Trainmaster5

In case people misunderstand what I’m getting at just go back to the website and read what I’m talking about. People on the tracks, pulled cords, disorderly behavior and the like. What I mean is that no matter what equipment is present , R9-R211, the delays will still happen. My opinion. Carry on.

Actually I'm not in disagreement with you on the basics. Where I come from the infrastructure, not the equipment, is the most important component. Signals, switches, rails, CBTC overide the NTT cars. It's the "other" things that are holding things back. My opinion. Carry on.

I asked a question way back around Thanksgiving and I’ve yet to see anyone answer it. Looking at the website from way back then I pointed out that most delays were not caused by equipment troubles but other issues. We’ve had disruptive passengers. We’ve had people on the tracks. We’ve had signal and switch problems. I haven’t even mentioned the network communication breakdown problems that seem to crop up intermittently. Meanwhile I keep seeing posts about the R211 cars and how the anticipation has increased for the introduction. I’m trying to figure out what the justification is for this. I don’t see anything that shows that the R211 will eliminate the present day problems. The problems that I’ve pointed out have nothing to do with car equipment. There’s nothing wrong with being a pom pom waver but it’s time to come back to reality, IMO. I don’t think the introduction of the new equipment will help improve the quality of service to any degree. Stevie Wonder can probably see my point. Just my opinion though. Feel free to disagree. Carry on.

Back in those ancient days we were taught that in the subway express meant that you made fewer stops than the locals.

Personally it seems like you are making excuses for people. I hardly consider myself a rail fan but I knew the difference between the IRT, BMT and the IND before I started junior high when Ike was still president. . I think anyone with a subway map would be able to figure it out. I’m of the opinion that the vision and hearing impaired people can get around better than many so-called healthy, intelligent people.. My opinion. Carry on.

Read the post above yours again. While we’re at it let me tell you something we were taught on the first day of school car. The motor instructor, a former Marine Corps drill instructor, told us that people were getting dumber by the year and he wasn’t only talking about New Yorkers. He questioned how immigrants from Europe after WWII and poorly educated transplants from the South could navigate the transit system on trains without PA systems yet the so-called intelligent New Yorkers were often confused. He said the trick was platform signage and the marker lights on the trains. COLOR was the great equalizer. As he pointed out the sight and hearing impaired people seemed to have more knowledge than the other passengers had. This is the first two days of Conductors school car. He and his 3 partners quizzed all thirty of us about neighborhoods, railroads, subways and buses we were familiar with. I was exempt from most of those discussions because I had a bus and train pass since before JFK was elected and I was also a provisional RR Porter for a year. Heck, I rode or worked on many lines that had been demolished by then. The one thing that all 4 motor instructors instilled in us was that the Conductor was in charge of the train and the passengers. The drill instructor also said that people were getting so dumb over the years that one of the duties of future Conductors was to walk the riders home to their front doors because otherwise they would get lost. My classmates and I would laugh about those things until I was a Motorman on a rerouted train headed s/b to Flatbush at Times Square. Never mind that the to the ‘ Bush regularly stopped at the same station and track and we were headed to the same terminal many folks would not board my train. Despite my C/Rs announcements and those of the station PA the dispatcher told us to close up and leave the clueless people behind. We were all taught to treat the passengers with dignity and respect but after that experience and those that followed I tried to keep my distance from the general public. My own experience. You’re entitled to your own opinion. No hard feelings. Carry on.

Although I was unaware of the 5 car occurrences on the I’m well aware of the breakdown problems in the IRT back then. Trains breaking down, catching fire, going dead, etc. I remember leaving New Lots on a headed towards my job at Lenox . Got to Grand Army Plaza and an announcement was made about a train delay at Chambers and no service past Nevins. I transferred to a at Atlantic Avenue and rode to 145th Street and walked to Lenox Terminal and jumped ahead to make a s/b to Flatbush. Heading n/b we got to Atlantic Avenue and then Command Center told us to take our 9 car( train up Lexington Avenue to the Concourse. We encountered NO delays (because riders were smarter back then)) compared to today’s folks in my opinion. I definitely agree with you about the unreliability of service back then. Every day was an adventure in that era and, IMO, things didn’t get much better until the MK Redbirds were introduced to supplement the R62/62A class of cars. I was part of the Lenox Division in those days which limited me to the , , lines. From what I remember the and weren’t much better in those days. It never entered my mind that you were that ancient 😃. Carry on.

