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The Future of Railfanning

Forest Glen

By Forest Glen,
in New York City Subway

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BroadwayBuffer

BroadwayBuffer

Posted
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However back then the trains were faster (Pre willyb crash era), and were more fun to ride because of poor suspension, and last but not least the RFW. IMO that made up for all the trains looking the same back then. The NTT don't have any of those (At least they make cool sounds lol) so its a bit boring. The thing thats interesting to me is the operation and maintence of the cars, same goes for the SMEE equipment as well.

 

Poor suspension is good?? It ain't supposed to be roller-coaster. :)

Anyway, it could be that there was more character in the older cars. Someone noted on another message board a few days ago with this same topic how it seems like each new generation of car types lacks character that the previous one had. I've heard that many railfans disliked the SMEEs and made many of the same complaints about them as some do about NTTs today. It's somewhat ironic since the SMEEs being retired now had bright lights and similar interior paint schemes to the NTTs when new.

 

Not to familiar with the system* - the first 4 looks the same and the PA5 looks like an R142/3/160.

 

PA-4s are stainless steel and have three doors per side instead of two.

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R44 5278

R44 5278

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Forest Glen, the system was suppose to be monotonous until the Graffiti era hit hard. Remember when every fleet had the blue stripe scheme, well the blue seat scheme is basically the same thing. I love the R160As on the E and their suspension will beat those of any 60 ft SMEE!

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R110B

R110B

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PATH has 5 different car types on a 15 line mile system. :cool:

 

- A

 

well everyone better get rides on in the path system becsause by 2012 the pa1 to pa4s will be retired and the pa5 will be the only cars in service on path. And they do have a map of the system on http://www.panynj.com/path/

:tup::cool:

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metsfan

metsfan

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They do not look the same, the PA4 is stainless skin with weirdly colored ends (beige?!) and 6 doors, the PA1's are either white or powder blue, some have powder blue parts, but are otherwise white, the PA1 to PA3 have 4 doors. They look different inside.

 

PA5's do not look at all like R142. They have bright blue end caps of a different size and dimension from NYCTA, they are shorter from the top of the rail, smaller inside, and the electronics package is totally different. In short they are not at all related.

 

If photography was allowed on PATH you'd see a lot more railfanning photos & vids with the various car types.

 

But yea, i'm looking forward to a fully NTT (NYCT) and a fully NTT PATH.

 

- A

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blkfire765

blkfire765

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who comes up with the designs for the new trains....they should be more creative with new designs! and get rid of that red LED route indicator on the top of the cars and replace them with rollsigns or LCD route indicator...with different color route indicators...

ex.

(1)(2)(3)-red lights

(4)(5)(6)-green lights

(A)(C)(E)-blue...etc...

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Y2Julio

Y2Julio

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who comes up with the designs for the new trains....they should be more creative with new designs! and get rid of that red LED route indicator on the top of the cars and replace them with rollsigns or LCD route indicator...with different color route indicators...

ex.

(1)(2)(3)-red lights

(4)(5)(6)-green lights

(A)(C)(E)-blue...etc...

LCDs aren't as bright as LEDs. There isn't a single "multicolored" LED diode, to get different colors you need to mix different colors to make a single color which would make them cost prohibitive and take up more retail space. They only make them in certain colors which cost more depending on which color you choose.
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Grand Concourse

Grand Concourse

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They do not look the same, the PA4 is stainless skin with weirdly colored ends (beige?!) and 6 doors, the PA1's are either white or powder blue, some have powder blue parts, but are otherwise white, the PA1 to PA3 have 4 doors. They look different inside.

 

PA5's do not look at all like R142. They have bright blue end caps of a different size and dimension from NYCTA, they are shorter from the top of the rail, smaller inside, and the electronics package is totally different. In short they are not at all related.

 

If photography was allowed on PATH you'd see a lot more railfanning photos & vids with the various car types.

 

But yea, i'm looking forward to a fully NTT (NYCT) and a fully NTT PATH.

 

- A

Alright fine, I'm not too familiar with Path anyway and yes it would be nice if photography was allowed on Path property. I don't see what makes them so special that it has to be banned. It's like the NYCT subway only much smaller.
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R44 5278

R44 5278

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Andy, you're right that the PA5s are almost nothing like the R142As. Other than the annoying acceleration, I'm very satisfied with the bucket seats and automated announcements. In all honesty, PATH looks very weird with the blue scheme. It would've been better if the R142/As had a blue scheme (front) and the PATH a red scheme since their logo had always been red.

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metsfan

metsfan

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who comes up with the designs for the new trains....they should be more creative with new designs! and get rid of that red LED route indicator on the top of the cars and replace them with rollsigns or LCD route indicator...with different color route indicators...

ex.

(1)(2)(3)-red lights

(4)(5)(6)-green lights

(A)(C)(E)-blue...etc...

 

I agree, they should have those designations by color, but have the different colors for when they might be shifted around.

 

Alright fine, I'm not too familiar with Path anyway and yes it would be nice if photography was allowed on Path property. I don't see what makes them so special that it has to be banned. It's like the NYCT subway only much smaller.

