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Subway Line Color Scheme


Robert Bosco

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How did the (MTA) 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

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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.

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  • 1 year later...

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(:P 70(F) 70(K)

(G) became a lighter shade of 70(GG)

(L) 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 (K)

(7)<7> was 70(7)

(S) was 70(SS)

 

When the trunk colors were finalized:

Sixth Avenue-Jamaica (K) 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 (MJ) (similar color to 70(AA) 70(F) 70(4)) might've been given a different color.

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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. :P

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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)

(G) became a lighter shade of 70(GG)

(L) 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 (K)

(7)<7> was 70(7)

(S) was 70(SS)

 

When the trunk colors were finalized:

Sixth Avenue-Jamaica (K) 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 (MJ) (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 (A)(D)(N)(2). ((N)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 (7).

 

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.

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