The tracks in 53rd Street were added in 1894, when the
Broadway and Columbus Avenue Line, a
cable car line, opened. However, the Metropolitan had a lease on the
Central Park, North and East River Railroad, the owner of the
59th Street Crosstown Line, and used 59th Street as a connection in the
Sixth and Amsterdam Avenues Line. After the Broadway and Columbus Avenue Line was converted to
electricity in 1901, those cars were also moved to 59th Street, and a new service - the 53rd Street Line - was added. The route began at Sixth Avenue and
50th Street and traveled north on Sixth Avenue for three blocks, west on 53rd Street to Ninth Avenue, and north on Ninth Avenue to
54th Street. Effective August 6, 1908, the CPN&ER was separated from the
bankrupt Metropolitan, and three lines - the
Broadway and Amsterdam Avenue Line,
Broadway and Columbus Avenue Line, and
Sixth and Amsterdam Avenues Line - were placed on 53rd. The
Ninth Avenue Railroad, which owned the trackage on 53rd Street between Seventh and Ninth Avenues, was split from
New York Railways, the Metropolitan's successor, in 1919. The
Broadway and Amsterdam Avenue Line and
Sixth and Amsterdam Avenues Line were discontinued, while the
Broadway and Columbus Avenue Line remained, using
trackage rights over the Ninth Avenue's trackage on 53rd Street and Ninth Avenue south of
Broadway to reach
Columbus Avenue. The Ninth Avenue Railroad brought back the old 53rd Street shuttle to Sixth Avenue. On February 12, 1936,
New York City Omnibus Corporation buses replaced the
trolleys on the Broadway and Columbus Avenue Line, ending use of the 53rd Street tracks. The replacement bus - now the
M7 - used
54th Street eastbound and
55th Street westbound until after the
59th Street Crosstown Line was replaced by buses. ==References==