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What Was The 6th Avenue Express before the 60's?


Maserati7200

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For those who don't know, the express tracks from 34th street to west 4th street were not built until the early 60's. But I was looking at subway maps from the 50's and it said there was a 6th avenue express. How can there be an express if it wasn't skipping any stops? What made it different from 6th Avenue locals?

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It's cool that they show the hudson terminal & old ballparks. The terminal now lay outside of the eastern slurry wall under that park area w/ the funky red sculpture.

 

- A

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The 6th Avenue Express is also very slow especially between West 4th and Grand St mainly b/c of the S curve. If I were to choose between the D and the N from 34th St to Coney Island, I would definitely choose the N in spite of the 6th Avenue zipping through 30 streets, while the Broadway express stops at 14th St.

 

Likewise if I had to take the subway from 34th St to my friend's house on 79th St on the D, I would always take the N to New Utrect Avenue and then transfer to M. When I stood at 62nd St one time to take pictures, I remember 3 M trains passing before a D train crawled by. I just hope that the N doesn't return to the local and the M train doesn't get cut to Chambers St.

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The 6th Avenue Express is also very slow especially between West 4th and Grand St mainly b/c of the S curve.

 

No, believe it or not, the (:) and the (D) are fairly fast when it comes to that section. I ride the (D) uptown every morning to school from Grand Street, so I can tell relatively how fast the line is. However, the local isn't fast at all, since it has to ramp up to the level of the 8th Avenue lines, run through the switches and descend to the level of the 6th Avenue lines.

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Maybe between Grand St and Pacific St is what slows the D train down. A little off topic but word from the wise, during the Rush Hour when wanting to travel on the D don't transfer to the D at Pacific St. When I stayed with my friend over the summer, I always travelled between WTC and 79th St Brooklyn. Every day transferring from the R to the D at Pacific St was hell as at least 5 N trains past by before a D train crawls.

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Maybe between Grand St and Pacific St is what slows the D train down.

That's a totally different experience. The (D) has to slow down as it goes down the bridge, as it approaches the Dekalb Ave interlocking, as it goes through Dekalb and as it nears the curve into Pacific Street.

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I take the (:) and the (D) train every weekend and the section between West 4th and Grand Street is fairly fast. The slowest area of 6th Avenue would be the uptown (:) and (D) trains between 34th and 42nd street.

 

All trains are slow when entering the bridge because of the timers.

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I take the (:) and the (D) train every weekend and the section between West 4th and Grand Street is fairly fast. The slowest area of 6th Avenue would be the uptown (:) and (D) trains between 34th and 42nd street.

 

All trains are slow when entering the bridge because of the timers.

Correct, the reason though is, the complex interlocking in that area. It was used to turn trains before the 1967 service and during the Manhattan Bridge service changes when the (B)(D) services had to be cut short at 34th Street.

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They probably had expanded the BMT use of "express"; where it does not always refer to the denoted line itself, but rather an express train (somehere else) that runs on the line. So both the (D) and (F) were "expresses" in their respective branch lines, while the BB was the local. That would be the only thing it could have meant.

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They probably had expanded the BMT use of "express"; where it does not always refer to the denoted line itself, but rather an express train (somehere else) that runs on the line. So both the (D) and (F) were "expresses" in their respective branch lines, while the BB was the local. That would be the only thing it could have meant.

Case in point, the original IND Queens-Manhattan Express, the (E) train, made local stops down 8th Avenue. It used to run from 169th Street, down the QBL Express, to the 53rd Street tunnel then down the (E) line to West 4th Street, following today's (F) line to Church Avenue.

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  • 2 months later...

Until Chrystie Street opened, Sixth Avenue had no express. I believe the old (BB) during rush hours may have used the inside tracks and is why it terminated at 34th Street-Herald Square.

 

The (D) was a single letter for being express on the Concourse and CPW; the (F) was a single letter for being express on Queens Boulevard. The (BB) was local.

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No, believe it or not, the (:D and the (D) are fairly fast when it comes to that section. I ride the (D) uptown every morning to school from Grand Street, so I can tell relatively how fast the line is. However, the local isn't fast at all, since it has to ramp up to the level of the 8th Avenue lines, run through the switches and descend to the level of the 6th Avenue lines.

 

yes the (F) and (V) are very slow between west 4th and bway-laffeyette does the express 6av tracks interlock with the 8av too because on some go the (D) would terminate at the world trade center

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yes the (F) and (V) are very slow between west 4th and bway-laffeyette does the express 6av tracks interlock with the 8av too because on some go the (D) would terminate at the world trade center

They don't. The local 6th Avenue tracks ramp up to the level of the 8th Avenue tracks and there is a junction with the 8th Av locals before coming down to the lower level. 6th Av expresses continue on the same level, relatively. Between Canal Street and 34th Street, the locals and expresses don't crossover.

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That's a totally different experience. The (D) has to slow down as it goes down the bridge, as it approaches the Dekalb Ave interlocking, as it goes through Dekalb and as it nears the curve into Pacific Street.

 

Same for the (N), which approaches the Dekalb Ave interlocking from the southern track of the Manhattan Bridge, and then enters the bypass tracks that the (D) also uses, where the (D) and (N) share tracks from the interlocking into Pacific St. and from Pacific St. through 36 St. In my experience, to get to Coney Island from Pacific St., the (N) usually runs faster than the (D) and many of us, including myself, would choose to enjoy the R160s instead.

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