Trainmaster5

The flag, and the chock, indicates "Do Not Move". CED uses the red flags on equipment that's being worked on. I would imagine that System Safety would use a similar method on an "incident" train although I've never encountered one . Maybe an active RTO person can elaborate further.

Isn't the present western terminal still Parkside Ave and Ocean Ave at the station? Just asking.

It's the N/B AFAIK that's making the move and it is a simple move. Uptown train arrives at Wall St on the Lex line. T/O changes ends proceeding S/B switching tracks to the Brooklyn bound platform, goes through Bowling Green station and enters the South Ferry loop. Proceeds around the outer loop and follows the N/B line non-stop up to Chambers St and then follows regular route. Pretty simple diversion move. C'mon, I thought you guys knew your stuff. Carry on.

N/B to Wall St on the Lex. Change ends and proceed S/B via the switch into Bowling Green and via the SF loop and non-stop on the line into Chambers St. Been there. Done that. Nothing new here. Carry on.

Just think about a guy like me who started out looking out the windows of BMT Standards, Triplexes, and Myrtle Avenue El cars. I ended up in the "A" Division instead before the redbirds. Looking back on it today I can honestly say that I learned a lot from my motor instructors and the oldtimers in the yards. As someone pointed out earlier much of what you hear in crew rooms is BS but in time you will learn whom to listen to. Keep your eyes and ears open and you'll be fine.

From what I've seen over the years the LIRR caters to the Nassau/Suffolk riders, especially during peak hours. Right now they are working on turning the Atlantic Branch( Jamaica-Flatbush) into scoot service. That's another way of saying shuttle service. Supposedly this happens when ESA begins and Penn Station and Grand Central become the main western terminals. I think it's rather doubtful the LIRR will offer weekday City Ticket when their focus seems to be packing their trains out east and treating city dwellers as red headed stepchildren. Heck, in my lifetime the railroad has eliminated stops and entire branches within NYC limits. Park and Ride at Belmont Park is probably the only help the railroad would consider after complaining such a service would foul up service on the main line. Personally, I doubt if the residents of Hollis or Queens Village who don't live next to the LIRR even use it. In a perfect world the subway extensions would be the way to go, IMO. Carry on.

Thanks for the personal compliment but it's your second point that stands out to me. When I was growing up there were many people I encountered who were not as "educated" as I was, bookwise, yet I could sense their intelligence through their conversations. My grandmother taught me at an early age that listening was an important part of the learning experience and that has been part of my education process over the years. Her brothers, my mom's uncles, worked on the docks in NYC, poorly educated black men from NC, and my parents and grandparents, made it a mission that my generation would never have to do that type of work, unless we wanted to. That last bolded part was to let my generation know that we were not to look down on anyone at any time. I was also taught that I could learn from anyone at any time so it was best to listen to a person before pre-judging that person's knowledge. In my lifetime I've worked in civil service, (USPS, ,) private industry ( NY Telephone-AT&T), and construction (Bed-Stuy Restoration and Sheffield Rehab), in a variety of positions. I've been lucky enough to work wherever I wanted to, whenever I wanted to and never really worried about how much a job paid. I've been taught carpentry tips by a man from Belize who went to grade school, masonry from a southerner who never graduated from high school, scaffold rigging from two HS grads, tower operation and train dispatching from a female T/D HS grad who told me to learn both jobs even though I had no desire to do either. If you've followed my long-winded post so far you may have noticed I, the college guy, have learned from people from all walks of life. By listening and watching them they have made my life richer so I try to pass on what I've learned to my fellow posters. That's also a part of education, although it's often overlooked. Listening to others is someimes just as important as "book knowledge", IMO so never I look down at other people (or posters). BTW, I told my family when I was about 4 or 5 years old that I was going to be a trolley M/M because we had two family members who had the job and it fascinated me. I never did get that job but I was lucky enough to realize my dream and be educated about life anyway. Sorry for the long post. Carry on.

What about methadone ? Maybe there are clinics for those"meth" people still around. That's what I thought he meant.

I'm sure many people would agree with you concerning East Side Access and the rest but you've overlooked the political reality of the . Because the is a hybrid agency of New York state, the counties, and NYC, nothing is easy to do. You want funding for new subway rolling stock? No problem. When you place that order we want X amount of rolling stock for the LIRR and/or MNRR. Simply put it's a give and take relationship. You want a new tunnel to relieve overcrowding on the Queens Boulevard Line ? No problem, buddy. Just be sure to double deck it for LIRR ESA. If you don't agree to the whole bundle your request will probably be denied. BTW out on Long Island we would like to build a new rail yard in Yaphank and an intermodal freight facility in Calverton for LIRR/NY&A. What do you need in MetroNorth land? We just funded a bunch of subway cars and buses for NYCT so we can skip over them this time. Hey, those people on Staten Island and those on the west of Hudson lines are whining again. Maybe we can throw them a bone in the next capital plan. And so it goes. That's how it really works in (MTA)land. Carry on.

