SUBWAY - Random Thoughts Topic

[NewFlyer 230]

19 hours ago, NBTA said:

240th Yard hasn't had a cleaning service since 1995. That's how dirty the 62As on the  look on the outside.

I know 240th Yard is the  trains main yard but doesn’t the  also use 207th street as well?

[Calvin]

The D, N and R shuttle buses has a long line both north and south as one at Barclays Center stretched from the end of 4 Av to the Modells parking lot by Flatbush Av

Edited October 12, 2020 by Calvin

[R10 2952]

I've said it here before, dirty trains on the  have been a problem for decades.  Of course there was the graffiti epidemic in the '70s and '80s, but both before and since then there's been the issue with dirt and grime.  They just don't wash the cars often enough.  You can find photos on nycsubway.org from as far back as the '60s that show 1 trains covered in a layer of filth. 

[vioreen]

What's the difference between Eastern and southern division and what lines are included in those division?

[Vulturious]

50 minutes ago, vioreen said:

What's the difference between Eastern and southern division and what lines are included in those division?

I've never heard of a "Southern Division" as it's just the rest of the B division, but the difference is that they operate mainly different number of cars a set has. I'll start with the Eastern as it's the easiest to really see the difference. The Eastern Division runs 8 60 foot long cars for each set. This is mainly because of the station's length that can only hold up to 8 cars at most, those stations are , , , and  trains. The Eastern Division also has tight curves which is why you never see any subway cars like the R44/R46 and R68/A on those lines because they can never make those turns since they are 75 feet long. As for the "Southern Division", it's basically everything opposite of what I said about the Eastern Division. They operate 10 60 feet long cars and 8 75 feet long cars maximum since that is how long their stations can have. The rest of the B Division consists of the , , , , , , , , , , , and  trains. These lines can run 75 feet long cars because they don't have to deal with really tight curves. These lines cannot run on the Eastern Division, but that doesn't mean Eastern Division trains cannot run through the rest of the B division. We've had the , , and  as proof as they all operated outside of the Eastern Division as extensions. We also technically have the  as they operate 8 60 feet long cars, but it's just a local, shorter variation of the  so it doesn't really count. If I missed something or said something wrong, please correct me.

[Around the Horn]

Eastern and Southern refer to BMT pre-unification with the IND.

Eastern was anything out of East New York yard and Southern was anything out of Coney Island yard

[Trainmaster5]

BMT Eastern is your Jamaica line  , and  , the Myrtle  and the Canarsie  trains

BMT Southern included the  , the  , the  , the Franklin  , the Culver  and the  . Basically anything that ran south of DeKalb in the old days. That would include the West End variants.

It's easier to remember it as today's B1 Division as per it's TA radio channel label. I will point out that the Flushing  is also B1 because of it's history.

Simply put the other lettered lines are considered B2 division, today's IND. There are places on lines like the  and  where the train crews must change their radio's frequency from B1-B2 or vice versa depending on the trackage the train will be traveling on. An example would be an  or  traveling south of Church Avenue on the Culver line.

The IRT is always the A Division but since I worked transfers and work trains early in my career I traveled inter-division at times and had to know which frequency to set my radio to.

That was the basic setup. Times have changed so maybe my info is out of date. Around the Horn has the right idea although my friends at Fresh Pond and AY yards might feel left out 🤨. Carry on.  

Edited October 12, 2020 by Trainmaster5
additional thought

[Union Tpke]

On 10/9/2020 at 9:57 AM, Bklyn Bound 2 Local said:

I think it's Alabama Avenue on the  , it dates back to the 1860s

No. 1885.

[vioreen]

Dose anyone has an idea on why fleets like the R44/46 and 68s car are 75 feet long compared to majority of the fleets which are 60 feet long?

[Vulturious]

35 minutes ago, vioreen said:

Dose anyone has an idea on why fleets like the R44/46 and 68s car are 75 feet long compared to majority of the fleets which are 60 feet long?

Well I can only think of the R44 and R46 being that long because the MTA planned on having the fleet to run both on NYCT tracks and LIRR tracks. However, that idea failed as there was a huge voltage difference when the R44 was being tested on the LIRR tracks for the speed. Back then, regulations were more lenient, if the idea was brought up today, it wouldn't have happened. I honestly don't know why the R68/A are 75 feet long as well as there just wasn't a need to that to happen at all, I could be wrong. Although, I can't remember if I asked this question before, but if the testing proved to show that NYCT cars can run on LIRR tracks with not much issues, how much different would transit be?

[darkstar8983]

48 minutes ago, vioreen said:

Dose anyone has an idea on why fleets like the R44/46 and 68s car are 75 feet long compared to majority of the fleets which are 60 feet long?

