Unusual Roosevelt Island On Film Tonight at 6:30 PM - See The Last Trolley Over Queensboro Bridge & Bridge's Centennial Celebration

You Tube Video of Last Queensboro Bridge Trolley Ride

The Roosevelt Island Public Library is hosting:

A series of presentations by Judith Berdy of the Roosevelt Island Historical Society, featuring our unusual Island on film!

Tonight at 6:30 PM the films shown will explore the Queensboro Bridge and it's relationship to Roosevelt Island lying right underneath. According to the Roosevelt Island Historical Society, tonight's films will be:

Modern Marvels: New York Bridges © 1999 A &E Television Networks
The story of the Queensboro Bridge and its construction. The bridge celebrated its centennial in 2009.

New York’s Last Trolleys © 2008 Sunday River Productions

Nostalgic Trolley Tour: Queens Trolleys © 1999 Mark I Video

Both videos bring to life the sites, sounds and bumpy rides of the trolleys that rode over the Queensboro Bridge from 1916 to 1957, and show Welfare Island in the 1950’s.

You Tube Video of Queensboro Bridge Centennial From Streetsfilms

More on the Queensboro Bridge Trolley from NYC Roads:

... Two trolley lines were provided on the outer lanes of the lower level. The trolley service, operated by the Queensborough Bridge Railway, went back and forth between stations at each end of the bridge. The trolleys also stopped at two other stops on the bridge: one above Vernon Boulevard in Long Island City, the other above Roosevelt Island. From these stations, trolley riders descended a small staircase to a catwalk underneath the roadway, where they entered an "upside down building" (the entrance was on the roof) in which they took elevators to street level. Trolley service ended with the completion of the Roosevelt Island Bridge in 1955. The old elevator buildings were demolished in 1970...

Image of QB Trolley Cars from Abandoned Stations - columbia.edu, David Pirmann Collection

and Abandoned Stations:

... The very last trolley line in the city, it ran just over a mile and a half from the underground terminal at 2 Ave to a street terminal at Queensborough Plaza. The primary reason it was kept open was the trolley station at the middle of the bridge span over Welfare Island (now Roosevelt Island), which was the only access to the island until a bridge was built from Queens in 1954. The Queensborough Bridge Railway was finally eliminated in 1957. The outboard lanes of the bridge were converted to auto lanes, and the underground terminal was converted to garage space for city vehicles....

Last year's Columbia University Roosevelt Island Transportation Study proposed a Queensboro Bridge Cultural Center with an updated 21st Century version of elevator access to the Bridge from Roosevelt Island.

Image by Columbia University Transportation Study Group

Wouldn't that be cool.