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The Nostalgia Thread


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5 hours ago, T to Dyre Avenue said:

Great finds! I seem to recall when I was 7 driving with my dad home to The Bronx and seeing a train of R32s on the (J) while passing under the Marcy Ave station on the BQE. So they were still there in 1985.

Yeah, based on this new info, my best guess is that the R32s must have left East New York around the same time the R16s retired in 1987.  Another mystery there were the red R30s- they definitely ran on the (J)(brownM)(Z), but I've never seen photos of them on the (L)- only the un-repainted R27s and R30s.  Some claim the Redbirds never ran on the (L), but I find it hard to believe that the TA would clean up only some lines based out of a given yard and not others.  That and I don't think the R40 Slants showed up at East New York until the early '90s, so something else must have been used to make service on the Canarsie Line pre-1990.

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15 minutes ago, R10 2952 said:

Yeah, based on this new info, my best guess is that the R32s must have left East New York around the same time the R16s retired in 1987.  Another mystery there were the red R30s- they definitely ran on the (J)(brownM)(Z), but I've never seen photos of them on the (L)- only the un-repainted R27s and R30s.  Some claim the Redbirds never ran on the (L), but I find it hard to believe that the TA would clean up only some lines based out of a given yard and not others.  That and I don't think the R40 Slants showed up at East New York until the early '90s, so something else must have been used to make service on the Canarsie Line pre-1990.

Not my photo but I had this photo saved on my computer...

 

eO4OglL.jpg

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Time to go way back...

img_142619.jpg

System: New York City Transit
Line: 3rd Avenue El
Location: City Hall
Collection of: Frank Pfuhler

 

Looking at this photo from the early '40s, I'm actually amazed it never occurred to the BMT or IRT folks to tie the Brooklyn Bridge Line into the City Hall Spur; it would have been like Chrystie Street before Chrystie Street.  The IRT and BMT el cars all had the same width and similar length (except for the C-types).  Would have made more sense than that plan to tie the Brooklyn Bridge el into the Nassau Street subway, anyway.

 

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  • 1 month later...

Found another picture of R40/42s with green doors, what I mentioned a while earlier:

img_5486.jpg

Line: BMT Brighton Line
Location: West 8th Street
Route: D
Car: R-42 (St. Louis, 1969-1970) 4728
Photo by: Doug Grotjahn
Collection of: Joe Testagrose
Date: 7/26/1981

Seems like this was a pattern at CIY for a time; paint shortage I guess?

 

 

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  • 1 month later...

Somebody in a Subways thread brought up a grievance about the end bonnets on the (1) being dirty, made me laugh at how quick folks are to forget how things were back in the day:

Exhibit A-

img_12812.jpg

Line: IND Rockaway
Location: Beach 67th Street
Route: A
Car: R-38 (St. Louis, 1966-1967) 4121
Photo by: Doug Grotjahn
Collection of: Joe Testagrose
Date: 2/20/1983

 

Exhibit B-

img_5241.jpg

Line: BMT Brighton
Location: Sheepshead Bay
Route: B
Car: R-40 (St. Louis, 1968) 4401
Photo by: Eric Oszustowicz
Collection of: Joe Testagrose
Date: 1/2/1988

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  • 3 weeks later...
  • 4 months later...

Been trying to wrap my head around this one-

img_142832.jpg

System: New York City Transit
Line: 3rd Avenue El
Location: 99th St. Yard
Route: Fan Trip
Collection of: Frank Pfuhler
Date: 3/30/1947
Notes: Crossing Lexington Ave. Fantrip.

 

Hard to believe there used to be an actual railroad track crossing Lexington Avenue; seems like another world entirely.  Unfortunately, there doesn't seem to be any indication what it led to or where it ended once reaching the west side of Lexington Avenue.  Browsed through archival City tax photos from the 1940s, but no leads.

@Trainmaster5 any ideas what it might have been for?

 

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20 hours ago, R10 2952 said:

Been trying to wrap my head around this one-

System: New York City Transit
Line: 3rd Avenue El
Location: 99th St. Yard
Route: Fan Trip
Collection of: Frank Pfuhler
Date: 3/30/1947
Notes: Crossing Lexington Ave. Fantrip.

 

Hard to believe there used to be an actual railroad track crossing Lexington Avenue; seems like another world entirely.  Unfortunately, there doesn't seem to be any indication what it led to or where it ended once reaching the west side of Lexington Avenue.  Browsed through archival City tax photos from the 1940s, but no leads.

@Trainmaster5 any ideas what it might have been for?

