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The subway mysteries thread!


metsfan

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Yeah, I wonder if the map Joe Brennan posted wasn't the latest version, and if the tunnels were completed. He does mention (and it shows on the map) the 36th St junction with its own dotted line turnouts, but he doesn't state those are the lines meant to connect to the portals. Looking at the map alone, there's just as much reason to think they're there for that compared to the SBK, but it would be nice to know. Whether the tunnels were completed would be even nicer.

 

By the way, does anyone have pictures of the 36th St junction with the turnouts? I couldn't find any online.

 

Although, I'm more interested in the answers to 2 and 3. Those might have more of a useful purpose some day. B)

 

EDIT: Yes those portals are blocked by a white trailer now.

 

36thto9thaveconnzh3.jpg

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I have patrolled this station ad-infinitum but I still cannot find how the center tracks were going to get to grade level to go over the Brooklyn Bridge (original plan shelved). You can see the rise at the south end of the station and if you go street side, there are so many ramps to the bridge where it would have been impossible. Anyone know where the portal would have been (oh, I checked near Pace University, no evidence there either).

That's another angle to my question. Where exactly was the BMT Park Row Station located ? Obviously it was located at the end of the bridge but at what cross streets ? It couldn't actually reach Park Row because the IRT els had a station at City Hall. As far as I can tell the BMT subway tracks at Chambers St had to make a sharp turn to the east and rise up to meet the Brooklyn Bridge and my missing Park Row station had to be somewhere in there too. I place that location next to where the Southbridge Towers apartments stand.. Please correct me if I'm wrong.

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OK, I got a response from my "source" about the bell mouths on Queens Blvd.

"There is tunnel,track,3rd rail&signals beyond the bell mouth on the west bound track leading to the lirr. I know of 2 people who have been in there. It was sealed up[west bound] in the late `50`s. There is room to store at least 1 ten car train of R9`s in that section. There is a 2 track tunnel,with track still in place in the 1 tunnel. I have seen the "AS BUILT" blueprints of this. Under the 4 track ROW is a sealed up tunnel that runs

about feet. Both ends are sealed. There are chaining marks on this tunnels

wall & the tunnel does extend as a 5th "track" to 63rd. drive & west under 66th

ave."

Next time I am back home I will see if I can get some pics down there.

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I don't think so, I think that the 5th track crosses under the Queens Blvd line. But yea, there are alot of sealed off and gated areas in the system. Some are even right in front of you.

 

Absolutely. Some stations are walled off so perfectly that you can't tell they had another platform etc. Other times they are "twilight zone" patch jobs with stairs & doors to nowhere.

 

- A

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I guess we're of one mind here.

 

When I was a kid riding the D to Brighton Beach with my mom, I'd make sure to grab us seats at the window on the R40 cars when we got on at Broadway-Lafayette. I looked like any kid wanting to look out the window over the Manhattan Bridge, yet I was looking down through the ties to the railroad tracks embedded in the cobblestones below. B)

 

It was a long time before I found out they weren't trolley tracks, and that nothing had ran on them in decades, but they intrigued me. (at least until we passed the Masstransiscope!) Rails are tangible connections to somewhere else. Like transatlantic cable, they are phyisically connected to a destination you cannot see, but might like to go to. Knowing when you step on a subway car, that the track it runs on is connected to other tracks, which themselves are connected to local railway and then national ones is kind of exciting despite the fact that it's not going across the country that day.

 

At least for me. I guess it's hard to quantify exactly what each person likes best about trains in general, though. We aren't all the same. I mean some love timetables and knowing when trains run by heart. I find this very odd, but when I point out some tracks embedded in the pavement to someone, I get the same reaction. B)

 

I suppose the obvious mysteries here are where are they, what are they, and where do they go, but for me the most exicing part of seeing things like tunnels and tracks is wondering if they will ever do what they did again, and if it would help. That's why I feel bad when they are paved over, ripped up, or sealed off. It's almost seems blasphemous to do that to something that could take you far away.

 

Just my $0.02.

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I guess we're of one mind here.

 

When I was a kid riding the D to Brighton Beach with my mom, I'd make sure to grab us seats at the window on the R40 cars when we got on at Broadway-Lafayette. I looked like any kid wanting to look out the window over the Manhattan Bridge, yet I was looking down through the ties to the railroad tracks embedded in the cobblestones below. B)

 

It was a long time before I found out they weren't trolley tracks, and that nothing had ran on them in decades, but they intrigued me. (at least until we passed the Masstransiscope!) Rails are tangible connections to somewhere else. Like transatlantic cable, they are phyisically connected to a destination you cannot see, but might like to go to. Knowing when you step on a subway car, that the track it runs on is connected to other tracks, which themselves are connected to local railway and then national ones is kind of exciting despite the fact that it's not going across the country that day.

 

At least for me. I guess it's hard to quantify exactly what each person likes best about trains in general, though. We aren't all the same. I mean some love timetables and knowing when trains run by heart. I find this very odd, but when I point out some tracks embedded in the pavement to someone, I get the same reaction. B)

 

I suppose the obvious mysteries here are where are they, what are they, and where do they go, but for me the most exicing part of seeing things like tunnels and tracks is wondering if they will ever do what they did again, and if it would help. That's why I feel bad when they are paved over, ripped up, or sealed off. It's almost seems blasphemous to do that to something that could take you far away.

 

Just my $0.02.

 

True dat. Could not explain it better myself.

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