NEXT TUNNEL TOUR: Tunnel Tour on January 9th Canceled by NYC DOT Webpage for: The New BHRA Brooklyn Streetcar Proposal
NEW! AI in Railway Education: Preparing the Next Generation of Transport Engineers
NEW! (8.19.2011) the very first tunnel proposal to connect Brooklyn with New York City, ca 1833!
NEW! (8.19.2011) Documents from the 1830s on Railroad Engineering and the building of the LIRR by Major D.B. Douglass
NEW! (8.8.2011) The Atlantic Avenue Tunnel Alternative Design (open cut alternative design c.1832) by Major David Bates Douglass
UPDATED! (5.03.2011) Rebuttal to the Derailed URS/NYC DOT Red Hook Streetcar Feasibility Study (PDF)
NEW! (4.28.2011) NYC DOT FALSELY BLAMES FDNY FOR CONTINUED TUNNEL TOURS BAN
NEW! (4.12.2011) Streetcar Vs. Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) – results of an award winning DC streetcar study
NEW! (3.23.2011) Solar Power Streetcar System? The possibility of creating a solar powered streetcar system for Brooklyn?
NEW! (2.24.2011) New York Times Article – “Fighting to Return to a Subway Vault” (external link)
NEW! (2.9.2011) “No More Tunnel Tours Page” – New Section: Recent actions taken By BHRA to restore public tunnel access
NEW! (1.22.2011) Historic Mystery Locomotive: Still Lurking Under Atlantic? (Brooklyn Eagle article, external link)
UPDATED! (1.17.2011) “No More Tunnel Tours Page” – new tunnel photo and layout changes
UPDATED! (1.5.2011) “No More Tunnel Tours Page” – new News articles & updated Time-line / Documentation sections
NEW! (12.27.2010) New “No More Tunnel Tours” Page – with info, news articles and how you can help to get the tours restarted.
UPDATED! (11.27.2010) Streetcar Project Update – Notes from the Dec 13th Brooklyn Streetcar Study Advisory Committee (CAC)
NEW! (12.23.2010) Sign the online Petition to Restore the Atlantic Avenue Tunnel Tours (external link)
UPDATED! (12.21.2010) NYC DOT Permanently Suspends All Atlantic Avenue Tunnel Tours!
NEW! (12.4.2010) Abraham Lincoln’s Assassin, John Wilkes Booth, Really Was In Brooklyn – Why?
UPDATED! (11.21.2010) Buried Steam Locomotives Rediscovered (new pics /info regarding NYC elevated RR locomotives unearthed in NC)
UPDATED! (11.18.2010) Streetcar Vs. City Bus Cost Comparison (Includes Official FTA 2007 Operating Ratios Spreadsheet) (PDF)
UPDATED! (10.25.2010) Additional Info on Passenger Boarding Islands / Areas for Streetcars
NEW! (10.23.2010) Bob Diamond’s Notes from the Oct 18, 2010 Brooklyn Streetcar Study Community Advisory Committee (CAC)NEW! (10.23.2010) Other Materials from Prior Plans / Studies for Brooklyn Streetcar Lines
NEW! (10.23.2010) Earliest View of the LIRR’s Greenport Terminus and Intermodal Transfer, circa 1844- 1847
NEW! (10.17.2010) Rail Freight Service For New York City? – Federal Money May Now Be Freed Up! (PDF)
NEW! (10.15.2010) NY Daily News Article: “Tunnel Gets Love: Guinness World Record for 1844 LIRR Relic”
NEW! (10.7.2010) the Atlantic Avenue tunnel is now recognized as the World’s Oldest Subway! (According to the Guinness World Records, 2011, pg 203)
UPDATED! (10.3.2010) Why The LIRR Was Built (PDF) – slightly revised text in “foreword” section & new pic added on page 2
UPDATED (9.30.2010) The New BHRA Brooklyn Streetcar Proposal (new sections: “project updates”)
UPDATED! (9.30.2010) Why The LIRR Was Built . . . In Response To A “Micro Ice Age” That Blocked Steamboat Navigation 100 Days A Year! (PDF)
NEW! (9.23.2010) Articles from the Brooklyn Paper, August 2010 – Sept 2010
NEW! (9.11.2010) NYC DOT Announces Study To Determine Feasibility Of Streetcars In Brooklyn
NEW! (9.11.2010) NY Post Article: “City revamping plan for Brooklyn streetcar line” (PDF)
NEW! (9.11.2010) NY1 TV News Report & article: “City Considers Plan To Revive Brooklyn Trolleys” (external link)
NEW! (9.11.2010) The Wall Street Journal: Red Hook’s Desire for a Streetcar Gets a BoostNEW! (9.11.2010) Cobble Hill Association: Street Cars from the Past in Brooklyn’s Future?
