IND World's Fair Line
| IND World's Fair Line | |
|---|---|
A colored image of a GG train on the IND World's Fair Line c. 1939. This is one of the few colored pictures of the line in existence.
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| Overview | |
| Type | Rapid Transit |
| System |
New York City Subway Independent Subway System |
| Status | Closed; demolished |
| Locale | Queens, New York City, New York |
| Termini | East of 71st Avenue Station World's Fair Station, Flushing Meadows–Corona Park |
| Stations | 1 |
| Services | IND Queens Boulevard Line |
| Operation | |
| Opened | April 22, 1939 |
| Closed | October 28, 1940 |
| Depot(s) | Jamaica Yard |
| Rolling stock | R1-9 |
| Technical | |
| Line length | 8,400 feet (2,600 m) |
| Track gauge | 1,435 mm (4 ft 8 1⁄2 in) standard gauge |
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World's Fair
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|---|---|
| Former New York City Subway rapid transit station | |
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| Station statistics | |
| Borough | Queens |
| Locale | Flushing Meadows |
| Line | IND Queens Boulevard/World's Fair Line |
| Services | None (demolished) |
| Structure | At-grade |
| Tracks | 2 |
| Other information | |
| Opened | April 22, 1939 |
| Closed | October 28, 1940 |
| Former/other names | Horace Harding Boulevard |
| Station succession | |
| Next north | (Terminal): no regular service |
| Next south | Forest Hills–71st Avenue: no regular service |
The IND World's Fair Line, officially the World's Fair Railroad, was a branch of the Independent Subway System (IND) serving the 1939 New York World's Fair in Queens, New York City. It split from the IND Queens Boulevard Line at an existing flying junction east of Forest Hills–71st Avenue station, ran through the Jamaica Yard and then ran northeast and north through Flushing Meadows–Corona Park (roughly where the Van Wyck Expressway, I-678, is now) on a wooden trestle to the World's Fair Railroad station, a bit south of Horace Harding Boulevard (now the Long Island Expressway (I-495)). The World's Fair Railroad and station are the only IND line and station to have been closed and demolished. Remnants of the line are still present in the Jamaica Yard.
In December 1936, a request was sent to the New York City Board of Estimate by the Board of Transportation and the New York State Transit Commission in order to have adequate rapid transit facilities to handle World's Fair crowds when the fair opened in 1939. An extension of the city-operated Independent Subway System (IND) to the World's Fair was part of this plan, facilitated by the extension of the Queens Boulevard Line to Union Turnpike and the nearby Jamaica storage yard which opened at the end of the month. It would cost about $1.2 million, with $700K of it for its construction and $500K for its equipment. For legal and financial reasons, the line was called the "World's Fair Railroad" and was considered a separate entity from the IND. Part of this designation included the state legislation approving the "double-fare" for the line (see below). The contract for the IND World's Fair Line was awarded on October 26, 1937 by the Board of Transportation to the P. T. Cox Contracting Company for a bid of $308,770. The World's Fair extension was opposed by Park's Commissioner Robert Moses, who oversaw the World's Fair.
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