SUBWAY - Random Thoughts Topic

[T to Dyre Avenue]

On 12/1/2019 at 12:01 AM, Jemorie said:

I heard the Grand Concourse corridor was suppose to be four tracks, but then some lawsuit from the IRT company prevented that from ever happening.

This is the first time I’ve heard about that. Like @bobtehpanda posted, the escalating costs of construction caused the City to sacrifice one of the Concourse IND subway’s express tracks. I don’t think the IRT were even in a position to sue the City to stop building the Concourse Line with four tracks, given that then-Mayor Hylan’s goal was to put the private IRT and BMT subway companies out of business (their subways would eventually come under City operations in 1940). 

[Lawrence St]

51 minutes ago, Calvin said:

1942, 1938, 1926, 1924 (just one rollsign is single lined, the other one is original) and 1934: The single units set

 

Also, just hearing it on an R142A arriving at Atlantic Av-Barclays Center: The next stop: Franklin Av is now known as "Franklin Av-Medgars College". The phrase will be expanded to the and trains as well as and Shuttle 

I'm sorry what?

[CenSin]

22 minutes ago, T to Dyre Avenue said:

This is the first time I’ve heard about that. Like @bobtehpanda posted, the escalating costs of construction caused the City to sacrifice one of the Concourse IND subway’s express tracks. I don’t think the IRT were even in a position to sue the City to stop building the Concourse Line with four tracks, given that then-Mayor Hylan’s goal was to put the private IRT and BMT subway companies out of business (their subways would eventually come under City operations in 1940). 

I wonder if the provisions were left in place to put in 4 tracks later anyway. The design of some express stations is telling. There is clearly extra space for another track based on the asymmetrical widths of the platforms such as at 145 Street.

[Lawrence St]

4 minutes ago, CenSin said:

I wonder if the provisions were left in place to put in 4 tracks later anyway. The design of some express stations is telling. There is clearly extra space for another track based on the asymmetrical widths of the platforms such as at 145 Street.

And the very odd way of how Fordham Road is built.

[Calvin]

14 minutes ago, Lawrence St said:

I'm sorry what?

The automated announcement on the : The next stop is Franklin Av. It was heard as "Franklin Av-Medgars College" from a new voice.

Edited December 6, 2019 by Calvin

[Lawrence St]

10 minutes ago, Calvin said:

The automated announcement on the : The next stop is Franklin Av. It was heard as "Franklin Av-Medgars College" from a new voice.

Please don't tell me its that lady that does the M14 SBS announcements...

[jon2305]

1 hour ago, MHV9218 said:

This was the 1947-1948 etc. set, which is also still original. If I remember right, on 1924 that rollsign is original but it's from an R62, with Akzidenz, not Helvetica.

Also, has anybody checked if the original floors remain on 1958/the 214x set that had them (incl. a piece of redbird floor)?

Affirmative,  those still do remain. Rode 2146 yesterday those floors really light up the inside of the car a bit.

Edited December 6, 2019 by jon2305

[SimplyMyself]

I’ve been observing the R62A’s on the . AFAIK these sets have gotten the brighter lighting.

1651-1760, 1766-1775, 1781-1815, 1821-1825, 1831-1840, 1901-1905, 1911-1920, (1931-1927-1923-1952-1940), (1954:1957-1960, 1961-2000, 2011-2035, 2041-2070, 2076-2085, (2096 ONLY, 2097-2100 NOT (As of 11/21/19)), 2101-2135, 2141-2150, 2456-2475.

I also haven’t noticed any R62A’s on the  that kept their original rollsigns, after receiving the new lighting, unlike some sets on .

[SimplyMyself]

1 hour ago, MHV9218 said:

This was the 1947-1948 etc. set, which is also still original. If I remember right, on 1924 that rollsign is original but it's from an R62, with Akzidenz, not Helvetica.

Also, has anybody checked if the original floors remain on 1958/the 214x set that had them (incl. a piece of redbird floor)?

Last week I rode on 2123, which still had the original floor.

[darkstar8983]

I have a question, but I’m not sure if it has been answered already a time ago.

 

does anyone know where one could download a NYC subway simulator? And one could download and modify the NYC subway routes / cars, etc?

[T to Dyre Avenue]

1 hour ago, CenSin said:

I wonder if the provisions were left in place to put in 4 tracks later anyway. The design of some express stations is telling. There is clearly extra space for another track based on the asymmetrical widths of the platforms such as at 145 Street.

1 hour ago, Lawrence St said:

And the very odd way of how Fordham Road is built.

These two stations could give some clue to whether or not they did leave extra space for a fourth track. Though the Concourse local stations appear to have very standard-looking platforms. Now, if there are provisions for a fourth tube under the Harlem River between 161st and 155th, that would be the best way to tell. But I’ve never seen any such provisions whenever I rode a ,  (before 1998) or  train through there, though I’d be surprised to hear if there are any.

[RR503]

1 hour ago, CenSin said:

I wonder if the provisions were left in place to put in 4 tracks later anyway. The design of some express stations is telling. There is clearly extra space for another track based on the asymmetrical widths of the platforms such as at 145 Street.

This + Fordham + 167 Spur are not provisions. 145 was built the way it was because it would have been ridiculously costly and of questionable value to rearrange the structural members coming from the 4 track upper level so that the middle track on the 3 track lower level could be perfectly centered. Fordham has its strange shape because of the Grand Concourse underpass that dips down at that point, and 167 Spur just sort of...exists in a convenient location to store Yankees trains, which is, I assume, why it was built where it is. When they went for 3 tracks on Concourse, they _went for three tracks_ -- look at how the trackage around Bedford Park is designed -- and that's what were stuck with, for better or for worse.