NEW! (9.11.2010) RIP Robert Amson Olmsted P.E., F.ASCE He was a longtime friend of BHRA and Former Planning Director of the MTA –
contact for info on memorial services
NEW! (9.11.2010) Portraits of Former Presidents of the LIRR (1835 -1862)
UPDATED! (9.11.2010) Atlantic Avenue Tunnel Page (new pictures & formatting for introduction section)NEW! (9.8.2010) Cobble Hill Association’s new Blog about the tunnel and streetcar proposal (external link)
UPDATED (9.8.2010) The New BHRA Brooklyn Streetcar Proposal (index added at top & new sections added and updated).
NEW! (9.5.2010) “People Who Wouldn’t Ride A Bus Will Ride A Streetcar”- (Michael T. Burns, quoted in Railway Age, May, 2001) – (1mb PDF article)
NEW! (9.4.2010) STREETCAR BASICS – a brief overview of the benefits of a streetcar system (with new pics from a recent visit to Portland, OR)
NEW! (9.4.2010) NEIGHBORHOOD BENEFITS OF A STREETCAR LINE: (excerpts from the book: Seven Rules for Sustainable Communities Design Strategies for the Post- Carbon World (2010)
NEW! (9.4.2010) Charts & Data on Environmental and Economic Advantages of a Streetcar line (vs. other transit modes)
NEW! (9.4.2010) The Basic Principals of Transit Oriented Development
NEW! (9.4.2010) Objectives of Transit Oriented Development (excerpts from TCRP Report 95)
NEW! (8.30.2010) Pre-Existing Design and Governmental Approval Documents, 1996- 2001, Pertaining to the Red Hook To Boro Hall Streetcar Project.
NEW! (8.19.2010) The New BHRA Brooklyn Streetcar Proposal (with new map)
UPDATED! (8.19.2010) The New BHRA Brooklyn Streetcar Proposal Map added to “MAPS” webpage
UPDATED! (8.5.2010) The Urban Underground Tunnel – An Illustrated History from Antiquity to the 20th Century (3.9MB PDF File)
(note: works best by downloading it and opening it w/ adobe acrobat – otherwise the math symbols may not read properly)
UPDATED! (7.11.2010) The Science of Railway Locomotion – The Physics Behind Transportation Efficiency (new section at top of page)
UPDATED! (5.30.2010) Revised Atlantic Avenue Tunnel Tours webpage
UPDATED! (5.26.2010) New Images added to Historic Brooklyn Webpage
NEW! (5.18.2010) NY Post Article: “Trolley good news for Red Hook rail plan”
UPDATED! (5.18.2010) Atlantic Avenue Tunnel Page (expanded introduction section)
UPDATED! (5.8.2010) Why Rail Has 20X Energy Saving Advantage Over Rubber Tire Road Vehicles – The Science of Locomotion
New Pic: Early Wood Burning Locomotive Exhaust Partially Covering White Washed Tunnel Roof.
