Trainmaster5

As stated the LIRR ENY station is slightly more than two blocks from the Broadway Junction station. After sundown it's one of the most dark,desolate, lonely walks a person can make. The walk from the LIRR station to the buses and subways at that time of day isn't bad but the reverse walk is not for the faint of heart. Going in that direction to catch the e/b LIRR after dark one must know the LIRR schedule in advance and time your walk to arrive at the station just as the sealed beams of the train begin to light up the station. Sometimes you get lucky and the MTA police car is sitting there on the e/b side watching the walkers and the people who wait upstairs in the L train station who also time their walk to meet the railroad. I've made that walk IN BOTH DIRECTIONS countless times in the last twenty years or so and although I'm used to it I never let my guard down in that area . Actually the worst times I've had over there was traveling w/b on the LIRR and getting off at ENY and trying to catch the last B20 or B83 toward Spring Creek. If I missed the buses I'd either catch a cab or catch the L to Rockaway Parkway and wait for the e/b B6.

Clyde McPhatter and the Drifters singing " White Christmas" and the Temptations " Silent Night". Bringing a little soul to the season.

A question from left field. Does anyone recall which Brooklyn routes with trolley tracks had those tracks removed rather than paved over? I remember a few locations like Nostrand/Fulton and East New York/Rockaway where the pavement would wear out and the tracks would be exposed 15-20 years after trolley service ended. In my lifetime I 've never seen what method was used to remove those tracks and I'm still trying to figure it out.

Match the Tempts " Ball of Confusion" with Marvin's "What's Going On ?" album while you watch the news from the US, London and the world's other hotspots in 2011. Damn, sometimes it seems like nothing ever changes for the better. " And the band played on".

The safest way is to use the Brooklyn Museum station and avoid crossing Flatbush Ave and/or Eastern Parkway, period. To build a Brighton line station adjacent to the library would be a waste of money IMO. It would only be two or three train lengths from the existing Seventh Ave station which is probably why it was never proposed or built back in the day. Remember the original Brighton line used the existing Franklin Shuttle ROW to get to downtown Brooklyn and Park Row. The library's ground breaking was in 1912 and the present Brighton route opened in 1920 so I guess the BRT never considered a Grand Army Plaza stop because they did have time to plan for and build it if they wanted to. Just my opinion. Carry on.

The Grand Army Plaza and Seventh Avenue stations are basically one to two blocks apart at most. The downgrade between Seventh Ave and Prospect Park on the Brighton line begins under the Grand Army Plaza IRT station. A station between Seventh Ave and Prospect Park at the half way point would leave one well past the library on Flatbush Avenue in the middle of nowhere, surrounded by the fences for the Botanic Garden and the park. On a side note, if one wanted to reach the library building itself the closest access point was the now closed exits at the north end of the Eastern Parkway-Brooklyn Museum IRT station. The Grand Army Plaza station is basically the station for the monument and the surrounding neighborhood north of the park toward downtown Brooklyn.

I think the is looking for a uniform fleet for it's subways and railcars because is cheaper to maintain. You'll never have TOTAL uniformity because of the different ages of their equipment and the (in)ability of the manufacturers to provide large orders of replacements at one time. That's why you have Kawasaki, Bombardier, Alstom, and the like providing parts of an order instead of one large order from one source. Throw the capital budget woes in the mix and we end up with supplemental orders from one or more builders. That being said, I would guess that any new car orders for the TA or the railroads will be based on NTT for a long time to come. They might not be totally interchangeable electrically but they will all look alike Just my opinion. Carry on.

I'm talking about Nathan's Famous.

I always wanted to try 5 guys but I heard they cook in peanut oil and I'm allergic to that. For fast food burgers I like Wendy's or Checkers but for a real burger has anyone been to Jackson Hole diner? My nephew took me to the one in Bayside and that's a real burger. I also have cravings for Jonny Rocket's sometimes, especially when I'm in Atlantic City. I'm a meat and potatoes guy most of the time but if I'm on the prowl for pizza it must be from an Italian pizzeria and if I want pastrami or corned beef it must come from a Kosher Deli. One question for you people. There's this place on Surf and Stillwell in BK yet no one has mentioned it. Why?

No, I didn't. As many RTO employees will tell you, convenience, work assignments, coupled with seniority, usually win out. Many of us admire the system as railfans but have no desire to operate every piece of rolling stock in every division. As a former work train M/M and transfer M/M I have traveled on just about every part of the system, except the 63rd St corridor, so I had no burning desire to operate passenger service everywhere. I've operated equipment to all the yards of the BMT-IND and that satisfied me.

I worked the IRT for my whole career...but from a fan's perspective I'll always have a fond spot for the BMT. From the old Atlantic Ave-Eastern Parkway- Fulton elevated complex to Broadway-Myrtle to the DeKalb interchange to Coney Island it made a child's imagination expand. The IND was fast and the IRT was interesting in some locations but the BMT had 9th Ave, Manhattan Bridge north and south, and an enormous complex at the now decrepit Chambers St municipal building station. It also had crossing gates at E. 105th St. I think the word I'm looking for is "character".

I could be wrong but it sounds like schoolcar and a C/Rs class to me.

The original proposal was to have the and swap fleets, in conjunction with the conversion project. It still is the only one that makes sense IMO. The newly built Corona yard facility was built to handle NTT with little or no changes to it. The Westchester facility previously handled R62A cars and can still do so with little or no overhaul. The new East 180th St facility was built expressly for NTT and doesn't presently have the capability to do major R62A repairs. Does anyone out here really think the wants to, or has the money to, overhaul a new facility in order to accomodate older cars on the and lines? While we're on this fantasy foamer trip can someone point me to the plan where the Lenox line will run nine car trains again ? Somewhere along the way I missed that one completely. Carry on folks.

Forty years and counting and we still haven't learned. I have an uncle who is 88 and into jazz and, while he loves the music, says we ought to listen to the lyrics and then maybe we'll catch on. And to think that Berry Gordy didn't want Motown to release it. Man. The album is pure genius.

The Master, Marvin Gaye's " Inner City Blues ", from one of, if not, the greatest Soul albums of all time. What's Going On ? The album is as relevant today is it was when it was released.

Amazing what we save. I also have most of the subway maps pictured. When I was much younger I also saved bus transfers and a had a collection of most of the Brooklyn ones. I looked at them about 8 years ago and wondered why a lot of the routes and or numbers had changed or were eliminated. Maybe someone from Surface can enlighten me. Us RTO guys don't get much info from other depts.