 

Well, today I learned there was a 99th Street Yard. Looks like the leads were all elevated and they descended into the barn. Makes sense there might have been a crossing, but you're right, I can't even begin to picture where that was or what buildings it used. Comparing that to a modern picture, it looks like the building on the left is today's 100th Street bus depot! You can see the decorative brick on the building across the street – this is looking straight south and the huge hill down to 103rd is just beyond where the lights start dipping. My guess is the tracks dipped off 3rd Ave. to street level and crossed into the barn that occupied the 100th Street depot space. Funny to think there's been a TA depot there for that long. From Google: 

https://goo.gl/maps/UHgbysZNYjFtkhZj6

 

Edited by MHV9218
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1 hour ago, MHV9218 said:

Well, today I learned there was a 99th Street Yard. Looks like the leads were all elevated and they descended into the barn. Makes sense there might have been a crossing, but you're right, I can't even begin to picture where that was or what buildings it used. Comparing that to a modern picture, it looks like the building on the left is today's 100th Street bus depot! You can see the decorative brick on the building across the street – this is looking straight south and the huge hill down to 103rd is just beyond where the lights start dipping. My guess is the tracks dipped off 3rd Ave. to street level and crossed into the barn that occupied the 100th Street depot space. Funny to think there's been a TA depot there for that long. From Google: 

https://goo.gl/maps/UHgbysZNYjFtkhZj6

From what I've found here and there online, the yard was in the lot bounded by 98th, 99th, 3rd and Lexington- one block east and south of the bus depot.  It's the place where the NYCHA Lexington Houses currently are.  The yard's retaining wall still stands and is incorporated into the foundation of the Housing Authority site.

The single, non-electrified track came out of a gate and then crossed Lexington into the lot between Lex and Park, but there don't seem to be any photos or indication of what was on the west side of Lexington.

My best guess is there was some sort of ancillary facility to the yard there, but since information is scarce and all this was before my time, I really have no idea; makes me wonder if there possibly was a connection to the railroad on Park Avenue (in the 19th century, before it became grade-seprated).

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22 hours ago, R10 2952 said:

From what I've found here and there online, the yard was in the lot bounded by 98th, 99th, 3rd and Lexington- one block east and south of the bus depot.  It's the place where the NYCHA Lexington Houses currently are.  The yard's retaining wall still stands and is incorporated into the foundation of the Housing Authority site.

The single, non-electrified track came out of a gate and then crossed Lexington into the lot between Lex and Park, but there don't seem to be any photos or indication of what was on the west side of Lexington.

My best guess is there was some sort of ancillary facility to the yard there, but since information is scarce and all this was before my time, I really have no idea; makes me wonder if there possibly was a connection to the railroad on Park Avenue (in the 19th century, before it became grade-seprated).

This map from 1947 doesn't show a track going to Lexington Avenue. 99th Street Yard is on page 25.

The aerial from 1924 doesn't show much either.

Dsjwj9Q.png

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2 hours ago, GojiMet86 said:

This map from 1947 doesn't show a track going to Lexington Avenue. 99th Street Yard is on page 25.

The aerial from 1924 doesn't show much either.

Dsjwj9Q.png

 

I'd chalk it up to the image quality; the track definitely existed- in addition to the picture from nycsubway.org, I found this:

https://nycma.lunaimaging.com/luna/servlet/detail/NYCMA~5~5~210547~539793?sort=borough%2Cblock%2Clot%2Czip_code&qvq=w4s:/where%2FLexington%2BAvenue;sort:borough%2Cblock%2Clot%2Czip_code;lc:NYCMA~5~5&mi=550&trs=1066

If you zoom in, you'll see the track crossing the avenue.

Between that and the buildings visible in the aerial between Lex and Park, it looks like there was indeed an ancillary facility for 99th Street Yard- strange how they set it up that way. 

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  • 1 year later...

From the early days of the fight against graffiti, when (NYCT) decided to paint A Division cars white:

img_38414.jpg

System: New York City Transit
Line: IRT Pelham Line
Location: Westchester Square
Route: 6
Car: R-17 (St. Louis, 1955-56) 6865
Photo by: Steve Zabel
Collection of: Joe Testagrose
Date: 10/16/1982

 

I wonder why the scheme never spread to the B Division.

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  • 7 months later...
On 3/10/2022 at 12:19 AM, R10 2952 said:

From the early days of the fight against graffiti, when (NYCT) decided to paint A Division cars white:

img_38414.jpg

System: New York City Transit
Line: IRT Pelham Line
Location: Westchester Square
Route: 6
Car: R-17 (St. Louis, 1955-56) 6865
Photo by: Steve Zabel
Collection of: Joe Testagrose
Date: 10/16/1982

 

I wonder why the scheme never spread to the B Division.

About that

my dad told me that they were painted white and had police onboard to combat graffiti artists. You see it in, I believe the movie Beat Street. The main group is graffitiing a station when a train passes through with cops onboard, and they hide

was that true?

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  • 1 year later...
On 10/21/2022 at 6:44 PM, JustTheSIR said:

About that

my dad told me that they were painted white and had police onboard to combat graffiti artists. You see it in, I believe the movie Beat Street. The main group is graffitiing a station when a train passes through with cops onboard, and they hide

was that true?

I’m more than a year late but, yeah I think so.

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