Subway Line Color Scheme

[Robert Bosco 0]

How did the come up with their color scheme for the subway lines?? Was it well thought out..or was it more like..okay blue for 8th ave and orange for 6th ave.

[INDman 414]

Thats a very good question, I have always wanted to know too. I like the way the colors are now, but you cant beat the old colors.

(Not my sign, but I wiah it was).

[error46146 1,007]

How did the come up with their color scheme for the subway lines?? Was it well thought out..or was it more like..okay blue for 8th ave and orange for 6th ave.

i think it was probably for organizational purposes. look @ it like this:

 

blue = 8th avenue

orange = 6th avenue

yellow = BMT Broadway below Times Square

red = 7th Avenue below Times Square, Broadway above times square

green = Lexington / Park Avenue

light green = crosstown

brown = BMT Jamaica line

gray = BMT canarsie line

black = shuttles

[PATCOman 196]

Before 1979, there were different colors for each line.

A- blue

AA- magenta

CC- green

E- light blue

 

B- black

D- orange

F- magenta

GG- green

 

J- black

K- blue

LL- black

M- light blue

 

EE- orange

N- yellow

QB- red

RR- green

 

1- red

2- red

3- blue

4- magenta

5- black

6- yellow

7- orange

 

1979 was the first year with the present colors. They were grouped by the street in Manhattan that they run under.

[EE Broadway Local 18]

I think the 1979 colors partly were based on the 1967-1978 route colors.

 

Eighth Avenue: 70(A) 70(E) = Blue 70(AA) 70(CC)

Seventh Avenue: 70(1) 70(2) = Red 70(3)

Sixth Avenue: 70(D) = Orange 70( 70(F) 70(K)

became a lighter shade of 70(GG)

is similar to 70(LL)

(Sixth Avenue is a guess because of 70(D); Broadway might've become orange because of 70(N).

 

Lexington Avenue had no green: 70(4) 70(5) 70(6)

Broadway had no yellow: 70(EE) 70(N) 70(QB) 70(RR)

Nassau Street had no brown: 70(J) 70(M) plus

was 70(7)

was 70(SS)

 

When the trunk colors were finalized:

Sixth Avenue-Jamaica would've become orange;

Broadway-Queens Boulevard 70(EE) would've become yellow;

Culver Shuttle 70(SS) would've become black;

Third Avenue El 70(8) might've stayed light blue.

Majenta Myrtle Avenue (similar color to 70(AA) 70(F) 70(4)) might've been given a different color.

[lilbluefoxie 820]

Ive read the 68 colors were designed so that in the instance of lines running next to eachohter, they wouldnt have the same color.

 

I recall reading an article about the current scheme, why they chose the colors but I cant find it anymore.

[EE Broadway Local 18]

Though they ended up not using all sixty-eight colors and some routes had similar colors, it made for colorful maps from 1972-1978 and the R40s, R42s and R44s had a little color too.

[MattTrain 3,120]

I like the color scheme right now. I can tell usually where Manhattan trunk line the train will serve just by looking at the color bullet.

 

If the color lines and bullets were not changed to the current color format, there would be at least 26 different colored lines/bullets, due to each route having its own color.

 

This is fine for now.

[lilbluefoxie 820]

Thats a very good question, I have always wanted to know too. I like the way the colors are now, but you cant beat the old colors.

(Not my sign, but I wiah it was).

 

yea you need to get one of those

[Eric B 1,073]

I think the 1979 colors partly were based on the 1967-1978 route colors.

 

Eighth Avenue: 70(A) 70(E) = Blue 70(AA) 70(CC)

Seventh Avenue: 70(1) 70(2) = Red 70(3)

Sixth Avenue: 70(D) = Orange 70( 70(F) 70(K)

became a lighter shade of 70(GG)

is similar to 70(LL)

(Sixth Avenue is a guess because of 70(D); Broadway might've become orange because of 70(N).

 

Lexington Avenue had no green: 70(4) 70(5) 70(6)

Broadway had no yellow: 70(EE) 70(N) 70(QB) 70(RR)

Nassau Street had no brown: 70(J) 70(M) plus

was 70(7)

was 70(SS)

 

When the trunk colors were finalized:

Sixth Avenue-Jamaica would've become orange;

Broadway-Queens Boulevard 70(EE) would've become yellow;

Culver Shuttle 70(SS) would've become black;

Third Avenue El 70(8) might've stayed light blue.

Majenta Myrtle Avenue (similar color to 70(AA) 70(F) 70(4)) might've been given a different color.

 

Basically, the trunks took the color of the dominant or "flagship" lines; which were the . (was yellow, but it used a while letter, and was often reddened a bit to try to make it stand out).

In the '67 scheme, green basically was for BMT/IND locals, yet the color (in its "pure" form) was moved to the IRT, which used red on the West side, while on the East, the 70(4)'s magenta went to the .

 

So it was like a nice "opposite" symmetry: red and green; blue and orange. (the remaining one; yellow and purple would be between the two sytems, but it does exist at one stop; Queensborough, where the BMT took over IRT tracks).

 

Of course, new colors like brown would be used on the remaining lines outside the mainlines.

 

What many people don't know is that the original IND system had separate line colors too. The A was red, and either the C or CC was a faint wintergreen, and I forget the others.

[EE Broadway Local 18]

I always took 70(N) to be like apricot.