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V and W trains join a long list of routes that have bowed out of the subways

LRG

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in New York City Subway

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LRG

LRG

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The NYC Transit graveyard is getting mighty crowded.

 

When the V and W trains are eliminated later this month, they will join the KK, NX and about two dozen other lines that have pulled out of the station for the last time.

 

“There hasn’t been a lot of stability to be perfectly honest,”said Glenn Lunden, a transit agency director for planning.

 

Changing demographics, budget issues and big construction jobs force planners to perpetually tinker with the subway routes, said Lunden, an MTA veteran. The train names have always been a work in progress. Back in the 1930s, NYC Transit first start assigning letters to the lines, picking roughly in alphabetical order. Local routes were given double letters and an express a single one, like the “A” and “AA” running along Eighth Avenue. The numbers were first added in the 1940s, but it took 20 years to fully phase them in, Lunden said.

 

At its peak in 1967, the MTA was home to 34 different routes, including such confusing lines as the MJ, QJ and six different “SS” shuttles.

 

“It was all very complicated,” said Kevin Walsh, editor of the Forgotten New York website.

During the budget crisis in the 1970s, the MTA gradually eliminated unpopular lines, like the KK to Jamaica, the above-ground No. 8 train in the Bronx and a Brooklyn shuttle. The double letter terminology was dropped in 1985, Lunden said.

 

“They didn’t mean much by that time,” said Robert Olmstead, a former MTA planner, who recalls that a transit “beautification committee” set up in the 1970s particularly abhorred the double letters.

 

The system became a lot simpler, but lines still hopscotched around. The “wandering D” train, as Lunden called it, ran along three different lines in the system. The N and the R were switched in Queens in 1987, meeting popular outcry.

 

“People get attached to a letter,” Olmstead said.

 

Recent route deaths include the axing of the unpopular No. 9 train on the west side of Manhattan and the Q diamond in Brooklyn. But when the V and W bow out of the system on June 27, it will be the first time the MTA has killed off subway lines because of budget woes since the 1970s. Their loss will not go unnoticed.

 

“It’s a very sad termination,” said Jonah Levy, co-producer of an event on June 25 to commemorate the V train with a New Orleans-style funeral and a party going until sunrise. “There is nothing to replace it.”

 

---

Rules for choosing a subway name:

 

Recycling: Letters have sometimes been recycled. The K was introduced twice into the system, only to bow out. The T was used before, and could come back for the Second Avenue Subway.

 

Diamonds: Were used for some express routes during rush hour, but by 2004 no one understood them anymore and they were eliminated except on the No. 6 and 7 lines.

 

I, O: Looks too much like numbers to use

 

P, U, Y: Also no-no’s, as they sound like words

 

X: Has been used as a placeholder for lines under development. Was considered for a line from Sixth Avenue to the World Trade Center, but the route never surfaced.

 

Source: Glenn Lunden, NYC Transit Operations and Planning

 

Link: http://amny.com/urbanite-1.812039/v-and-w-trains-join-a-long-list-of-routes-that-have-bowed-out-of-the-subways-1.2028944

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INDman Train Operator

INDman

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I guess it's official: there WILL be a Death of the (V) Party!

 

It does not say anything in the article about a party. I think the funniest thing that could happen would be if people gathered at 2nd Av to ride the last (V) and the road blows up and the (V) ends early. That would be hysterical.

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w8Hou

w8Hou

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It does not say anything in the article about a party. I think the funniest thing that could happen would be if people gathered at 2nd Av to ride the last (V) and the road blows up and the (V) ends early. That would be hysterical.

 

It does, look from the article:

“It’s a very sad termination,” said Jonah Levy, co-producer of an event on June 25 to commemorate the V train with a New Orleans-style funeral and a party going until sunrise. “There is nothing to replace it.”

 

 

BTW, the guy from the article quoting, Jonah Levy is a idiot.... "There is nothing to replace it." The new (M) will replace the entire line of the (V) except 2 Avenue that requires you lazy people to transfer to the (F) train with 1 stop.

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INDman Train Operator

INDman

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It does, look from the article:

 

 

BTW, the guy from the article quoting, Jonah Levy is a idiot.... "There is nothing to replace it." The new (M) will replace the entire line of the (V) except 2 Avenue that requires you lazy people to transfer to the (F) train with 1 stop.

 

Ah so it does, still would be funny if people showed up for a train that never came.

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EE Broadway Local

EE Broadway Local

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Slightly off topic: The new orange (M) will have a bonus for riders heading to Second Avenue: you can transfer to an (F) at Broadway-Lafayette Street or at Essex Street and as W8Hou mentioned ride for one stop.

 

Of the lines that are no longer, the (NX) Sea Beach Super Express is likely the shortest lived. The (NX) ran only November 27, 1967 to April 12, 1968.

 

Some routes are still with us.....

70(CC) = (C)

70(GG) = (G)

(JJ)(QJ) = (J)

70(LL) = (L)

70(QB) = (Q)

70(RR) = (R)

70(SS) = (S)

.....Just as a single letter.

