lilbluefoxie Posted September 5, 2009 Share #1 Posted September 5, 2009 I would like to ride the SIR the next time I go to the city however, I dont wnat to spend a lot of time there waiting for trains, so I calculated that the first three stops its not a lot of time to wait till the opposite direction train comes. That leaves, Tompkinsville, Stapleton, and Clifton. Clifton might be a no-go since it leaves me only 3 minutes, according to the timetable to exit the train and hurry to the other platform and it didnt look like it was that easy to get across. What is the area like around Stapleton and Tompkinsville? Im not familiar at all with Staten Island outside of the expressways. Are those two places safe to wait around about 5-10 minutes for the next train? Whats my options buswise to get to St George in the unlikely event I happen to miss the train from those two areas? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
R110B Posted September 5, 2009 Share #2 Posted September 5, 2009 i`ve gotten off at tompskinville and its only 5mins to st.gorge and its pretty safe. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zman Posted September 5, 2009 Share #3 Posted September 5, 2009 I would like to ride the SIR the next time I go to the city however, I dont wnat to spend a lot of time there waiting for trains, so I calculated that the first three stops its not a lot of time to wait till the opposite direction train comes. That leaves, Tompkinsville, Stapleton, and Clifton. Clifton might be a no-go since it leaves me only 3 minutes, according to the timetable to exit the train and hurry to the other platform and it didnt look like it was that easy to get across. What is the area like around Stapleton and Tompkinsville? Im not familiar at all with Staten Island outside of the expressways. Are those two places safe to wait around about 5-10 minutes for the next train? Whats my options buswise to get to St George in the unlikely event I happen to miss the train from those two areas? Stapleton is the hood, yo! You might crap your pants so don't wait there. Tompkinsville leaves you too little room for error. Try Clifton or the stop before. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lilbluefoxie Posted September 5, 2009 Author Share #4 Posted September 5, 2009 Tompkinsville theres 11 minutes between the Totenville train coming there and the St George one arriving. Clifton is the one with no room for error with 3 minutes Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MAA89 Posted September 5, 2009 Share #5 Posted September 5, 2009 It all depends at what time of the day you want to go visiting/railfanning. Morning and early afternoons you only have 3 minutes to exit and reenter at the opposite platform at Clifton. Later in the evening, you have longer. For example, if you take the Totenville-bound train that leaves St. George at 5:13pm, you can get to Clifton at 5:20pm. The next two St. George-bound trains arrive at Clifton at 5:29pm and 5:44pm. You should have a full 9 minutes to transfer. In case you miss it, the next train will be there in 15 minutes, and you won't have to wait 30 minutes or an hour unlike off-peak hours (there are ferries to Manhattan at 5:45pm and 6:00pm, so again the interval is shorter if you miss a ferry). Tompkinsville is too short a ride, you just won't enjoy it or see much of Staten Island that way. As Zman pointed out, you probably don't want to spend much time at Stapleton. I say you should go to SI by taking the ferry at Manhattan about 4:40pm, take the 5:13pm southbound train, and turn around at Clifton. IIRC, there is a yard near the Clifton stop that you can view from the platform while waiting for the train. There may be other suitable times to railfan on the SIR while having a tight schedule. Check the schedule and try to figure it out: http://www.mta.info/nyct/service/pdf/sircur.pdf @Zman: The stop before Clifton is Stapleton, which you told him not to go to. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lilbluefoxie Posted September 6, 2009 Author Share #6 Posted September 6, 2009 If I were to do it sometime this year it would be a quick ride just to say I been on it, I can always come back next summer and go down teh whole thing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MAA89 Posted September 6, 2009 Share #7 Posted September 6, 2009 If I were to do it sometime this year it would be a quick ride just to say I been on it, I can always come back next summer and go down teh whole thing. You still can't go wrong getting to Clifton; even with the 3 minute turnaround sometimes, I am sure you can still make it to the other platform for the return train. I just Tompkinsville is too short a journey from St George to make it worthwhile. As I said, the rail yard at Clifton is interesting, if you are into railfanning/photography at all. I went down to Clifton on my only ride on the SIR; that too was a "joy ride", I had no particular purpose for going down to Staten Island or riding the SIR. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zman Posted September 6, 2009 Share #8 Posted September 6, 2009 @Zman: The stop before Clifton is Stapleton, which you told him not to go to. Oh, I meant the stop after the stop after. Yeah, that's the ticket. Shows you the last time I rode the sucker. Last time I rode it, the tracks were so bumpy that drinking your morning coffee on-board was equal to 20 minutes of exercise. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Forest Glen Posted September 6, 2009 Share #9 Posted September 6, 2009 Go to Eltingville, get off and grab a burger at Burger King, and hop back on the train to St. George. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fan Railer Posted September 7, 2009 Share #10 Posted September 7, 2009 if you don't want to go that far i would turn around at grasmere. that's what i did last time. waited about ten minutes for the return train. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KeystoneRegional Posted September 8, 2009 Share #11 Posted September 8, 2009 Please, watch the Nazi Banksters Crimes Ripple Effect at http://jforjustice.co.uk/banksters Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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