NEW! (5.8.2010) C. 1836 “A practical treatise on locomotive engines upon railways” (LIRR employees likely utilized this book to learn about their first locomotives)
UPDATED! (5.7.2010) Why Rail Has 20X Energy Saving Advantage Over Rubber Tire Road Vehicles – The Science of Locomotion
(new image showing “Vehicle Footprints”)
UPDATED! (5.3.2010) The Science of Railway Locomotion – The Physics Behind Transportation Efficiency (new section at bottom of page) titled:
Rail Has 20X Energy Saving Advantage Over Rubber Tire Road Vehicles: The Physics Behind Transportation Efficiency
NEW! (4.22.2010) The Science of Railway Locomotion – The Physics Behind Transportation Efficiency
NEW! (4.20.2010) The Lost (Last) Words of John Wilkes Booth – article in American Airline’s magazine:”The American Way”
UPDATED! (4.17.2010) The Great Brooklyn Railroad And Land Development Fraud Of 1859 – 1861 (updated intro & part 1 section)
NEW! (4.15.2010) Why The LIRR Was Built – Its Not Why You Think ! (PDF)
UPDATED! (4.15.2010) The Great Brooklyn Railroad And Land Development Fraud Of 1859 – 1861 (updated info on: the “Tunnel Act” and Litchfield vs. Vernon)
UPDATED! (4.9.2010) The Great Brooklyn Railroad And Land Development Fraud Of 1859 – 1861 (new intro, expanded & edited text)
UPDATED! (4.9.2010) What the LIRR trains that ran through the Atlantic Avenue tunnel in the 1840s looked like
UPDATED! (4.6.2010) The Great Brooklyn Railroad And Land Development Fraud Of 1859 – 1861 (expanded & edited text)
NEW! (4.4.2010) The Origins of Brooklyn’s Cobble Hill- and Its Ghosts !
NEW! (4.4.2010) What the LIRR trains that ran through the Atlantic Avenue tunnel in the 1840s looked like
UPDATED! (4.4.2010) The Great Brooklyn Railroad And Land Development Fraud Of 1859 – 1861 (New Pic of E.B Litchfield)
UPDATED! (3.30.2010) Ignatius Donnelly’s Astrophysical Writings
NEW! (3.27.2010) Ignatius Donnelly’s Astrophysical Writings
UPDATED! (3.18.2010) The Horrors of Steam Powered Travel (from Harper’s Weekly, 1865)
NEW! (3.16.2010) Unexpected Connection: The LIRR’s E.B. Litchfield and the Author of “Atlantis: The Antediluvian World”
NEW! (3.11.2010) Why the LIRR Wasn’t Completed Before 1837?(PDF)UPDATED!
(3.5.2010) The Great Brooklyn Railroad And Land Development Fraud Of 1859 – 1861
UPDATED!(3.2.2010) Tunnel Tour / Events Page
NEW! (3.2.2010) Early Writings About The Tunnel By The American Society of Civil Engineers
NEW! (3.2.2010) The Atlantic Avenue Tunnel Gets 4 Star Rating From The New Yorker Magazine’s “Talk of the Town”
UPDATED! (2.24.2010) The Closing Great Brooklyn Railroad And Land Development Fraud Of 1859 – 1861 (Greatly Expanded Text regarding:
The Circumstances Surrounding the Closing of the Atlantic Avenue Tunnel )
NEW! (2.13.2010) Green Streetcar Track For Brooklyn? – New Greenscape Rail Construction Page
NEW! (2.9.2010) NBC News: Secret NYC Subway Tunnel: Oldest in the WorldNEW!