 

Because it's a huge connection between NY and NJ, and photography could be potential security risk. Can't go into detail, but it's not just them being jerks, i mean even the airport allows photography, they have their (good) reasons.

 

Andy, you're right that the PA5s are almost nothing like the R142As. Other than the annoying acceleration, I'm very satisfied with the bucket seats and automated announcements. In all honesty, PATH looks very weird with the blue scheme. It would've been better if the R142/As had a blue scheme (front) and the PATH a red scheme since their logo had always been red.

 

The PANYNJ has a generally blue theme, their busses are blue their cop cars have a blue stripe set, their badges have a lot of blue, the PABT is blue (but not the same color obviously). The red is the old theme color, associated with when the PA took over from H&M.

 

- A

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bigrene18

bigrene18

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Agreed, why revert back to individual colors? The trunk line colors are the best thing Operations and Planning has ever done.

 

The old 1967-1979 color route scheme was confusing. For example, the 70(E) and the 70(M) was the same color, but was on different trunk lines (70(E) for 8th Avenue Line & 70(M) for the Nassau Street line).

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BroadwayBuffer

BroadwayBuffer

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Lol! But some of the best rides I've had have been on roller coasters though ;)

Nitro, Dominator, Griffon etc.

 

LOL Heh. Two each is own, my friend. I'm not a roller coaster guy, never have been. An R-32 in the 60 St Tunnel is enough for me.

 

How about these colors:

I.R.T.

70(1) 70(2) 70(3) 70(4) 70(5) 70(6) 70(7)70(8)

 

B.M.T.

70(EE)70(J)70(LL)70(M)70(N)70(QB)70(RR)<R> 70(SS)

 

IND.

70(A)70(AA)70(B)70(CC)70(D)70(E)70(F)70(GG)(H)(K)(JFK) (NYCT)?

 

Umm, yeah. ;)

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LRG

LRG

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There is no logical reason to go back to the pre-1979 system of denoting route bullets. The current system has worked fine for the last thirty years.

 

That's what I meant, red for West Side, Green for East Side, etc. Going back to pre-1979 nomenclature would be a huge downgrade.

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mark1447

mark1447

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How about these colors:

I.R.T.

70(1) 70(2) 70(3) 70(4) 70(5) 70(6) 70(7)70(8)

 

B.M.T.

70(EE)70(J)70(LL)70(M)70(N)70(QB)70(RR)<R> 70(SS)

 

IND.

70(A)70(AA)70(B)70(CC)70(D)70(E)70(F)70(GG)(H)(K)(JFK) (NYCT)?

 

oh ya this is nice, now its better to confuse people rather then making things simpler. This isnt the 70s and before u know. Tho i like colors tho!

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BroadwayBuffer

BroadwayBuffer

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oh ya this is nice, now its better to confuse people rather then making things simpler. This isnt the 70s and before u know. Tho i like colors tho!

 

I don't think it was the intention in the 70s to confuse people with this color system. In fact, I think the purpose of was to make it more simple by having each route represented in it's own color with an expanded letter system rather than having just line names like Sea Beach Exp, Broadway-Brooklyn Local, etc. It's debatable whether it or even the current system is really accomplished any of that.

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mark1447

mark1447

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I don't think it was the intention in the 70s to confuse people with this color system. In fact, I think the purpose of was to make it more simple by having each route represented in it's own color with an expanded letter system rather than having just line names like Sea Beach Exp, Broadway-Brooklyn Local, etc. It's debatable whether it or even the current system is really accomplished any of that.

 

Well i was refferring mainly to doubled letters too the which meant local service i think? But would be confusing if it were used today.

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BroadwayBuffer

BroadwayBuffer

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Well i was refferring mainly to doubled letters too the which meant local service i think? But would be confusing if it were used today.

 

The double letters indicated a route which ran local along its entire route. A train that ran express anywhere along its route (even if local in Manhattan) was indicated with a single letter. Such as the 70(E) which was/is local in Manhattan, but express in Queens.

 

No, I don't see any need to change the current map, although I don't know how much easier it is to understand than the 1970s map. I still see lots of confused tourists and non-tourists who are completely clueless despite this "easier" map.

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Grand Concourse

Grand Concourse

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LOL Heh. Two each is own, my friend. I'm not a roller coaster guy, never have been. An R-32 in the 60 St Tunnel is enough for me.

 

Heh, what can I say? I'm a thrill freak. Kingda Ka at 128mph and 456ft into the sky are what makes me estatic :)

As good as an R32 via 60th is, it just doesn't feel the same anymore, I just want more ;)

Not to say I don't appreciate an R32 ride of course.

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Grand Concourse

Grand Concourse

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The current system accomplished two things:

 

1. Gave each trunk line its own color

2. Makes it easier for tourists to identify each line

 

I'd say the current system is fine and thus no need to make radical changes.

 

To be honest I don't think I could follow the double letter idea. I like the system as is with single letters as a line can be local in one place and express in another - something like that.

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