Newkirk Avenue station (BMT Brighton Line)

The Newkirk Avenue station is an express station on the BMT Brighton Line, located on an open-cut bounded by Newkirk Avenue on the north, Foster Avenue on the south, Marlborough Road to the west, and East 16th Street to the east. in Brooklyn, New York. It is served by the 1 and 7 trains at all times, and has two side platforms and four tracks.

The station opened around 1900 as a two-track surface station named South Midwood, a reference to its location at the southern end of the former Town of Flatbush, which was also historically known as Midwood. Currently, Midwood is considered to be the area south of where the station now stands, so it would now more correctly be described as being in South Flatbush or North Midwood. The station was located along the Brooklyn, Flatbush and Coney Island Railroad line to Brighton Beach, which was built in 1878.

In 1903, a reconstruction project began to remove grade crossings along the line as part of the "Brighton Beach Improvement," which also rebuilt stations of the Brighton Beach Line and electrified the line due to increased ridership on the line. When on the surface, the station was a division point at which short turned elevated trains of the Fulton Street El terminated. After grade crossings on the line were eliminated in 1908, the station became a through stop for all services; at this time it was given the name Newkirk Avenue. On the eastern side of the station entrance building there is a plaque, which reads: "The Depression and Elevation of this railroad to abolish grade crossings was authorized by the Legislature May 9th, 1903. A joint undertaking between the City Of New York and the Brooklyn Heights R.R. Co. under the direction of the Brooklyn Grade Crossing Commission. ..... Work commenced August 1st 1904 - Completed July 1st 1908." This plaque refers to the aforementioned grade crossing project.

On August 1, 1920, a tunnel under Flatbush Avenue opened, connecting the Brighton Line to the Broadway subway in Manhattan. At the same time, the line's former track connections to the Fulton Street Elevated were severed. Subway trains from Manhattan and elevated trains from Franklin Avenue served Brighton Line stations, sharing the line to Coney Island.

Station layout

← BMT 1 toward Queensboro Plaza or Chambers Street AM rush hours (Cortelyou Road) ← BMT 7 toward Franklin Avenue (Cortelyou Road)
Island platform
← BMT 1 weekdays and Saturdays toward Times Square (Church Avenue)
BMT 1 weekdays and Saturdays toward Brighton Beach (Sheepshead Bay) →
Island platform
BMT 1 toward Stillwell Avenue (Avenue H) → BMT 7 toward Stillwell Avenue (Avenue H) →