BMT Brooklyn Loops - Services

Services

Trains using the Nassau Street Loop originated on the services to Coney Island and Bay Ridge. All the services merged at DeKalb Avenue station, and then split into four tracks over the Manhattan Bridge and two through the Montague Street Tunnel. Before the Nassau Street Line opened, the following service patterns were used:

• via bridge — from the Manhattan Bridge north tracks towards Midtown Manhattan
• via bridge — from the Manhattan Bridge south tracks to Chambers Street
• via tunnel — from the Montague Street Tunnel towards Midtown or turning short City Hall

The Nassau Street Line was completed on May 30, 1931, and a fourth service pattern was added: the Nassau Street Loop. Trains could enter Manhattan along the south bridge tracks or through the tunnel and return via the other.

The Nassau Street Loop opened with two regular rush hour services, Monday– Saturday:

In 1934 two "Bankers' Specials" were added. Unlike the two existing regular services, these were special runs, one express service from the Brighton Line and another express from the Fourth Avenue Line. They operated during morning rush-hour only.

In 1950, Nassau Loop service reached its greatest extent when both Bankers' Specials added evening rush-hour service.

On May 28, 1959, in a massive round of service cuts known locally as the "May Massacre," Culver–Nassau service was eliminated entirely. The West End–Nassau trains ceased using the Manhattan Bridge part of the loop, turning at Chambers Street instead.

The Brighton and Fourth Avenue Bankers' Specials continued until the opening of the Chrystie Street Connection in 1967 with various permutations of routing but, by the time service ended, only the Fourth Avenue Bankers' Specials carried passengers over the Bridge. Brighton Bankers' trains operated northbound in the morning and southbound in the evening, using the bridge, but running "light" without passengers.