New York City IND Subway planning map from 1927.

Source: spicker613 Flickr

I don’t have any information about this map other than what’s on it but it appears to be an early version of the Independent Subway System which was built by the City of New York to force the existing private subway companies to sell their lines to the city (”recaptured” as is labeled on the key) . The plan clearly shows the first section of the 8th Ave Subway, the A/C/E trains, but the 6th Ave Subway, Queens Blvd Subway, Concourse Subway, Crosstown Subway, South Brooklyn Subway and the Fulton St (Brooklyn) Subway are shown only as “Projected”.

What’s most interesting about this map is that it shows alternative routes for the Brooklyn and Queens lines; the Queens Blvd Line does in fact split under Northern Blvd but there is a plan here to have the express and local tracks split once again along 69th St. While no explanation is given I can only asume this had to do with the proposed Windfield Spur, a local branch of the Queens Blvd Line which was to zig zag through Maspeth and Middle Village beforeheading to Rockaway Park. A station and tunnel provisions were built at Roosevelt Ave station for this line so this original alignment could have been related.

The South Brooklyn Line, the F/G trains, shows that it was originally going to run as a straight shot from 7th Ave in Park Slope to Prospect Ave in Windsor Terrace. This would have dove under Prospect Park and private property until it reached Prospect Ave. The IND planners (wisely) added a station at 15th St-Prospect Park which required bending the local tracks off from the express tracks which do make the direct path under Prospect Park but are rarely used.

The Crosstown Line, G train, has the most interesting path as it seems planners had not yet found a suitable route south of Broadway. The path appears to be a straight shot down to Fulton St and, even more puzzling, appears to terminate around Clinton Ave. Early proposals for a crosstown line by the BMT would have connected it to the Franklin Ave Shuttle and extended service to Brighton Beach; however this line was to be built as an elevated line which residents and business owners along the route opposed. It was not until the city stepped in with their own subway was a crosstown line reimagined as a subway. The Crosstown Line was eventually built along Marcy Ave, turning west under Lafayette St to connect with the Fulton Line at Hoyt-Schermerhorn station.

The Concourse Line, the B/D trains, appears to terminate at Bedford Park Blvd (where the local trains do currently). The right turn the D train makes was added later as a provision for a future extension to Burke Ave and Eastchester which was never finished.

Lastly the Fulton St Line, the A/C in Brooklyn, is only planned until Broadway Junction. It would seem that planners had not yet decided a suitable route past Broadway Junction at the time. Given that there were two elevated lines headed into Queens they would have still been determining which one made sense to replace. Eventually it was decided to continue the line under Pitkin Ave (with further plans to extend lines to Rockaway and Cambria Heights). At Grant Av the subway rose to connect with the end of the Fulton St elevated line. But another alternative exists where the Jamaica Line could have connected to the Fulton St Subway. Bell mouth portals were built just past Broadway Junction station in the tunnels should it ever be decided to reroute the J train along Fulton St.

Planners didn’t stop tinkering with their new subway because in just two years they had devised an even grander scheme; what they were building would only be phase one of a two phase plan, what has famously been remembered as the Second System where new lines like the 2nd Ave Subway and Utica Ave Subway were formally proposed.