SUBWAY - Random Thoughts Topic

[Lex]

It took me a bit to notice, but someone at the MTA finally had the sense to have  trains stop at Pelham Parkway when the other (intermediate) Dyre Avenue stations are skipped.

[Lawrence St]

6 hours ago, Lex said:

It took me a bit to notice, but someone at the MTA finally had the sense to have  trains stop at Pelham Parkway when the other (intermediate) Dyre Avenue stations are skipped.

Wait what? Since when?

[R68OnBroadway]

Are there specific reasons as to why the  runs to JC while the  goes to 179? 

[paulbyron]

58 minutes ago, R68OnBroadway said:

Are there specific reasons as to why the  runs to JC while the  goes to 179? 

I think part of the reasoning is due to terminal capacity. JC can only turn about 12tph.

[Maxwell179]

1 hour ago, R68OnBroadway said:

Are there specific reasons as to why the  runs to JC while the  goes to 179? 

according to Wikipedia , “  It was decided that the  would serve Archer Avenue, rather than the  , to minimize disruption to passengers who continued to use Hillside Avenue; to maximize Jamaica Avenue ridership; and to take advantage of the length of the peak ridership period, which is longer on the .It was found that most riders using bus routes that now served Archer Avenue used the , while most passengers on buses to 179th Street used the . “ 

[Maxwell179]

Just now, Maxwell179 said:

according to Wikipedia , “  It was decided that the  would serve Archer Avenue, rather than the  , to minimize disruption to passengers who continued to use Hillside Avenue; to maximize Jamaica Avenue ridership; and to take advantage of the length of the peak ridership period, which is longer on the .It was found that most riders using bus routes that now served Archer Avenue used the , while most passengers on buses to 179th Street used the . “ 

idk if there’s truth behind this but yeah

[shiznit1987]

3 hours ago, Maxwell179 said:

according to Wikipedia , “  It was decided that the  would serve Archer Avenue, rather than the  , to minimize disruption to passengers who continued to use Hillside Avenue; to maximize Jamaica Avenue ridership; and to take advantage of the length of the peak ridership period, which is longer on the .It was found that most riders using bus routes that now served Archer Avenue used the , while most passengers on buses to 179th Street used the . “ 

Those studies were done in the Mid 80s right before Archer was due to open. Nowadays I'd think it'd be smart to have the  go to 179th and the  to JC and make the  12tph and  18tph. Remember pre 2001 both  and  trains went down 53rd St. With the 63rd st routing, I think those studies are off. 

Edited February 2, 2020 by shiznit1987

[Union Tpke]

4 hours ago, Maxwell179 said:

according to Wikipedia , “  It was decided that the  would serve Archer Avenue, rather than the  , to minimize disruption to passengers who continued to use Hillside Avenue; to maximize Jamaica Avenue ridership; and to take advantage of the length of the peak ridership period, which is longer on the .It was found that most riders using bus routes that now served Archer Avenue used the , while most passengers on buses to 179th Street used the . “ 

 

4 hours ago, Maxwell179 said:

idk if there’s truth behind this but yeah

@Maxwell179 Yeah, I added that from research I did.

[Lex]

1 hour ago, shiznit1987 said:

Those studies were done in the Mid 80s right before Archer was due to open. Nowadays I'd think it'd be smart to have the  go to 179th and the  to JC and make the  12tph and  18tph. Remember pre 2001 both  and  trains went down 53rd St. With the 63rd st routing, I think those studies are off. 

Because Brooklyn doesn't need the service...

[Lex]

7 hours ago, Lawrence St said:

Wait what? Since when?

This weekend's changes have southbound  trains stopping at Pelham Parkway while skipping the other three intermediate stations on the line.

Now let's see them do it for northbound trains...

[Trainmaster5]

25 minutes ago, Lex said:

This weekend's changes have southbound  trains stopping at Pelham Parkway while skipping the other three intermediate stations on the line.

Now let's see them do it for northbound trains...

