Jchambers2120

7 minutes ago, whz1995 said:

I saw the same train around the same time at Essex St, it was doing fine and the break was quite and smooth compared to other cars.

So you operated that set and can confirm the train wasn’t operating as designed? 

5 hours ago, trainfan22 said:

I assume they don't run 10 car 160s on the the same reason trains don't stop at 145th on the and trains didn't stop at South Ferry loop when it got sent there during G.O's... The crews might get confused since the only used 8 car NTT over the years.

Prior to the mishaps with the R179 fleet the  used mixed length fleet of cars. It ran  8 car R46’s (600 feet stop at the 10 car marker) and 8 car R179’s (480 feet stop at the 8 car marker) 

2 hours ago, Collin said:

That's a good point.  For example, someone living in Brooklyn and working for the A Division would not want to pick a  job, because it's a long trip all the way up to Wakefield 241st Street just to even start work.  I think I'd much rather take a job close to home even if it were less desirable.

From a rail fan perspective, I think working the  would be fun, mainly for the scenery crossing Jamaica Bay.  In terms of the difficulty of a job, I think there's a balance for the length of the route.  The  are super long, so fewer end changes, but you also don't get a break very often.  On the other hand, the  are rather short, and even moreso for the shuttles, so while there's less time actually in the cab, you get to change ends a lot and see the same few stations over and over again.

Another question I had is which lines don't have the crew change at a terminal station?  I know for the , the crew change is at Bedford Park Boulevard even though the terminal is Norwood 205th Street.  Any others like that?

I’m not trying to be ‘that guy’, but I have to agree with @RTOMan here there’s just something’s that you have to experience for yourself. Lines that have longer run times tend to have decent recovery time & more depending on the actual job you’re working and I’ll leave it at that.

When they had the G.O on the (N) line the crew change happened at Kings Highway, but barring any G.O’s the (D) is the only one that does that regularly.

3 hours ago, Trainmaster5 said:

I'm out of the loop on this so I have to yield to an active RTO person or someone who's actually contacted Transit on the situation. My first take was that no passengers would be allowed to enter any train that left the terminal after 1 AM. Let's say a  or an  was scheduled to leave it's terminal at 12:58 AM and arrive at the other end 90 minutes later. In my way of thinking those riders already on those trains should be allowed to continue on board until they reach their stop or the opposite terminal. If I understand Kamen Rider correctly at 1 AM,. wherever the train is, all passengers must detrain. That's flat out stupid and dangerous, IMO. I don't know what procedure is being done to clean a consist in a station but, depending on other factors ( number of cleaners, hand vs power wash) I think that a 20-30 minute layover at a terminal is enough time to clean a train and send it back out in the other direction. Rinse, wash, repeat for the allotted 4 hours and each train scheduled for road service can proceed between terminals and be in position when regular service starts again at 5 AM. If what you're asking is why don't they stop a train mid-route and clean a train the facilities aren't there to do so. One could theoretically try that but then you would need multiple mobile wash trucks and the associated equipment to do that. I haven't been in a train yard on the midnight tour in over a decade but it appears, at least to me, that it's easier to do the work required at the terminals versus running trains in and out of the yards. As far as blackouts go during the last one my conductor and I spent 18 hours onboard our train which was fully berthed in a station. Two of our friends, a T/O and a TSS had to evacuate their train that was stuck in the Clark St tunnel between Manhattan and Brooklyn. By rule, at that time, the train crew was supposed to remain with their train until relieved. We remained while others didn't. They got home that evening. Power went off at 4:10 PM that afternoon and it was still off at 9:50 AM the next morning at our location in Brooklyn when we were finally relieved. What I'm getting at is that some things aren't written down in any manual or rule book but done on the fly. Those types of things really depend on the local supervisors and on the personnel on the scene. My generation of RTO employee was to take any safe action and worry about the rule book explanations afterward. From what I've seen that, and common sense, are frowned upon these days. My take. Carry on

I’m kind of confused as to what the original poster is asking as well. To clarify somethings trains remain in service until they reach their respective terminals regardless of it’s after 1am. When they arrive the police help the train crew remove everyone from the train/escort them out the station. While the train is in the terminal it’s left with the doors open for the cleaners to do their thing until it’s time for departure then it runs light picking up TA employees along with police. 
 