[trainfan22]

25 minutes ago, darkstar8983 said:

I have a question, but I’m not sure if it has been answered already a time ago.

 

does anyone know where one could download a NYC subway simulator? And one could download and modify the NYC subway routes / cars, etc?

https://openbve-project.net/  Download OpenBVE then go to BVEStation.com which has some NYC Subway routes and trains. Youtube has a ton of videos of routes & trains for NY Subway 

Edited December 6, 2019 by trainfan22

[paulrivera]

Speaking of the Concourse Line, I'd really like to know how the builders accomplished having the line go under Grand Concourse but over the parallel street underpasses at each of the stops.

It's quite the experience at Kingsbridge Road having to go down to the mezzanine and then up to get to the platform or the street.

[Union Tpke]

6 hours ago, paulrivera said:

Speaking of the Concourse Line, I'd really like to know how the builders accomplished having the line go under Grand Concourse but over the parallel street underpasses at each of the stops.

It's quite the experience at Kingsbridge Road having to go down to the mezzanine and then up to get to the platform or the street.

Well, I'm glad you asked. I had already found a bit for information on it in a Google Books document. I took advantage of the snippets to form this document:

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1yV90--vw4e9wnd6sjeO8FWjXRCrHwZpTaf6FfkH7nV4/edit

I know that I don't have the whole article, but it is enough to learn a bit about it

[CenSin]

Northbound 4 and 5 trains are delayed while we get NYPD for a disruptive passenger who won't allow a train's door to close at Nevins St.

Posted: 12/6/19 8:17 AM

Hahaha! It's just silly that the cops have to get called in to fix a minor door blockage. What do they do in other countries?

[Harlem Crosstown]

15 hours ago, Calvin said:

The automated announcement on the : The next stop is Franklin Av. It was heard as "Franklin Av-Medgars College" from a new voice.

Are they changing the station name or something?

[Mysterious2train]

5 minutes ago, Harlem Crosstown said:

Are they changing the station name or something?

The state legislature passed a bill this year requiring the MTA to add "Medgar Evers College" to the names of Franklin Avenue and President St. It was sponsored by Senator Zellnor Myrie and Assemblywoman Diane Richardson who represent the area. The SubwayTime and myMTA arrival apps already reflect the change. 

Edited December 6, 2019 by Mysterious2train

[CenSin]

4 hours ago, Mysterious2train said:

The state legislature passed a bill this year requiring the MTA to add "Medgar Evers College" to the names of Franklin Avenue and President St. It was sponsored by Senator Zellnor Myrie and Assemblywoman Diane Richardson who represent the area. The SubwayTime and myMTA arrival apps already reflect the change. 

Does nothing but lengthen the train announcements and ink on printed maps… real productive state legislature there.

[Jemorie]

20 minutes ago, CenSin said:

Does nothing but lengthen the train announcements and ink on printed maps… real productive state legislature there.

Agreed...

[Missabassie]

On 12/4/2019 at 4:37 PM, Jemorie said:

@N6 Limited: Trust me, the Grand Concourse Express is the worst in terms of speed. But I’ll say it is smooth. Central Park West Express is still the same. Heading uptown, T/Os apply the brakes around 96th Street or near 103rd Street, due to the dive at 103rd and the rise at 110th. They apply the brakes again after or around 116th, then pick up speed again into 125th. Heading southbound, T/Os apply the brakes near 81st, pass through smoothly, pick up speed again, apply the brakes again after passing through 72nd due to the nearby slight bend, pick up speed again into 59th.

Sshhhh  Don't give away the formula.....

[CenSin]

Not sure what's going on on the . Been holding at Spring Street since 5:08 PM. Conductor says someone's holding the door in the rear. But the door closed down at 5:10 and the train is still not moving at 5:13! Is the door mechanism faulty or is some a**hole having a contest with the conductor? The platform is already filling up with be people again.

EDIT: the doors reopened again at 5:15 PM and a bunch of people got on. It's 5:16 and now we're finally moving.

Bleeker Street was really crowded at 5:17. Broadway–Lafayette, meanwhile, has it's open problems southbound: service is delayed. I'm guessing now is a very good time to apply that rule… gonna take the pulling in at 5:27 even if it's all local.

Slipped in just barely. Had a pissed woman right behind me who didn't make it. The “sardine can” analogy shines brightly here.

The went express from Jay Street–MetroTech to Church Avenue (5:42–5:52) and resumed local stops from there.

Edited December 6, 2019 by CenSin

[Calvin]

Word on the rails on Astoria was that the  was 10 mins late on one of the trains during the PM rush hour. 

- There was a gap at Ditmars Blvd that 4 trains right behind each other is a mix of R46 and R68s. All of them were trains and left as trains. The 68   train just left as is instead of changing the 86 St rollsign to Whitehall St and to  that the next train was at last, a R160 as a  and left as is. 

[Jemorie]

@Union Tpke, I stumbled upon that Rockaway Park  shuttle article page on Wikipedia and read its history section. Does anybody who are members of that site even aware that the summer weekend extension to/from Rockaway Blvd is permanent or no?

[trainfan22]

I remember in the early to mid 2000s from Thanksgiving to NYE the line would get shorter headways due to heavy travel of holiday season. The bonus as a railfan was the used R40 Slants & Mods due to the shortened headways. 

 

Today? runs on extended headways and via Montague tube. I wish they would bring back the days when their was no G.O's between Thanksgiving and NYE.