I saw that too and I had to laugh. I used to stop on the express track in emergency situations. I had a TSS who would ride with me every day and he told me that it wasn’t authorized. He was always so  afraid of things that I had to reassure him that I had his back. It helped to have people in authority who would back us up, active or retired. Our General Superintendent told him and the Deputy Line Superintendents that it was okay after my C/R and I took him to the station and showed him how the conductor’s board on the regular downtown local track aligned with the non-existent board on the express. Why force southbound passengers to backtrack to Dyre when those situations occur ? It never made sense to me. By rule my conductor and I weren’t supposed to do that but we had authorization from a higher authority who made the call. It’s a shame that it took this much time for this to be made official. Common sense, right? Just my take. Carry on. 

[CenSin]

18 hours ago, Trainmaster5 said:

I saw that too and I had to laugh. I used to stop on the express track in emergency situations. I had a TSS who would ride with me every day and he told me that it wasn’t authorized. He was always so  afraid of things that I had to reassure him that I had his back. It helped to have people in authority who would back us up, active or retired. Our General Superintendent told him and the Deputy Line Superintendents that it was okay after my C/R and I took him to the station and showed him how the conductor’s board on the regular downtown local track aligned with the non-existent board on the express. Why force southbound passengers to backtrack to Dyre when those situations occur ? It never made sense to me. By rule my conductor and I weren’t supposed to do that but we had authorization from a higher authority who made the call. It’s a shame that it took this much time for this to be made official. Common sense, right? Just my take. Carry on. 

I wonder how many endemic problems of the agency stem from that attitude. When the rules don’t make sense, people should definitely ask questions. That’s true of any job.

[CenSin]

96 Street-bound via Sea Beach is signed up as an orange at Atlantic now

[Jemorie]

On 2/2/2020 at 1:23 PM, R68OnBroadway said:

Are there specific reasons as to why the  runs to JC while the  goes to 179? 

 

On 2/2/2020 at 2:22 PM, paulbyron said:

I think part of the reasoning is due to terminal capacity. JC can only turn about 12tph.

 

On 2/2/2020 at 2:34 PM, Maxwell179 said:

according to Wikipedia , “  It was decided that the  would serve Archer Avenue, rather than the  , to minimize disruption to passengers who continued to use Hillside Avenue; to maximize Jamaica Avenue ridership; and to take advantage of the length of the peak ridership period, which is longer on the .It was found that most riders using bus routes that now served Archer Avenue used the , while most passengers on buses to 179th Street used the . “ 

 

On 2/2/2020 at 6:12 PM, shiznit1987 said:

Those studies were done in the Mid 80s right before Archer was due to open. Nowadays I'd think it'd be smart to have the  go to 179th and the  to JC and make the  12tph and  18tph. Remember pre 2001 both  and  trains went down 53rd St. With the 63rd st routing, I think those studies are off. 

Maybe to give 8th Avenue and 53rd Street customers direct access for the AirTrain to/from JFK full-time in addition to the heavily used buses at Jamaica Center compared to the ones at 179th Street. That's where the IND Archer Avenue Line comes into play. The IND Hillside Avenue Line does not offer the option for the AirTrain to/from JFK.

[Jemorie]

On 1/30/2020 at 12:39 PM, NYCTNostalgia said:

I mean... if it's better for the crowds on 2nd Avenue as the  says, then operationally it makes more sense. As a daily  rider between 57 St-7 Av and Avenue U (basically the whole damn route), I can definitely say that it makes more sense to keep the R160's on the  vs. the /. Crowds are wicked on both ends, when my train pulls into Avenue U in the morning is already at Standing Room Levels only and once it reaches Prospect Park/7 Av, it is absurdly crowded. Additionally when the  pulls in at 57 St-7 Av during the PM Rush, the train is already extremely crowded so early in its route vs. the that isn't really crowded until 34 St-Herald Square and the that typically isn't overloaded. If the  was reduced to 100% 75 footers, loading times would increase substantially, shiddd the  on Brighton in the Morning struggles enough loading passengers in a timely fashion without having to dwell much longer than it should.