Let me state up front that I hail from a family of civil servants. A long line of city, state, and federal employees. I'll admit that I am prejudiced. That being said I'm waiting for the defenders of privatizing government functions to show their faces and raise their voices. I'm talking about the lunatic down in DC at the Navy Yard. I've been looking over his "history" and am wondering who investigated him and gave him his security clearance. Personally I wouldn't trust him at an ASPCA shelter after reading about him and his actions over the last few years or so. From what I piece together is that this dude was on a downward spiral even before he left the Navy. It seems that he was investigated after his time in the Navy by some private company who found nothing in his past to reduce or remove his security clearance. This is after some of the reported episodes. I think these "so called" security businesses are fraudulent and that's being generous. These private outfits are getting fat on the US taxpayers dollar while supposedly saving the government money. You know, the old "shrink the Federal Government" mantra where the private industries go to fatten up their accounts. These are probably the same types who gave Edward Snowden his security clearance. We've got private contractors sailing on US Navy ships, providing security to US embassies abroad, sitting next to the CIA directing drone strikes, feeding our soldiers, sailors, and airman around the globe, who have been vetted by some other private company or another division of their own company yet no one sees anything wrong with the whole incestuous picture. That is until something goes wrong. Then we must point fingers, hold hearings, and investigate. Find a scapegoat, punish, and move on. I can remember a time when I had older relatives applying for civil service jobs and I, as a teenager, had FBI (once), and NYPD interview me about an older relative. It appears that today a private individual may or may not even conduct an interview of that type. Here we are debating NSA, CIA, Homeland Security, questions, left vs right, Dems and Republicans, yet we have obvious nut jobs walking all around us, buying guns, packing pressure cookers, taking trips to Somalia, what have you, while these private Keystone Kops take the place of proven security. My rant. Carry on.

Let me make a few observations, Around the Horn. It's my experience that any time swithching is involved train movement is slower, not faster. You have a train switching to the express track at Chambers St and back to the local track again at Times Square. You have slowed down the train twice in a fifteen minute span. Once your train reaches 96th St or 137th St it will be impossible to pass the train that will be ahead of it. That's basically why the train was sent to the scrap heap in the first place. As far as the extra switching is concerned the reason the original Van Cortland-New Lots Broadway 7th Avenue Express was eliminated years ago was because of the extra switching that had to be done at 96th St. The IRT doesn't have the luxury of the BMT-IND as far as re-routing trains so imagine if there's a switch problem in your plan. Your hypothetical train is now headed to Lenox, White Plains or New Lots, Utica, Flatbush. The end result is the supervisor at the terminal is now short a train and a crew. IMO, in the real world there is no benefit to the reintroduction of the . The only viable solution at present is to run more trains when necessary. Carry on.

That mention of alternative north terminals brings up a point overlooked so far in this thread. Before the advent of the train 137th St was a weekday north terminal that turned alternate trains thereby avoiding terminal capacity issues at 242nd St for the most part. Trains were also sent up to Dyckman St and turned south for service. To those who question why there were no express tracks built originally put on your thinking caps. How much ridership was there between 242nd St and 137th St when the line was built? Outside of peak (rush hour) service I really don't see the need for express and local service above 137th St back then and when the IND was built up to 207th St I doubt either line was crushloaded . Another point overlooked was that trains from 242nd St ran express from 96th St to New Lots Ave while trains from 137th St and those from 145th St-Lenox ran local to South Ferry. Even with the crappy equipment we ran in the early '80s a M/M/ T/O could make it from 242nd St to 96th and Broadway in 25 minutes or so. There were many times when I was riding the from VC Park back to Brooklyn that I would stay on the to 72nd St or Times Square before transferring to the to New Lots just to avoid the crowd at 96th St. With the population changes on the line above 96th St I think it would make more sense to re-open 137th St as an alternative weekday terminal for the and leave the in the history books. Just my opinion though. Carry on.

I must be getting old when I can come to an off topic thread and no one except me comments on the 50th anniversary of Dr. Martin Luther King's " I have a Dream" speech. I watched the CNN and MSNBC shows and it brought back memories for me. I'm in NY this week so I called mom in NC to talk about Wednesday, August 28, 1963 and she had to remind me that she was at work that day and didn't see the day's festivities. My brother and I had to sit next to grandma and watch the whole program back then. My friends also had to watch TV that day so nobody went to the Flatbush Boy's Club. People forget that Dr. King's 17 minute speech was the last of many that day and we saw it all. When the old folks told us to do something we did it. No questions asked. No matter which family's parents gave the order. Well, after talking with mom and a few of my friends we've come to the conclusion that some black youth are a disgrace to everything Dr. King strove for. It seems that some of us are marching to the beat of a different drummer these days. It seems that somewhere along the way many people have forgotten that part of his "dream" was about R-E-S-P-E-C-T, before Otis Redding or Aretha Franklin sang about it. I've been playing some Sam Cooke," A Change is Gonna Come", and some Curtis Mayfield ,"People get Ready", We're a Winner" in tribute. Carry on.