(2.3.2010) CBS News “Secrets Of Brooklyn: Atlantic Avenue Tunnel” (video on right side of that page)
UPDATED! (2.1.2010) Updated Tunnel Page Section on : Major David Bates Douglass, the railroad’s original Chief Engineer
NEW! (1.25.2010) NY Times News Article: “President Obama Funding Streetcar Projects, Revises Transit Funding Rules”
NEW! (1.17.2010) NY Daily News Article: “10 questions for a tunnel guide”
NEW! (1.13.2010) References To The Atlantic Avenue Tunnel As Written In The Cosgrove Report (the book that inspired the Tunnel’s discovery)
NEW! (1.10.2010) Atlantic Avenue Tunnel Maps / Drawings / Surveys / Studies
NEW! (1.10.2010) Early LIRR Rolling Stock 1830’s – 1861 (pdf)
UPDATED! (12.29.2009) Antebellum Brooklyn Cops
NEW! (12.24.2009) Artifact Proves Folklore About “Bootleggers” In the Tunnel
NEW! (12.8.2009) Birds Eye Map of Atlantic Avenue Tunnel (1851) added to Tunnel Page
NEW! (12.2.2009) 1851 Birds Eye Map of NYC / Brooklyn added to Historical Maps Page
NEW! (11.27.2009) Buried / Abandoned Trains Found Beneath NYC Streets
UPDATED! (11.22.2009) Tunnel Tale Author G.J.A. O’Toole Was Real Life CIA Spy Master
NEW! (11.22.2009) “Bob Diamond’s Ups and Downs Trying To Bring Trolleys Back” Brooklyn Heights Press, Nov 19th
NEW! (11.22.2009) Pratfolio Pratt People: Bob Diamond
UPDATED! (11.22.2009) – New Pic & Video- 19th Century Folklore Surrounding The Tunnel: Brooklyn’s Notorious “Smoky Hollow” Slum
UPDATED! (11.17.2009) The Source 19th Century Folklore Surrounding The Tunnel: Brooklyn’s Notorious “Smoky Hollow” Slum
NEW! (10.31.2009) Is the Atlantic Avenue Tunnel Haunted? (link to Brooklyn Eagle)
NEW! (10.28.2009) Four Events That Led To The Creation Of The Atlantic Avenue Tunnel- The World’s First Subway (PDF)
NEW! (10.20.2009) The LIRR’s Actual And Planned Through Routes (Brooklyn To Boston) Ca. 1844- 1847
NEW! (10.12.2009) The Huffington Post Rates the Atlantic Ave Tunnel # 4 (out of 350) Open House NYC Attractions
NEW! (10.12.2009) LIRR – 1845 Report to Stockholders (1.25Mb PDF file) George B. Fisk, President of LIRR, 1845
UPDATED! (10.12.2009) The Truth Behind The Failure Of The LIRR’s Brooklyn To Boston Route, Ca. 1844-1847
UPDATED! (10.4.2009) Atlantic Avenue Tunnel Page: New LIRR goes to Sea Section – LIRR Steamboats
UPDATED! (9.30.2009) Atlantic Avenue Tunnel Page: Drawings & Engravings of Early LIRR Locomotives
UPDATED! (9.22.2009) Locomotive Roster from the beginning of LIRR to end of operations in the Atlantic Avenue Tunnel
NEW! (9.08.2009) Red Hook Trolley Idea Picks Up Support: Velázquez Requests $10 Million (link to Brooklyn Eagle)
NEW! (8.22.2009) Three different transportation studies for the Brooklyn Trolley Project
NEW! (8.22.2009) $10 million in Federal Funds to build the Brooklyn Trolley Project
NEW! (8.21.2009) Williamsburg Courier Article: “Bring Back Trolleys: Candidate Bloomberg” (external link)
UPDATED! (8.12.2009) Atlantic Avenue Tunnel Page: Historic Photos & Engravings of W. Beard & T. Rogers
NEW! (8.09.2009) Mayor Bloomberg’s Proposed Red Hook Streetcar Project (New Web Page)
UPDATED! (7.17.2009) Information on the Locomotive in the sealed off portion of the Tunnel ( new 2nd paragraph)
UPDATED! (7.17.2009) Steam Locomotives Found Buried in Unlikely Places Across the US
NEW! (7.14.2009) Steam Locomotives Found Buried in Unlikely Places Across the US
UPDATED! (7.13.2009) Locomotive Roster from the beginning of LIRR to end of operations in the Atlantic Avenue Tunnel
UPDATED! (7.9.2009) Atlantic Avenue Tunnel Page: Drawings & Engravings of Early LIRR Locomotives
NEW! (7.6.2009) Upcoming Tunnel Tour on August 16th
UPDATED! (7.6.2009) Atlantic Avenue Tunnel Page: Information on the Locomotive in the sealed off portion of the Tunnel
UPDATED! (7.6.2009) Atlantic Avenue Tunnel Page (Research Section): Watch the c. 1836 LIRR Locomotive (Hicksville) in Action
UPDATED! (6.25.2009) Atlantic Avenue Tunnel Page (3 new historic articles / images)
NEW! (6.21.2009) Buried truths in Brooklyn’s Atlantic Ave. tunnel (Los Angeles Times)
NEW! (6.21.2009) Articles from Brooklyn Evening Star (1844): “Tunnel Construction Overseer Murdered As Strike Called”
UPDATED! (6.21.2009) Atlantic Avenue Tunnel Page (2 tunnel pages combined w/ new page index)
NEW! (6.18.2009) Circa 1989 BHRA Preliminary Streetcar Routes (From the BHRA Archives)
NEW! (6.5.2009) New 1860 Map of NYC Railroads added to Historical Maps Page
UPDATED! (5.26.2009) NYC DOT Commish Eyes Streetcars For Brooklyn (new page w/ links to TTC pics)
NEW! (5.21.2009) Atlantic Avenue Tunnel Historic
Research Page: “Could the Atlantic Avenue Tunnel Be Haunted?
