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Dumb Question about G.O.s


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As the title says I have a question that'll seem dumb to most of you if not all of you: did G.O.s always exist in the subway? I mean did they exist in the 90s, 80s etc.? I wonder how frustrating it must've been for riders to go to the station and find out there's no service without mta.info and stuff.. Anyway I'm just curious to know if so much work always used to take place around the system.

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As the title says I have a question that'll seem dumb to most of you if not all of you: did G.O.s always exist in the subway? I mean did they exist in the 90s, 80s etc.? I wonder how frustrating it must've been for riders to go to the station and find out there's no service without mta.info and stuff.. Anyway I'm just curious to know if so much work always used to take place around the system.

 

Pre-infantile amnesia precludes me from remembering the 80s (though signs would point to yes since thats the decade the Capital Program), but the 90s did have it and you had to rely on signs and leave early. Large scale construction changes would appear on the maps though, like the (7) rehab in the early 90s.

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90's, 80's, yes, of course. That's when the capital programs to really bring the system up to a state of good repair began in earnest, after decades of decay.

 

Before then, in the 70's; I don't really remember G.O's as such. It seemed you would just go on the subway expecting things to be normal, and then you would find the train rerouted at a certain point. It seemed like an emergency last minute change, but it could have been planned. Just not sure, and they didn't post and announce it like they do today.

 

Manhattan Bridge closings were one example. The (D) would just start heading through the tunnel, to Essex, and then back up onto the 6th Ave. line from there. Seemed random, but I know that a couple of years after the Chrystie St. change, the NYDERA Bulletin reported a scheduled closing, with the (D) going the aforementioned way, and the (B) going up Broadway.

It wasn't until the 80's when the problems really began flaring up on the bridge, and they had to have frequent closings for inspection or rebuilding.

 

And you didn't really have the construction projects like we have now. The parts of Second Avenue and Archer Ave being worked on didn't interfere with the existing system at that point. And even those ground to a halt, for the time being.

 

So I'm sure they had G.O.s but just not as many, and not as publicized as they are now.

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And you didn't really have the construction projects like we have now. The parts of Second Avenue and Archer Ave being worked on didn't interfere with the existing system at that point. And even those ground to a halt, for the time being.

 

So I'm sure they had G.O.s but just not as many, and not as publicized as they are now.

 

Did Archer Avenue really pose an issue for the subway? I know the (J) was cut back to 121st Street for a time (wish I had that map), but did the (E) and (F) have any issues?

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90's, 80's, yes, of course. That's when the capital programs to really bring the system up to a state of good repair began in earnest, after decades of decay.

 

Before then, in the 70's; I don't really remember G.O's as such. It seemed you would just go on the subway expecting things to be normal, and then you would find the train rerouted at a certain point. It seemed like an emergency last minute change, but it could have been planned. Just not sure, and they didn't post and announce it like they do today.

 

Manhattan Bridge closings were one example. The (D) would just start heading through the tunnel, to Essex, and then back up onto the 6th Ave. line from there. Seemed random, but I know that a couple of years after the Chrystie St. change, the NYDERA Bulletin reported a scheduled closing, with the (D) going the aforementioned way, and the (B) going up Broadway.

It wasn't until the 80's when the problems really began flaring up on the bridge, and they had to have frequent closings for inspection or rebuilding.

 

And you didn't really have the construction projects like we have now. The parts of Second Avenue and Archer Ave being worked on didn't interfere with the existing system at that point. And even those ground to a halt, for the time being.

 

So I'm sure they had G.O.s but just not as many, and not as publicized as they are now.

 

A little off topic but maybe when the Bridge is closed off they can do this detour by sending the (D) trains to Essex then via the cut?

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Even in the 1960's and 1970's there are "projects" and service changes due to track work and other activities.

 

Remember that there was not an "active on-line" community of transit fans until there were computer bulletin boards and USENET or FIDO or other computer networks - well before the Internet. Meaning that for transit fans - spreading information and news about what is happening in an organized way did not exist. The Transit Exhibit did not open until 1975!

 

Why is that important - simple. Transit fans keep stuff - as in information. The transit authority would of course have service changes due to track work, and often times those affected by such changes would see signage at their station. For the persons already on the trains, the conductors would make announcements - but the public address systems of those days were not always the greatest.

 

For those who did not ride a particular line - knowing about those kinds of service changes would be difficult. Transit fans would have to content themselves with history books, riding the system, learning everything that they could often on their own, unless they were part of a transit club.

 

The Transit Authority after posting the signage of a service change, would have no need for the signage after the service change was over - the signage was trash. To a transit fan - however the signage was another indication of "how the system worked" - especially for distant stations and lines.

 

While we live in interesting times - what came before can also be interesting.

Mike

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Did Archer Avenue really pose an issue for the subway? I know the (J) was cut back to 121st Street for a time (wish I had that map), but did the (E) and (F) have any issues?
Whatever work was done on Archer in the 70's was well away from the other lines, so no, there would be no impact. Even the connection to the other lines was to existing stub ended tracks, so probably did not affect service.

(Just like SAS still is not affecting any service, as it will connect to an existing track with no service on it).

 

I mentioned that to contrast with projects like Fulton St., which do disrupt the lines involved.

 

A little off topic but maybe when the Bridge is closed off they can do this detour by sending the (D) trains to Essex then via the cut?
After diversions became more commonplace, and better planned; they stopped doing it that way. Too disruptive, as the T/O has to change at Essex, and you're bringing through there a train that is longer than the stations and cannot even open up anywhere between Court and Bway-Laf.
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After diversions became more commonplace, and better planned; they stopped doing it that way. Too disruptive, as the T/O has to change at Essex, and you're bringing through there a train that is longer than the stations and cannot even open up anywhere between Court and Bway-Laf.

 

You can always have an 8 car (D) train...

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You can always have an 8 car (D) train...
That would be too much trouble to have to take a whole fleet of cars off another line to run the full length (D). (They did it in G.O.s where the old Brighton (D) ran to Franklin once, but that's much different, and back then, the (Mx) stored half of its cars in CIYD, now there are no 8×60 consists there).
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Talking bout the (D) saw a 68A in service on that line at Stillwell around 1130 at nite, and it wasn't a baseball special (Yankees are in Cincy right now). Was pulling out but one of the motors was 5100. It appeared to be my leader but I noticed my leader when I was at Bedford wasn't a 68A. Nice lil swap.

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