It depends on what one considers the main part of Prospect Park, doesn't it ? The and have a stop at 15th St-Prospect Park that's been there for years. If you've read my posting history you might realize that I grew up in what's now called Prospect-Lefferts and have explored every inch of the park over the last 50+ years. My friends and I still consider it our backyard because we spent more time in the park than our neighborhood playground. The park was actually closer than the schoolyard playground for some of us. Ever been to the Bandshell or Quaker Cemetary? Some folks might consider them as the main parts of the Park. Some of us watched the skating rink being built. Blanket statements like "main" deserve clarification IMO. Carry on

What do the , , , , , and , among others serve? There are other surface routes that serve the west side of the park, too. The B41 is not the only route to Prospect Park.

Thank you Fresh Pond. Take it from someone who has lived on or near Linden Blvd in Brooklyn on both ends for over 35 years some of these posters are just trolling, at best. As I've pointed out many times Linden Blvd, NYS Rt 27, is a truck route connecting Suffolk County with the VZ bridge via Sunrise Hwy, Conduit Ave, Linden Blvd/Caton Ave and Ft Hamilton Parkway. From Flatbush Ave on the West to Lindenwood/South Conduit on the East the B35 and/or B15 bus routes are no more than 2 blocks away from Linden. There was a time when the B20 route actually turned onto Linden Blvd at Pennsylvania but the re-routed the line 2 blocks to the south to serve more people and because that's what the people wanted. It always fascinates me when some outsider decides that he/she knows more than the resident population. Throw in the statement from Q23 about Linden being anything but fast shows me that at least Q23 and you know what you're talking about.

I'm amazed that those picking favorites in the M7 vs diesel debate overlooked the obvious. The M cars, all of them on the LIRR, are useless in snow or blackout conditions. A pure diesel on the other hand..................

Probably called in by a T/O going in the opposite direction. Because the signal is still lit I doubt if it would show up on a tower or model board because it was still functioning. Worse (or best) case scenario is having a signal maintainer or TSS investigate it if it wouldn't clear. Looking at the picture it appears to me that the signal is across the s/b track and should be visible to a T/O before he/she would make contact with it.

How many stations are there between Metropolitan Ave and Essex St that can handle 10 car trains? How many can be extended? At what cost? Inquiring minds would like to know.

Depends on when that R32 was seen and how old this person is. I, personally, and some sites online have seen such an sight before. I first saw it back in the 1960's, LOL.. You need pictures? Try subway.org.

Every time I hear about a re-birth of Coney Island it saddens me. I go back to the days of Steeplechase Park. Yes all was not peaches and cream back in the '60's but it was a fun place to hang out . There were three full size coasters back then, the Tornado, Thunderbolt, and the Cyclone. There was also a coaster-like ride called the " Wild Mouse " which was a ride with sharp turns and rapid drops in a more compact setting than the coasters. There was a centrifugal force ride called the "Roundup" which pinned riders to a wall while it spun in the air. The latest dance music was played from dawn to dusk at the "Himalaya". From Palm Sunday to Labor Day C.I. was the place to be. No gangbangin', beautiful ladies, and Nathan's Famous. Too much Coney? Rockaway Playland was open, too.

I'd love to see you try to prove that. FWIW common sense points to the constant stop and go nature of the line as a major cause of the fleet's condition. I've pointed out in other threads that the Kawasaki R62 and R142A both have a tendency to buck on take-off.. I've always been told that it was due to the slow releasing brakes on Kawasaki equipment and that goes back to the R62 days. I,personally, never liked Kawasaki cars because of the bucking but I have classmates who love those cars. To each his own I guess. Try to ease up on the speculation people. Instead of coming across as knowledgeable it makes some of us shake our heads. Carry on.

Lenox does not repair trains and hasn't done any for the last 80 years or so IIRC. Lenox Yard is for layups. Livonia Yard is the repair location for equipment. There is no maintenance barn at that location( Lenox) to do any repairs. Before Lenox got the R62A cars line equipment was maintained at 240th St, 239th St, and E 180th St yards, depending on what type of car needed repair. Lenox ran 9 car trains with 2 or 3 different classes of equipment in the consist. Carry on.

DO NOT TELL ANYONE ELSE.

B35 I think we've seen this Linden Blvd. proposal before and nothing has changed. I believe I've posted this before but Linden Blvd, RT 27, is a major east-west truck route as well as a residential street. Starting from the west Linden Blvd is bracketed by the B12, B35, B8, B15,B20 and B83 bus routes. Did I miss any? There is no justifiable reason to add any service on Linden Blvd itself, IMO. Carry on.