Itbeanew1 Posted July 5, 2012 Share #1 Posted July 5, 2012 Hey guys, I'm curious, I've noticed what appears to be a hallway/tunnel just before of the Brooklyn bound platform in this station. Sometimes it's dark, sometimes lit. It certainly isn't for the general public. Does anyone know what this is? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Threxx Posted July 11, 2012 Share #2 Posted July 11, 2012 Hey guys, I'm curious, I've noticed what appears to be a hallway/tunnel just before of the Brooklyn bound platform in this station. Sometimes it's dark, sometimes lit. It certainly isn't for the general public. Does anyone know what this is? I don't frequent this station, so can you give any more info about the location? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GojiMet86 Posted July 11, 2012 Share #3 Posted July 11, 2012 I've seen it. I believe that it's for employees, or maybe as some emergency exit. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eric B Posted July 11, 2012 Share #4 Posted July 11, 2012 I think it's both. Perhaps a former exit further down 5th Ave. that's now used for something else. (Certainly not RTO employees, though; maybe stations or something). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
realizm Posted July 13, 2012 Share #5 Posted July 13, 2012 What I do know is that after the station there are spurs for an proposed tunnel extension into Staten Island during it's construction way back when, which was never built. (You mean the 4th line and 59th ave right?). In fact there are rumors that there is actually a tunnel that is partially built under Owl's Head park in Dyker heights that was supposed to connect to that spur just south of 59th. I read this from a newspaper article. The underground "tunnel bridge" before Bay Ridge Ave also confirms this as it is actually 4 tracks not two. Also the Bay Ridge line portion of 4 ave has culumns on only the southbound platform. That's because thst part was provisioned to be expanded in a 4 track express line if the SI connection ever happened. Unless that was built after construction later in the 20th century then maybe it is supposed to be for another purpose as you guys are suggesting. Just a guess here. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eric B Posted July 13, 2012 Share #6 Posted July 13, 2012 He's talking about Manhattan, and the 5th Ave. station on the edge of Central Park. There's an untiled passage on the east end of the station on the north (Manhattan bound) side that is sometimes brightly lit, and other times unlit. It curves a bit, so you just see it going off into the distance under the park, it seems, and can't tell what it leads to. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
QM1to6Ave Posted July 13, 2012 Share #7 Posted July 13, 2012 Right now on the NY Times website, you can post transit-related questions and their transit expert will answer some of them next week. If you are really curious, you can post this question and maybe it will get picked. There is also the FYI section in the times that lets you send in these kinds of questions Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Roadcruiser1 Posted July 13, 2012 Share #8 Posted July 13, 2012 That could be the Morningside Avenue Line spur. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Itbeanew1 Posted July 13, 2012 Author Share #9 Posted July 13, 2012 Yes, I am speaking of the station in Manhattan. Thanks for all of the replies. I was wondering if it linked into the F-train 63rd St. tunnel. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NX Express Posted July 13, 2012 Share #10 Posted July 13, 2012 No, that was the express tracks north of 57 St, before they were extended to the 63 St line. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
realizm Posted July 13, 2012 Share #11 Posted July 13, 2012 Oh that spur on the BMT? Could it be because of original provisions for tunnels to run into Queens through two seperate tunnels on 59th and 60th? I've read that the underground passageway where the current 59th street IRT station is proof of that. Then that changed for some reason.... Edit: I'm all ears. Just wondering what that tunnel is really for like everyone else is here. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GojiMet86 Posted July 14, 2012 Share #12 Posted July 14, 2012 The tunnel is like ten feet before 5th Avenue, so it has nothing to do with the proposed and built train tunnels. Go to 0:58 of this video (not mine) and look to the right just before the station. That's the entrance of the hallway. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eric B Posted July 14, 2012 Share #13 Posted July 14, 2012 Just to clarify what I think we're talking about, it's right behind the blue light at 0:53; the glare from the light makes it harder to see. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