The underlined part in your post hit the nail in the head I don’t know where people pull these ideas from. I know I’m not telling a group of people they have to get off mid route with no alternative.

Interesting find today working the Charlie. It looks like they’ve been updating the R179’s. The set I had today had the same “ding” that the Lirr M7’s have when you press the PA button. I also noticed the pause between “the next stop is” announcements and transfers has been reduced. It’s still not as fluid as the R143/160, but an improvement nonetheless. 

14 hours ago, MarkGuy said:

Yeah, but they granted preference sheets to some t/o's fresh outta schoolcar--also at the bottom, but not others. Which is BS. I'm not gonna call them and complain, but I wanna vent a little. I hate weekday RDO's with a passion. 

Gotta pay your dues bro we’ve all been through it I’m sure they explained that stuff to you in orientation about how this job is. When you actually get to pick your first job you won’t be seeing weekend RDO’s for years. 

2 hours ago, Abba said:

Is there a schedule for when all lines will resume?

Not that I’m aware of, I’m receiving this information as it becomes available. There’s still a lot of crews unavailable. 

3 hours ago, Calvin said:

The  and , I believe is also running normally except that there's no Express service in both directions, including the  . 

Those lines aren’t running normal, they’re still using the “essential service” supplement.

For those interested. As of today 5/1 the  has resumed regular scheduled service. On Monday 5/4 the  will resume service to Coney Island-Stillwell Avenue. On Wednesday 5/6 the #  line will resume regular scheduled service. 

1 hour ago, Lance said:

Slowly but surely getting back to normal. Or something resembling it.

Shifting back to the 53rd Street/63rd Street switcheroo for a minute, does anyone know if the riders in the area affected were informed of this planned service change? For 63rd Street riders, switching the F and M is a significant service cut, especially at the increasingly popular Lexington Av station. On the same vein, wouldn't switching the two routes create a bit of a line imbalance between the two tunnels? Right now, the combined output of the E and M through 53rd Street is roughly 23 trains per hour at the height of the rush with the F running 15 through 63rd Street. If this switch were to be put into effect, that'd be 30 trains through 53rd Street and at most, eight running across 63rd Street. Really makes an already under-utilized tunnel even more under-utilized. That's why I'm a little hesitant to take this as a finalized and permanent service change, but rather a possible pilot program to see if it's a viable solution.

I forgot to add, as of tomorrow 4/29 the # 2 & 4 lines will resume normal weekday service. 

Slowly but surely...

As far as the F/M swap I haven’t heard anything regarding such a change. Our pick started last Sunday and the only change that I know of is the  to 96 street being discontinued on the weekends.

10 minutes ago, Calvin said:

The  will return to passenger service tomorrow morning. 

It’s scheduled to return on Wednesday. 

5 hours ago, Late Clear said:

Honestly as long as you're on the payroll, all this is to your benefit.  

Think of it as a enhanced training.  I know it may not seem like it. 

That and being one day closer to finishing probation.

4 hours ago, LaGuardia Link N Tra said:

 

Okay, what I'm trying to say is, say you picked a job to be a T/O (or Motorman) on the line for example. Since were in the middle of a pandemic, crew shortages have become more of a regular occurrence from what I've been hearing. So, T/O / M/M finishes a run on the  and dispatch says there's a crew shortage on lets say.... the . Would somebody, who picked to work on the  be sent onto the to cover in for an emergency crew shortage? 

Get what I'm trying to say now?

To answer your question simply, no. What has been happening though is people who do have picked jobs fall to the board (become available to be sent any location/line within that subdivision) due to a new supplement they’re running with the decreased service so theoretically someone who has a picked job on the  could be sent to work a job on the  if their picked job has been cut, but if you have an assigned job with scheduled trips you can’t just be sent elsewhere to another line after you complete your trips. Train dispatchers don’t even make those kinds of decisions. 

19 minutes ago, MysteriousBtrain said:

That does not mean they are all retired. Big difference between OOS and retired.

The R32s are not needed because of the not running at this time.

It’s not that they’re not necessarily needed the union pushed to get these trains off the road to prevent conductors from having to change cabs amidst this pandemic. 

4 hours ago, MarkGuy said:

Hey there bro. U still going back to the A on the 26th? 