I can remember changing signs on the platform at Dyre with my C/R countless times because the T/D couldn’t find the C/Rs who were supposed to be on WAA. He actually picked the job at East 180th Street where he wasn’t responsible for the folks who put his job on the line. The sad part is that these people are supposed to be responsible adults. You and Kamen Rider know what I mean. Carry on.

I think you better check your statement about the midday . The train ran from Dyre to Atlantic Avenue midday alternating with the from Woodlawn. Both lines ran 10 car trains. I was stationed at Atlantic Avenue frequently in the early Eighties by the crew office daily. I can tell you that the ran 5 cars on the midnights from VCP to the ferry because I was assigned there to cut the 10 car trains to 5+5 a few times. I also know that the train ran 4 car trains middays out to Euclid in the mid eighties. Finally I had a job on Sunday nights on the from New Lots to 241 Stb and WPR. We ran 5 cars on that interval and the train was cut in the station , not the yard, at New Lots. Back then we had signals that alerted the M/M if there any cars in the station as you approached. Just a few things that I observed over the years. The only time that I left Dyre on the with less than 10 cars was Thanksgiving Day 1988 which was the last holiday I ever worked 😁. I had 6 cars. Carry on.

Just saw a Washington Post article about the unveiling of new subway cars for the Metro. There’s a mock up on display down there.

That’s why my C/R and I were together for 14 years.

I was actually replying to Jake’s reporting on the LIRR car acceptance progress but thanks for your clarification. Carry on.

Are we talking M9 LIRR or M9A MNRR cars ? They’re different animals.

Thanks for pointing out what many of us old timers see as an important issue. Most of us wouldn’t even pick a job on a line that primarily ran that equipment. Wait until a train gets caught up in the scenario you described and the public and the media will be screaming at the top of their lungs for heads to roll. Carry on.

Although I’ve been traveling to Suffolk County ( Brentwood ) since my inlaws moved here in 1981 I’ve only ridden one SCT bus in my lifetime and that was an exploration trip on the S1. Rode it from end to end just for the experience. I remember telling my father-in-law that as a Brooklynite I wanted nothing to do with a bus system that seemed to stop operating after 7 pm. LIRR had a single track at Brentwood and the station was located on the west side of Brentwood Road. No westbound trains between 4:23 and 7:23 pms on weekdays. Because I worked late pms on work trains in transit I had to get that 4:23 train or catch a ride to Babylon if I hadn’t driven out there to Brentwood. There were times I had to climb up onto the trailing diesel to make that train. The Conductor would read me the riot act after we stopped at Deer Park. When they upgraded the LIRR line to 2 tracks and relocated the station house they installed bus stops on both sides of Brentwood Road although that 3 hour gap westbound remained and then I started paying attention to the bus routes down there. I think there were 3 routes prefixed with an S, 27, 41, and IIRC 47. There were 3 routes prefixed with a 3, A, B and D. I remember the 41 went to the VA hospital and the 3D was for Stony Brook Hospital. Even after reading B35’s adventures with SCT I still can’t see how the service was interconnected. In 40+ years of being around this area I travel to the South Shore Mall, Huntington Square and the Smith Haven Malls by car. I think I was spoiled by NYCTA bus service in Brooklyn and the city in general. Now with the new service out here in Suffolk I notice the 5 and 7 bus routes and I’ve seen a ARBOC (?) with a split 7/11 sign on the front door. The little jitney type buses have no numbers on the overhead signs which is bad enough but I drive through the Hauppauge Industrial area and I noticed old signs or missing new signs at some of the bus shelters or stops. Very tacky in my opinion. For all the fanners I thank you for enlightening me and keep up the good work. Carry on.