But this is just my opinion and as we all know, opinions are not always facts. Carry on.

 

On 1/30/2020 at 12:47 PM, darkstar8983 said:

The  issue on 2 Av can be solved by ADDING more trains, although the MTA chooses not to. There is no capacity constraint on 2 Av, and additional  trains can be rerouted from Astoria to 2 Av to add service. As for Astoria however, Ditmars Blvd has a terminal capacity of only 14 trains per hour and there’s no other place in Astoria to turn trains around easily. Therefore there is NO way to add additional service in Astoria without rebuilding large  sections of the line. The  by Astoria Blvd (sometimes even Leaving Ditmars Blvd) is standing room only and by Broadway, some people are left on the platform.

i will say that On time performance on all three routes is sub-par, but the solution to the  is the need for additional trains (not necessarily 60-foot cars) because there is no capacity constraint at any terminal, or if there is, there are suitable terminals to short turn trains. This way the  can come more frequently.

this is not the case for the  due to infrastructure designs.

also you haven’t seen the  at Lexington Av during PM rush hours. It’s a nightmare the risk of people falling into the tracks due to the long waits and dwell times with 75-foot cars. I’m surprised that we don’t have people struck by trains on a daily basis at this station 

Pulling these two posts over from the New York City Subway car list thread to here:

Let's put this simple...neither the  /  or the  for that matter should be using 75 footers at all, but what can we do for the time being until the R211s show up? We just gotta deal with them. It won't be for too long unlike the R62As on the  of course.

And @darkstar8983, keep in mind that Lex-59th on the BMT is packed at rush hour and other busier times of the day due to its current design and the narrowness on West 60th Street to be a four-track subway. Imagine if West 60th Street was built and designed to be wider from back then to this very day, chances are the Broadway Line would have been a four-track subway throughout the entire 60th Street portion of the line, including up to the point where they merge with the BMT 63rd Street Line as they turn sharply from west to south down on 7th Avenue (for 57th Street-7th Avenue and 49th Street), and then Broadway (after 49th Street). In other words, the  and  would have been on the middle tracks and the  on the outer tracks (with diamond crossovers between Lex-59th and 5th-59th for the  overnight and weekend, and the  on weekdays to switch for local service); crowds at Lex-59th would have been evenly split so there it would have been much less crowded on both platforms and stairways), more track room and capacity, and less merging delays. But all of that is neither here or there unfortunately.

[darkstar8983]

1 hour ago, Jemorie said:

 

Pulling these two posts over from the New York City Subway car list thread to here:

Let's put this simple...neither the  /  or the  for that matter should be using 75 footers at all, but what can we do for the time being until the R211s show up? We just gotta deal with them. It won't be for too long unlike the R62As on the  of course.

And @darkstar8983, keep in mind that Lex-59th on the BMT is packed at rush hour and other busier times of the day due to its current design and the narrowness on West 60th Street to be a four-track subway. Imagine if West 60th Street was built and designed to be wider from back then to this very day, chances are the Broadway Line would have been a four-track subway throughout the entire 60th Street portion of the line, including up to the point where they merge with the BMT 63rd Street Line as they turn sharply from west to south down on 7th Avenue (for 57th Street-7th Avenue and 49th Street), and then Broadway (after 49th Street). In other words, the  and  would have been on the middle tracks and the  on the outer tracks (with diamond crossovers between Lex-59th and 5th-59th for the  overnight and weekend, and the  on weekdays to switch for local service); crowds at Lex-59th would have been evenly split so there it would have been much less crowded on both platforms and stairways), more track room and capacity, and less merging delays. But all of that is neither here or there unfortunately.

actually there's something VERY simple that could be done, but again, incompetence from the MTA:

- hold off on the car-swap until the R211s arrive. Let's face it, it's likely that some R211s will be going to Jamaica and the R160s will be released from there and sent back anyways by around June 2021

[N6 Limited]

It seems that BMT(especially) and IRT lines are riddled with tight curves (City Hall -Cortlandt St, etc) and slow speed zones (Dekalb).  How fast did they run their cars through these numerous sections, were they shoved through faster than they are today? 