Well the pick got postponed due to this ongoing pandemic so it looks like I’m stuck in the B for the time being. I miss my “toy trains” but hey it is what it is. 

3 hours ago, Lex said:

I guess it's a good thing I was born after that stopped. I can only imagine the complaints from train crews, to say nothing of those unfortunate enough to have to rely on it...

Believe it or not some of the old timers actually enjoyed working the CC, at least the ones I’ve spoke/interacted with. The job itself wasn’t bad.

Me personally I prefer to work on longer lines like the  because I don’t like to ping pong back and forth all day. 
 

31 minutes ago, Trainmaster5 said:

This is a trick question, right ? ………. ………. ………..   …….. I listed them in that order but there is some background that I should explain. When I came to RTO the IRT was a Bronx based division. Most jobs started there. I was a Brooklynite without a car. To actually pick a job that started in my neck of the woods meant you had beaucoup seniority. So I was an Extra List C/R. A two trip job on the meant that I was actually making 3 trips from New Lots to 241 St to get on the payroll, 2 round trips, and a trip to go home. Makes for a long day, trust me, but I'm not a quitter. The crew office people that did the assignments said that they did that to acquaint new employees to the whole system. I told them that I wasn't a newbie, I had been a provisional Transit employee, a RR Porter, a decade or so earlier, and that I had a bus and subway pass since 1960 and everything quickly changed. When you tell someone that you have cleaned the stations on the Myrtle Ave El from Bridge-Jay, opposite the Transit building, to Sumner Ave on the overnights it opens eyes quickly and the word gets around. I still traveled Uptown but Lenox Terminal was my destination 90% of the time. Believe me 2 trips from 148 to Flatbush feels like a vacation rather than 2 trips on the Beast. The good part was that the supervision that I met at 241St, Lenox, and Dyre as well as the crew office at Jay St knew each other so they looked out for me. The Chief Transportation Officer in the IRT lived upstairs at Lenox, his cohorts were the same guys who broke me in in school car as a C/R and as a M/M and my rabbi got promoted. It also didn't hurt to have the last civil service Trainmaster asking about my whereabouts and career from time to time. Imagine making a trip on a random Saturday or Sunday night and your school car instructor, alone or with family, pops up in your operating car to see how you're doing ? And he's off duty.  Put simply it was a family affair in the Lenox Division and, to me, the pinnacle was the line in those days. A round trip from Dyre Avenue or 241 St to Utica and a round trip from Dyre or East 180 St to Atlantic beats 2 round trips on the Beast from the Bronx to New Lots any day. Especially when the jobs paid the same or more. After a stint in the Misc. work train, Transfer, and Utility world I picked a job on the and finally one on the and I never looked back. Picked jobs starting at East 180th, Dyre Avenue, and finally Brooklyn. The whole time I was surrounded by my original Lenox Division family. It was the same thing with some of my C/R classmates who always worked the or lines whom I never really saw except in Refresher courses, Fire School, or at the clinics. Even when they got promoted they remained in the Eastern section. End of history class. Break time. Carry on.

Some things never change  

Me personally the  is my favorite line to work in the A Div followed by the  and . It definitely is a family environment at Lenox/NLTs. I was never a big fan of the deuce or the 5, and the 1 & 6 make me vomit. 

The crew office kept me at White Plains with 1 trippers on the  or the yard jobs on the  that paid. It was a give and take since I live in BK too and don't drive but a 1 tripper is a 1 tripper. I once had a TSS ask me was I XL west side because he always say me on the 2/5 lol, nope XX. Towards the end of my XX days in the A div the crew office kept me on the  (Out of Lenox) which is perfect since I live on the  in Brooklyn.

42 minutes ago, MeeP15-9112 said:

Is it possible to get a job in Transit once you have graduated High School?

Depends on the title and the  and qualifications. I lucked out and got called for Conductor when I was 21 still in college. Just monitor MTA.info periodically and file for what you qualify for. 

On 3/10/2020 at 1:55 PM, J Cooper said:

 

Update on future classes: 

Unfortunately I was told by multiple TSSs that it will not be any classes for both C/R and T/O for the rest of the year. This could change though! Good luck to all those that are still waiting. 

PS. B Division is the best hahaha

I can’t see them holding out on classes for conductors for the remainder of the year. They’re extremely short C/R’s right now in the B division. I’ve had the crew office call my cellphone and the terminal I was working at to ask me to work an RDO for the next day it’s crazy. 
 