I thought it was because you can get a full length 600-foot train with only eight cars instead of ten, thereby making maintenance “easier”. And an 8-car 480’ train could have more or less been substituted for a 450’ 6-car train consisting of 75-foot cars, but the clearance in the BMT Eastern division prevented this

Edited October 13, 2020 by darkstar8983

[darkstar8983]

3 hours ago, Trainmaster5 said:

BMT Eastern is your Jamaica line  , and  , the Myrtle  and the Canarsie  trains

BMT Southern included the  , the  , the  , the Franklin  , the Culver  and the  . Basically anything that ran south of DeKalb in the old days. That would include the West End variants.

It's easier to remember it as today's B1 Division as per it's TA radio channel label. I will point out that the Flushing  is also B1 because of it's history.

Simply put the other lettered lines are considered B2 division, today's IND. There are places on lines like the  and  where the train crews must change their radio's frequency from B1-B2 or vice versa depending on the trackage the train will be traveling on. An example would be an  or  traveling south of Church Avenue on the Culver line.

The IRT is always the A Division but since I worked transfers and work trains early in my career I traveled inter-division at times and had to know which frequency to set my radio to.

That was the basic setup. Times have changed so maybe my info is out of date. Around the Horn has the right idea although my friends at Fresh Pond and AY yards might feel left out 🤨. Carry on.  

Yes, when the Christie St Connection opened, it essentially merged the IND and BMT portions of the B-division, leaving only the following routes in exclusively one division 

- IND

- BMT

 (due to a previous comment about the  being on B-division radio),

,

 (up until 2017, since SAS is part of the IND I believe, but not 100% sure).

 (Eastern Division)

- all the other lines are a mix of both subdivisions, and the radio frequency must be changed mid-route

 

[Kriston Lewis]

3 hours ago, darkstar8983 said:

 (up until 2017, since SAS is part of the IND I believe, but not 100% sure)

That is correct, it is the IND Second Avenue Line according to emergency exit signage. I think the radio change happens at Lexington Av-63 St.

[mine248]

Take this with a grain of salt (R32 on A): 

 

Edited October 13, 2020 by mine248

[LGA Link N Train]

Is there a reason why the  doesn't run express service along the Brighton Line during the weekends? Cause after hearing about the G.O. with Trains being rerouted via Brighton Express, it got me wondering if the BMT, NYCTA or the  ever ran a Brighton Express service on weekends.

[VIP]

1 hour ago, LaGuardia Link N Tra said:

Is there a reason why the  doesn't run express service along the Brighton Line during the weekends? Cause after hearing about the G.O. with Trains being rerouted via Brighton Express, it got me wondering if the BMT, NYCTA or the  ever ran a Brighton Express service on weekends.

Good question but from my observation, the ridership didn’t warrant express service on the weekend. 

[Deucey]

20 hours ago, vioreen said:

Dose anyone has an idea on why fleets like the R44/46 and 68s car are 75 feet long compared to majority of the fleets which are 60 feet long?

Like with replacing 40 ft buses with artics, higher capacity per unit, lower service level/frequency required, same capacity or more on the route.

[R32 3838]

5 hours ago, mine248 said:

Take this with a grain of salt (R32 on A): 

 

 

wouldn't be surprised if this was true.

[RedLine]

It's not.

[bobtehpanda]

On 10/13/2020 at 1:05 PM, Deucey said:

Like with replacing 40 ft buses with artics, higher capacity per unit, lower service level/frequency required, same capacity or more on the route.

They ran the same frequency (they all added up to 600 foot trains in the end anyways).

It comes down entirely to the fact that you only have to buy 8 cars instead of ten, which makes it *slightly* cheaper and *slightly* increases capacity. Though this turned out to be more of a burden since they kept it at 4 doors per car rather than adding a fifth, so more capacity mostly just meant slower dwells.

[Calvin]

There will be a subway closure on the  line, one is Livonia Av as they will prepare installing elevators at that station. Set date is next month. 

[GojiMet86]

There's a mixed R68/R68A consist on the today. Probably in Lower Manhattan now, heading northbound to Ditmars.

[GojiMet86]

......And the northbound I am on has stopped between Sheepshead and Kings Highway. It stopped around 7:05 PM, and it sounded like the emergency brake was pulled.

At around 7:20, the conductor says that there is a broken window in the back of the train.

...Update: Storm window in the back fell out of the train.

Edited October 17, 2020 by GojiMet86

[danielhg121]

3 hours ago, GojiMet86 said:

......And the northbound I am on has stopped between Sheepshead and Kings Highway. It stopped around 7:05 PM, and it sounded like the emergency brake was pulled.

At around 7:20, the conductor says that there is a broken window in the back of the train.

...Update: Storm window in the back fell out of the train.

They're advanced enough to detect if the storm window fell out of the train? That's a bit surprising to say the least.

[GojiMet86]

10 minutes ago, danielhg121 said:

They're advanced enough to detect if the storm window fell out of the train? That's a bit surprising to say the least.

That is what I have been wondering. The train was an R46. I did not take a good look at the window (I was in another car in the other set). So I don't know exactly what window it was, or if someone pulled the emergency brake when that happened, or if the R46 does indeed have such a mechanism.