UPDATED! (5.7.2009) Historical Maps Page (broken links fixed)
NEW! (5.7.2009) Bob Diamond on the Leonard Lopate radio show (WNYC)
UPDATED! (5.7.2009) CNN Program featuring BHRA
NEW! (4.29.2009) NY Daily News Article
NEW! (4.22.2009) Upcoming Art Event in The Atlantic Avenue Tunnel on May 16th: “RATART”
UPDATED! (2.20.2009) The Tunnel Rats of Atlantic Avenue (New York Times article in .pdf format)
UPDATED! (2.16.2009) Atlantic Avenue Tunnel Page
NEW! (2.15.2009) The Tunnel Rats of Atlantic Avenue (New York Times article – external link)
UPDATED! (2.14.2009) The BHRA Trolley Fleet Roster Page – updated list of the trolleys in our possession, on loan and the others
UPDATED! (2.14.2009) The BHRA Donation Page has been improved
NEW! (1.12.2008) Courier-Life Article: City Probes Return of the Trolley
NEW! (11.14.2008) Courier-Life Article: Obituary for Elsa Diamond
UPDATED! (11.12.2008) Atlantic Avenue Tunnel Page w/ 2 new pictures
UPDATED! (8.27.2008)The Atlantic Avenue Tunnel will be featured again on the History Channel show “Cities of the Underworld” – airs n Tuesday September 02 (08:00 PM EST), and again on Wednesday September 03 (12:00 AM EST), The episode title is “New York: Secret Societies”
NEW! (8.6.2008) Courier-Life Article: “Trolleys For Coney Island”
NEW! (7.29.2008) Blog posting (with photos) about a recent Atlantic Avenue Tunnel Tour (external link)
NEW! (7.29.2008) Pictures taken during a recent Atlantic Avenue Tunnel Tour (external link)
UPDATED! (6.25.2008) The Verrazano Rail Tunnel (The Brooklyn-Richmond Freight & Passenger Tunnel)
UPDATED! (6.25.2008) Atlantic Avenue Tunnel Historic Research Page recently added: “The Horror at Red Hook”a story involving the tunnel by H.P. Lovecraft
UPDATED! (6.25.2008) Atlantic Avenue Tunnel Page w/ 2 new pictures
NEW! (6.22.2008) YouTube Videos Made By Visitors To the Atlantic Avenue Tunnel (external link)
UPDATED! (5.21.2008) Updated Tunnel Tour Page – we now have improved directions w/ maps and closest subway stops.
NEW! (5.4.2008) The “Support BHRA” Donation Page is finally up!
UPDATED! (4.30.2007) Atlantic Avenue Tunnel Page w/ 4 newly added newspaper articles from 1844 – 1936
NEW! (4.22.2008) Courier-Life Article: “Plunge into Brooklyn’s lost subway tunnel” (external link)
NEW! (3.24.2008) Movie trailer for documentary film about the tunnel: What’s Behind The Wall (external link)
NEW! (3.24.2008) Courier-Life Article: “Lost Tunnel” makes a splash on the web
UPDATED! (3.24.2008) Upcoming Tunnel Tours NEW! (11.22.2007) Courier-Life Article: Lights, camera, action in tunnel
UPDATED! (11.21.2007) BHRA VIPs page – a listing of some of BHRA’s more famous friends.