They're going to be short one less person come April 26. Back to the A I go. 

19 minutes ago, YungMarxian said:

From the operator/conductor perspective, is the 46 less enjoyable to operate than the 160?

As a conductor absolutely. There's the obvious of not having to make announcements, along with the local recycle NTT's have, the adjustable seat and there's more leg room along with a bigger window which for me at 6'2 is important. I've banged my head many times on the R46's. 

With that said the R46's are the best SMEE equipment, or atleast my favorite to work on in the B div they're not terrible trains, but overall I'd take a R160 any day of the week. The R143's are hands down my favorite trains to work out of both divisions.

5 hours ago, Shore El Express said:

There are still quite a few left

"Quite a few" is a bit of a stretch. Most of the 160's left at CI are used on the on  The other day on the  line my partner asked the dispatcher if we would get 'lucky' and he laughed right in our faces. There was nothing but 46's on the road. 

@MarkGuy Thanks! I'm just as confused as you are it still hasn't sunk in fully haha. 

24 minutes ago, S78 via Hylan said:

The  Line. “Fox” is nato code for “F”

Some examples:

Alpha =  

Bravo =  

Charlie =  

Delta =  

Echo =  

Fox or “Foxtrot” =  

Gulf =  

Hotel =  

 

 

I’ve heard the  line referred to Alpha along with  Apple on the radio. And the  line is referred to as George not Gulf. 
 

Random: I was so happy to snag a Siemens 160 on my last half on the Nancy today. I don’t mind the 46 equipment, but it’s nice to get a break on a tech train and they’re so much more comfortable.

Well all tech trains except for the 179’s, I’d rather a SMEE

8 hours ago, Movefromm3 said:

Okay so for my situation I'm only 22 and have been attending college full-time straight out of high school and I've never had a job. What happens if I have a blank resume? That's really my only concern, never had an arrest or a ticket.

As long as the NOE stated no work experience was required you should be fine. I started at 21 as a conductor with no prior work experience.

On 1/24/2020 at 6:47 PM, T to Dyre Avenue said:

True, but de-interlining Rogers isn’t quite off-topic. Up thread was a post about the R262s being assigned to the  and 42nd St . Since 1983, the  and  have shared Flatbush Avenue as a southern terminal. To this day, both lines have operated the same or compatible trains. If R142s stay on the  while the  gets R262s, then they will have completely incompatible equipment for the first time at least four decades. That’s going to make operations of both lines a bit more difficult than before, especially if one line needs to be rerouted or there’s a gap in service on either line and  crews haven’t been trained to operate the R262s. But if the  and  are going to operate the same or compatible trains going forward after the R262s go into service, then would it not be easier if the  and  - which already share the same tracks from 135th Street to Franklin Avenue - share the same southern terminal?

As these trains come in road crews will be qualified on them, alot of people who work on the  line have jobs on the  line aswell.  Hopefully the R142/262 fleet and the 7th Av/Lex CBTC systems are cross compatible and I'm sure the engineers behind those projects will look into this. It's almost expected for a  train to run via the west side because of an incident on Lex.  

Looking at the train itself I'm not really a big fan of the mockup it'll probably look better in person, however I'm still ecstatic for these trains and wonder when can we realistically see them built/placed into service. I'm tired of the hot car situation every year on the  along with how uncomfortable those cabs are on the way 62/a fleet. They've had their time...

4 hours ago, BM5 via Woodhaven said:

 

Cardi B could do the door chimes. 

OKURRRT! 
 

Okay I’ll leave now 🥴

2 hours ago, paulrivera said:

Man, what happened to the R62A’s on the ?

Those cars used to be so clean and now they look really filthy.
 

But “be grateful the train is still running” am I right?

The cabs inside the trains are horrible too, I’ve ruined some of my shirts and coat from placing my arm on the windows. 

On 1/4/2020 at 4:17 PM, Lawrence St said:

I'm wondering how they're able to turn both the and at Bowling Green with the current headways. Normally they run the only to Grand Central or East 180th St.

The train doesn’t have to be cleaned out at Bowling Green. It’s no different than the current setup at BB on the  and provided the crew made proper announcements most people will be off the train at Fulton Street.