Silver Anniversary for Archer Avenue

[Lance]

On this date 25 years ago (well, technically late last night, but whatever), the Archer Avenue line opened for service. Jamaica-Van Wyck Blvd through Jamaica Center-Parsons Blvd were the first stations to open since 57 St/6 Av opened in July 1968. Part of the 1968 Program for Action, which called for several new subway lines, the opening of this line was the severely reduced realization of that vision. As most here already know, both levels of the Archer Avenue subway were to extend further into eastern Queens, but lack of funds and political pressure put a stop to that. Another tidbit is the fact the stations on both levels were ready for service in the early to mid-1980s, but lacked connections to the Queens Boulevard and Jamaica lines.

The opening of the Archer Avenue line did and does have its benefits however. It led to the creation of the Z-line and the implementation of the Jamaica skip-stop in its current form. (Previous versions of the skip-stop service ran when the line went from 168 St-Jamaica to Broad St.) Also, it eliminated the overcrowding issues on the Hillside Avenue line, especially at 169 St and 179 St. Primarily because some of the many bus lines serving those stations were rerouted to serve the new Jamaica Center station.

Here are some photos of the line (all courtesy of nycsubway.org).


Jamaica Center-Parsons Blvd


R30 8393 on the J line
Jamaica Center-Parsons Blvd (BMT Archer Avenue Line)


Sutphin Blvd-Archer Av (IND Queens Boulevard Line)


Jamaica-Van Wyck (IND Queens Boulevard Line)


R32 3574 on the E line
Jamaica-Van Wyck (IND Queens Boulevard Line)
By: Wayne Whitehome

[realizm]

I have fond nostalgic memories of this and the service changes that resulted from it. Going to school I can still remember when they had the skylights shining in onto the platforms @ Jamaica/Van Wyck. Many times I used to head up to the Queens Library Central branch to look at diagrams preserved on microfilms to see the history behind its construction as part of the MTA plan for action as noted in the above post. I do not know if the library still has them.

 

Things could have been different for the MTA if they stuck with it and actually had built the Queens Blvd Bypass to feed into these lines to Hollis and Springfield as two branches of the subway in Jamaica Queens. It could have provided SE Queens residents a fast one seat ride into Manhattan and significantly reduced overcrowding on the IND Queens Bvld Line. No CBTC system could have matched the potential of such proposals had it been finally implemented, which will never happen now at this point.

[Quill Depot]

Wow it looked sick! I've always loved the red brick. Thanks for the pics. They should of built more Queens while they could.

[bobtehpanda]

Is it just the camera, or are the stations actually brighter in these pictures? I've never seen any of the stations, particularly Jamaica-Van Wyck, look that bright.

[realizm]

Is it just the camera, or are the stations actually brighter in these pictures? I've never seen any of the stations, particularly Jamaica-Van Wyck, look that bright.

 

Truthfully from what I have personally experienced when the station opened as a kid I can easily recall that station as sufficiently filled with sunlight. The pic could be from how its heavily pixelated came from a classic digital camera. And it notes that whatever the original photo was is scanned. But regardless that is truly accurate.

[8thAveExpress]

Is it just the camera, or are the stations actually brighter in these pictures? I've never seen any of the stations, particularly Jamaica-Van Wyck, look that bright.

 

Sutphin might look brighter because there aren't any blood stains on the ground from people getting stabbed.  I use that station Mon-Fri after work, and hate it with a passion...

[Lance]

Is it just the camera, or are the stations actually brighter in these pictures? I've never seen any of the stations, particularly Jamaica-Van Wyck, look that bright.

The first picture of Jamaica-Van Wyck was taken before the station opened, hence the pristine look to it. The second was taken before the MTA sealed the skylights. With the skylights closed, the station feels like a cavern.

[R32 3838]

The skylights were covered because of vandals that used to tag the windows up all the time all the time, so by 2000 they painted over the windows, now all 3 stations look like shit

[realizm]

^ This. Thats exactly what happened I remember this too. It was heads from Hillcrest and Thomas Edison High Schools. Grafitti crews, the last of the prominent ones of the 90's. They used to hit those spots with grafitti hard.

[bobtehpanda]

I'd like to see MTA bring the skylights back; dark red tile is a bit too killer on the eyes.

[QM1to6Ave]

I personally like those stations now; they have a very different feel from the other stations. I never used them in the (apparently) good old days, so I have nothing else to compare them to

[Mtatransit]

People in NY especially HS people do not know how to respect good new things, thats why I believe they should enforce the law. Oh my, the 7 line extension, maybe the platform screen doors will be removed also.