Old street maps showing NYC elevated routes before being abandoned?

[jeffmorris]

Are there old street maps online similar to Open Street Maps showing NYC elevated routes before being abandoned? I have the 2023 edition of "Tracks of NYC Subway" PDF book but it didn't show two SIRW routes that were abandoned in 1953.

 

[JohnnyC1]

You may try here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_the_Staten_Island_Railway

John

 

[ctclark1]

Try Historic Aerials - they have topo maps from throughout the 20th century. The maps aren't always the clearest, but you can usually see the railroads.
https://www.historicaerials.com/location/40.63870682020659/-74.08932310273087/T1947/15

 

[jeffmorris]

I found a website at Gary Owen Land (gretschviking.net) that have old photos of SIRT.

 

[jeffmorris]

I may create three versions of Staten Island Railway routes, 1930s before grade separation, 1940s-1950s after grade separation and before North Shore and South Beach routes were abandoned, and present day. The map window on Historic Aerials website is too small to be useful.

 

[JimDep]

You can do a search for Sanborn Fire Insurance maps. They might have the sections of NYC that you're looking for.

 

[jeffmorris]

JimDep, Thank you very much for the Sanborn Fire Insurance maps. A suggestion: when saving the maps to image files, save them in *.tiff format.