  

4 hours ago, Jemorie said:

Maybe to give 8th Avenue and 53rd Street customers direct access for the AirTrain to/from JFK full-time in addition to the heavily used buses at Jamaica Center compared to the ones at 179th Street. That's where the IND Archer Avenue Line comes into play. The IND Hillside Avenue Line does not offer the option for the AirTrain to/from JFK.

Makes sense, connects Airtrain to Penn Station and PABT. Also, it makes it easy for Cross-honoring when something happens on LIRR or QBL.

Edited February 4, 2020 by N6 Limited

[trainfan22]

Today I rode an R62A  train had the A/C ON in the middle of February... oh now the A/C wants to work in the middle of WINTER?!? The HAVC units on the 62A's are so garbage SMH, still rather ride 62A's than 142s and 262s or whatever. 

[Around the Horn]

9 hours ago, darkstar8983 said:

actually there's something VERY simple that could be done, but again, incompetence from the MTA:

- hold off on the car-swap until the R211s arrive. Let's face it, it's likely that some R211s will be going to Jamaica and the R160s will be released from there and sent back anyways by around June 2021

First of all, CBTC is supposed to start next month. That's not an option.

Second, we will not have production R211 deliveries until October 2021 at the earliest. They would not have enough R211s on property to do such a move until mid-2022.

[Calvin]

Speaking of Queens Blvd CBTC, does all 4 trains and  go on CBTC bypass when entering the 8th Av, 6th Av and Broadway/ 4 Av lines?

[bobtehpanda]

On 2/2/2020 at 3:12 PM, shiznit1987 said:

Those studies were done in the Mid 80s right before Archer was due to open. Nowadays I'd think it'd be smart to have the  go to 179th and the  to JC and make the  12tph and  18tph. Remember pre 2001 both  and  trains went down 53rd St. With the 63rd st routing, I think those studies are off. 

 

On 2/2/2020 at 4:20 PM, Lex said:

Because Brooklyn doesn't need the service...

To add onto this, Canal/WTC is already a conga line at 15TPH during the peak. I don't think you could pipe 18TPH through to WTC unless you took the off the local entirely somehow.

[Union Tpke]

 

[Q23 via 108]

This is my list of the best Trains to run on each subway line. These trains were the GOATS on their respective line. When you think of some trains, you automatically think of a certain car type. So in my Opinion, these are the Trains that stand out to me.
 R62A
 Redbirds
 R62
 R62
 Redbirds
 R142A
 R62A and R36 WF (R188 when all set and done)

 R38 and R44
 R40S/R40M
 R32
 R68
 R32
 R46
R46
/ R40M/R42
 R143
 R42
 R68/A
 R68/A
 R46
S Current assignments
 R46
 R40S.

The  is a special line. All cars that come to the  are deeply missed. And I hold the R36 WF and R62A on the same level because both were very iconic and legendary in their own right while they had their career on the . I do believe that the R188s will be on the same level of the SMEEs that ran on the  when they retire. 
What do you all think? I would like to see what your All Time Subway Line and Car type combo.

Edited February 5, 2020 by Q23 via 108
7 Train

[TheNewYorkElevated]

RIP to legendary train photographer and photo collector Joe Testagrose, just read the news of his death. I remember going on nycsubway.org in the late-2000s as a kid seeing his photos of long gone trains from past decades. I never get tired of looking at them to this day still. Joe's photos will live on for future generations to come. He will never be forgotten. 

😞

Edited February 5, 2020 by TheNewYorkElevated

[shiznit1987]

7 hours ago, TheNewYorkElevated said:

RIP to legendary train photographer and photo collector Joe Testagrose, just read the news of his death. I remember going on nycsubway.org in the late-2000s as a kid seeing his photos of long gone trains from past decades. I never get tired of looking at them to this day still. Joe's photos will live on for future generations to come. He will never be forgotten. 

😞

My condolences as well.