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INDman Train Operator

INDman

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Slightly off topic: The new orange (M) will have a bonus for riders heading to Second Avenue: you can transfer to an (F) at Broadway-Lafayette Street or at Essex Street and as W8Hou mentioned ride for one stop.

 

Of the lines that are no longer, the (NX) Sea Beach Super Express is likely the shortest lived. The (NX) ran only November 27, 1967 to April 12, 1968.

 

Some routes are still with us.....

70(CC) = (C)

70(GG) = (G)

(JJ)(QJ) = (J)

70(LL) = (L)

70(QB) = (Q)

70(RR) = (R)

70(SS) = (S)

.....Just as a single letter.

 

The (QJ) is not around in any form. The (J) line unless it is a GO never runs on the Brighton line.

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MTR Admiralty

MTR Admiralty

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WTH?! This ain't Christmas! :P

I meant those funereal wreaths.

The (QJ) is not around in any form. The (J) line unless it is a GO never runs on the Brighton line.

Not even that because technically the (J) is not extended to Prospect Park during those GOs. It's just a shuttle that goes from Essex to Prospect Park that just happens to use the (J) designation.

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INDman Train Operator

INDman

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Not even that because technically the (J) is not extended to Prospect Park during those GOs. It's just a shuttle that goes from Essex to Prospect Park that just happens to use the (J) designation.

 

R32/38 side signs have a <J> for Broadway(Brooklyn)/Brighton service, that would have been a replacement for the (QJ).

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B35 via Church

B35 via Church

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“People get attached to a letter,” Olmstead said.

 

Tell me about about it.

Park slope, anyone?

 

Rules for choosing a subway name:

 

Recycling: Letters have sometimes been recycled. The K was introduced twice into the system, only to bow out. The T was used before, and could come back for the Second Avenue Subway.

 

Diamonds: Were used for some express routes during rush hour, but by 2004 no one understood them anymore and they were eliminated except on the No. 6 and 7 lines.

 

I, O: Looks too much like numbers to use

 

P, U, Y: Also no-no’s, as they sound like words

 

X: Has been used as a placeholder for lines under development. Was considered for a line from Sixth Avenue to the World Trade Center, but the route never surfaced.

 

you waitin for the Y?

- what?

are you waitin for the Y

- wtf are you talking about

the Y train... you waiting for it?

- oh... yeah yeah... why you aint say that before?

 

 

How do you get from ____ to _____ ?

- you have to go downstairs & take a P

 

finally your U train arrived..

- my you train? english dude, english...

not your train, the U train you're waiting for... it's about to pull in... U looks pretty packed...

- you ******, *uck outta here

*smh*, never mind

 

 

^^ lol.. I'm crazy...

 

 

jokes aside, surprised there's nothin mentioned about double-digit numbers....

 

 

 

 

that said....

Who's planning on embarking upon the last (W) or (V) in-service train?

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LRG

LRG

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Tell me about about it.

Park slope, anyone?

 

 

 

you waitin for the Y?

- what?

are you waitin for the Y

- wtf are you talking about

the Y train... you waiting for it?

- oh... yeah yeah... why you aint say that before?

 

 

How do you get from ____ to _____ ?

- you have to go downstairs & take a P

 

finally your U train arrived..

- my you train? english dude, english...

not your train, the U train you're waiting for... it's about to pull in... U looks pretty packed...

- you ******, *uck outta here

*smh*, never mind

 

 

^^ lol.. I'm crazy...

 

 

jokes aside, surprised there's nothin mentioned about double-digit numbers....

 

 

Lmfao. What about a "2-2" (two-two) train? :P

 

 

that said....

Who's planning on embarking upon the last (W) or (V) in-service train?

 

I'll definitely be on the last (V) train. The (W), meh...I'll ride it during the week for sure, just not the last train.

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checkmatechamp13

checkmatechamp13

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He means riders in Park Slope do not want to give up the (F) train.

When the Culver Viaduct work is finished, there were plans to extend the (V) into Brooklyn and have it run as either Culver Express or Culver Local. If it ran as Culver Local, the (F) would run express in Park Slope. Therefore, riders in Park Slope don't want the (F) to run express because it would skip a lot of the stops in Park Slope.

Regardless of whether it is the (F)/(G) or (G)/(V) serving the local stations, riders still get service.

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LRG

LRG

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He means riders in Park Slope do not want to give up the (F) train.

When the Culver Viaduct work is finished, there were plans to extend the (V) into Brooklyn and have it run as either Culver Express or Culver Local. If it ran as Culver Local, the (F) would run express in Park Slope. Therefore, riders in Park Slope don't want the (F) to run express because it would skip a lot of the stops in Park Slope.

Regardless of whether it is the (F)/(G) or (G)/(V) serving the local stations, riders still get service.

 

That's very ironic as they had the (D) train but they lost that. I can only wonder how much they lamented over the loss of the (D) when it went to the Brighton Line.

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