NEW! (11.12.2007) BHRA Coney Island webpage
NEW! (11.10.2007) BHRA Coney Island Transportation Plan (2 MB PDF)
NEW! (11.10.2007) BHRA Coney Island Roller Coaster (PDF)
UPDATED! (11.3.2007) Site Update – Broken Links and Missing Images Fixed.
NEW! (11.3.2007) BHRA VIPs page – a listing of some of BHRA’s more famous friends.
UPDATED! (11.3.2007) Delivery of PCCs from Buffalo. This page documents how we acquired a fleet of PCC trolleys that were stored in Buffalo. New Documentation added. These Trolleys were stored in the Brooklyn Navy Yard. If you know what happened to these trolleys, please contact us.
NEW! (11.2.2007) New Book Released On Little-Known NYC History, Bob Diamond Only Living Person Cited in Book. Here is a PDF of the first few pages of Unexpected New York (w/ a letter from the author). Also, here is a link to the the website for Unexpected NY.
NEW! (11.2.2007) Hollywood Discovers The Atlantic Avenue Tunnel Story (PDF file) (click here for larger format)
NEW! (11.2.2007) Pictures of Cub Scout Tunnel Tour (external link)
UPDATED! (10.31.2007) Atlantic Avenue Tunnel Historic Research Page recently added: an article written by Walt Whitman about the tunnel, and a NY Times article from 1893.
NEW! (10.31.2007) Bob Meets with Mayor Bloomberg
UPDATED! (10.10.2007) Link fixed to the Granville T. Woods Page – Inventor and pioneer of electric rail technology
UPDATED! (10.6.2007) Atlantic Avenue Tunnel Page w/ Photos from Recent Tunnel Tours
NEW! (10.6.2007) Courier-Life Article: Inside Brooklyn’s Lost Tunnel – Subterranean Thrills Await the Adventurous (1.7m pdf )
NEW! (10.6.2007) Courier-Life Article: City Rediscovers Lost Tunnel – Underground Railway Part of Historic Neighborhood Tour (.5m)
NEW! (10.6.2007) NY_SUN_Article: Under The Streets Of Brooklyn – The World’s Oldest Subway Tunnel (.9m)
UPDATED! (8.8.2007) Upcoming Tunnel Tours Page
NEW! (8.7.2007) Supporters of BHRA webpage
UPDATED! (8.7.2007) Maps Page – New Red Hook Alternative Route Map & Coney Island Route Map
NEW! (8.7.2007) 1956 NYC Transit Press Release on the last Day of Trolley Service in NYC
NEW! (8.7.2007) Why PCCs for Brooklyn? Now available in PDF format
UPDATED! (8.7.2007) Atlantic Avenue Tunnel Historic Research Page w/ Recent Historical Research by Bob Diamond
UPDATED! (8.6.2007) PCCs in Europe Page
UPDATED! (8.6.2007) updated Streaming Video page with 2 new videos
UPDATED! (8.6.2007) RevisedBHRA Staff & Contact Information page (7.4.2007) Kansas City Star Article on Brooklyn Waterfront (Includes Pictures of BHRA’s Trolley’s on the Red Hook Waterfront) (7.4.2007) Pictures of BHRA’s Trolley’s on the Red Hook Waterfront (external
link) (6.14.2007)
New! New York Post Magazine article: On Track to Better Transport(6.14.2007) Revised BHRA Events and Tours page
(6.14.2007) Revised BHRA Staff &Contact Information page
(3.11.2007) Revised homepage with index moved from the bottom of the page, to it’s own page. BHRA Terminal icon now takes you to the web index (listing of all pages on the web site).
(3.11.2007) Brooklynrail Web Index – the complete index to the web pages of brooklynrail.
(3.11.2007) Brooklynrail is up again! The site is still under construction: We are working on fixing the dead links, and we will be adding new contact emails in the next few weeks.
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BrooklynRail.net – New & Updated web pages