realizm Posted July 14, 2012 Share #14 Posted July 14, 2012 I saw the video and saw that opening to the tunnel. You may be correct, a sort of passageway, simple as that, or something leading to an unused utility room perhaps. If it was built way after the station was completed and in revenue service then the latter theory would absolutely make sense and your theories on that mytstery passageway absolutely correct. But my question is however this: When it was built? Before or after the 5th ave station was finally completed in it's current configuration? Before or after establishment of subway consolidation in the 50's? During the kickoff of today's MTA during the very late 60's? I'll show you why I am asking. Consider this segment from "A New Subways for New York: The Dual System of Rapid Transit" dated June 1913: The first contracts for the construction of the Broadway-Seventh Avenue Subway in Manhattan, which is to be operated by the Brooklyn company, were awarded in January, 1912, and at the time the Dual System contracts were signed, March 19, 1913, work on this line was in progress from Morris Street, in lower Manhattan, up Trinity Place, Church Street and Broadway to a point between Houston and Bleecker Streets. The line continues up Broadway to 42nd Street, where it runs into Seventh Avenue and up Seventh Avenue to 59th Street, through which it runs eastward to the Queensboro Bridge over the East River. For nearly its entire course in Broadway, namely, from Park P1ace to Seventh Avenue, it will be a four-track railroad; south of Park Place it will be a two-track road, and in Seventh Avenue and 59th Street also a two-track road. From a point west of Fifth Avenue the two tracks in 59th Street will separate, one continuing through 59th Street to the Queensboro Bridge and the other going through 60th Street to the same point. [However, the connection to the Queensboro Bridge from the 59th Street Subway was never completed, the City opting instead for a new tunnel along 60th Street to Queens roughly parallel to the Queensboro Bridge.] http://www.nycsubway...ewsubways4.html It is west of 5th ave where the two proposed tunnels were to split into two seperate tunnels as the article states, but as plans changed the route of the trains to queens changed into a differently built tunnel, today's 60th street tube. So I'm thinking that portion which was there as viewed in the video could possibly be a renmant of that unfinished original construction that was halted and then when the 5th ave staion was modified to the current configuration we see today after the 60th st tubes was completed. That's my reasoning. If there are diagrams or blueprints which exist somehow confirming a different purpose, the actual time that this passageway was built, as well as, what it was for originally for, (maybe it was built post subway consolidation in the 1950's or after the establishment of the current MTA in the late 60's and early 70's when many more stations were modified) then I definitely would agree then with you guys. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
4P3607 Posted July 14, 2012 Share #15 Posted July 14, 2012 I always wanted to ask this question. It seems like it lines up with the exit that leads to the corner right where central park is (where those old "subway" lamps are), its most likely a storage area. Then again why would they make it so big and it appears to be an unused passageway? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gong Gahou Posted July 16, 2012 Share #16 Posted July 16, 2012 @Realizm 2012: It shouldn't be, because if it was then why would you have a passageway pointing north instead of south? If it was unfinished remains of the original construction, I don't understand why they would need to build a passageway going away from 59th Street. Keep in mind that the unfinished passageway that we are talking about is more or less on 60th Street, on the Brooklyn-bound side of the track. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
realizm Posted July 16, 2012 Share #17 Posted July 16, 2012 Because I'm assuming that if it is correct that this untiled passageway could be meant to be some sort of exit (into Central Park) or strorage area or utility room, perhaps that was a part of construction that was discontinued after the planners of the Dual Contracts decided to construct a single two track tunnel into the 60th St tunnel instead of sending trains over the QB Bridge through two single track tunnels from the point somewhat west of 5th ave, therefore changing the final layout of the 5th ave staion and rendering that passageway redundant. The BMT lines are infamous for mysteriously built but unfinished construction. Interesting segments of history in subway planning. If not so then I would have to agree that some other factor prompted the seemingly unfinished and unusable construction of that passageway. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Roadcruiser1 Posted July 16, 2012 Share #18 Posted July 16, 2012 Actually if the spur does point towards the Queensboro Bridge why not complete it now because the 60th Street Tunnels are really crowded with the and . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Threxx Posted July 16, 2012 Share #19 Posted July 16, 2012 Actually if the spur does point towards the Queensboro Bridge why not complete it now because the 60th Street Tunnels are really crowded with the and . You see space on the Queensboro Bridge for a track, even if it's one? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GojiMet86 Posted July 16, 2012 Share #20 Posted July 16, 2012 Actually if the spur does point towards the Queensboro Bridge why not complete it now because the 60th Street Tunnels are really crowded with the and . It points north, going up 5th Avenue, and it's not a tunnel that can fit a train. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TwoTimer Posted July 16, 2012 Share #21 Posted July 16, 2012 Its actually not a tunnel, more of a hallway of sorts rather than a tunnel or bellmouth Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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