Starting in 1899, the Brooklyn Rapid Transit Company (BRT; 1896–1923) and Brooklyn–Manhattan Transit Corporation (BMT; 1923–1940) operated rapid transit lines in New York City — at first only elevated railways and later also subways. Until 1907, these lines were leased to the Brooklyn Heights Railroad, which also operated the BRT's surface transit lines. In 1907, the lease of the Brooklyn Union Elevated Railroad was canceled, and this company began to operate most of the rapid transit lines. A new company, the New York Consolidated Railroad, was formed in 1912 as the rapid transit operating subsidiary, and that same year the New York Municipal Railway was formed to enter into Contract 4 of the Dual Contracts with the city, under which the BRT gained subways and elevated extensions. In 1923, as part of the reorganization of the BRT into the BMT, the two companies were merged to form the New York Rapid Transit Corporation; the Brooklyn and Queens Transit Corporation was similarly formed in 1929 as the surface transit subsidiary. When the New York City Board of Transportation took over the BMT in 1940, the company ceased to operate. BRT (1899–1923) The Brooklyn Union Elevated Railroad was incorporated on January 30, 1899, and acquired the property of the bankrupt Brooklyn Elevated Railroad on February 17. The BRT gained control a month later, on March 25, and leased the elevated company to the Brooklyn Heights Railroad, until then solely a street railway company, on April 1. The other elevated company in Brooklyn, the Kings County Elevated Railway, was sold under foreclosure to the BRT on July 6, 1899, and reorganized on August 1 as the Kings County Elevated Railroad. The first step in simplifying the corporate structure was made in 1900, when the Sea View Railroad (Brighton Beach Line) was merged into the Kings County Elevated (on May 9) and the Kings County Elevated was then merged into the Brooklyn Union Elevated (on May 24). The lease to the Brooklyn Heights was canceled effective March 1, 1907, after which the Brooklyn Union Elevated operated itself. At the same time, the lease of the ground-level Canarsie Railroad, which was run as part of the elevated system, was transferred to the Brooklyn Union Elevated. The Sea Beach Railway (Sea Beach Line) and South Brooklyn Railway (Culver Line), which had been operated by the Brooklyn Heights as part of its elevated system, were released for