Ave.
Through the 1980's when one set of tracks or the other on the Manhattan Bridge were closed, the M train was diverted to the West End and the 6th Ave Q became the Brighton express and the D became the Brighton local.
In 2002, tracks 1 - 6 were demolished and replaced with all new construction. Just before this was started, the Manhattan Bridge 6th Ave tracks closed (Chrystie St was repealed!), so the new W train operated via the West End.
In 2004, tracks 1 to 6 are due to return to service in May. Earlier, in February, the Manhattan Bridge was opened to all four tracks for the first time in 18 years. The new D (West End) will use tracks 1&2. The Q will use 3&4 and the F will use 5&6. In 2005 tracks 7&8 are due to be completed and the N will return to 1&2 and the new D will move to 7&8.
This table uses the 2004 colors for the Broadway and 6th Ave lines.

A friend of the JoeKorNer offered some additional information about the Pre 1954 services at Stillwell Ave. In order to do some of these things, the Brighton local tracks were connected to the lower level at West 8th and they in tern were connected to tracks 7&8 (G&H).
The SSSS, Sunny Summer Sunday Special, operated as indicated between Chambers-Nassau via bridge-4th Ave-Sea Beach express-Brighton express-Franklin shuttle to Fulton St.
Both the Culver and West End lines were el car shuttles between Kings Highway and Bay Parkway respectively, while steel through trains terminated at those stations during rush hours. Thus one track was sufficient to handle each of the services.
Since the Brooklyn Bridge Park Row station and Stillwell Ave were both in operation together for about 20 years, it is likely that both Park Row-Franklin-Brighton and Park Row-5th Ave-Culver trains used Stillwell too.
In 1954, tracks E&F were prepared for IND operation October. As a result the switch that allowed the Culver trains to use track G was removed and all Culver trains used C&D for the summer.
After the Brighton Franklin express service was discontinued, all Brighton service to Stillwell was local, except for the first few years after Chrystie St. At that time the D ran express weekdays and the locals terminated at Brighton Beach. Switching there caused rush hour backups and the expresses again terminated at Brighton Beach. The QJ and later M trains operated to Stillwell. The D was extened to Stillwell nights and weekends, as a local.
When the long term work on the Manhattan Bridge began, the D operated local at all times and various incarnations of the Q (Broadway or 6th Ave) operated express during the week from Brighton Beach.

Year		Tracks 1&2 A&B	Tracks 3&4 C&D	Tracks 5&6 E&F	Tracks 7&8 G&H
Pre 1953	Summer	Sea Beach 4	Franklin 7 Express and SSSS	Brighton Local 1	Culver 5	West End 3
				Culver 5	Brighton 1
	Other seasons	West End 3	Brighton Local 1	Culver 5	Sea Beach 4
1954		Sea Beach 4	Brighton Local 1	Culver 5	West End 3
				Culver D
1954		Sea Beach 4	Brighton Local 1		West End 3
1960		Sea Beach N	Brighton Local QB - QT	Culver D	West End T - TT
1967		Sea Beach N	Brighton Express D	Culver F	West End B
1972		Sea Beach N	QJ - Jamaica	Culver F	West End B
1973		Sea Beach N	M - Myrtle	Culver F	West End B
2001		No service	Brighton Local Q	Culver F	West End W
2001		No service			West End W
2004		West End D	Brighton Local Q	Culver F	No Service
2005		Sea Beach N			West End D

And so after 34 years of all BMT and 50 years of a mix of 3-1 BMT to IND or 1-3 BMT to IND, Stillwell will be evenly split 2 BMT and 2 IND services.

Send comments to: Joe Korman

Some of the imagers on this page are from the MTA web pages or scans of historic NYCTA maps

- Joseph D. Korman - The JoeKorNer