71 Street (D) - The SubwayNut

71 Street is a standard BMT West End Line elevated station. The stop is a local stop with two side platforms for the three tracks including the middle track that is occasionally used for diversions although it has never seen regular revenue service.

The stop has two entrances, the northern ones consist of a single staircase down from each platform to a High Entrance/Exit Turnstile from the Manhattan-bound platform, and a High Exit Only Turnstile on the Coney Island-bound platform. This fare equipment is on a middle level outside, a now closed to the public, station house nestled beneath the tracks. These each lead to a single staircase on either side of New Utrecht Avenue just south of 69 Street, although the signs for this exit say 70 Street in the station.

The staffed entrance is towards the southern end of the platforms, a single staircase leads down from each platform to a station house between the tracks. Here are the turnstiles and token booth and two staircases lead out to all four corners of the intersection of New Utrecht Avenue and 71 Street.

The platforms are canopied and wind-screened between the station entrances, while the extreme ends are left out to the elements with just a low fence except on the southern end of the Coney Island-bound platform which is wind-screened. These windscreens were of the cream-colored corrugated variety until the station was renovated in 2012 and received new cream-colored windscreens with green accents. These renovations also renovated the main station house, and replaced the low-lying platform fencing entirely with an 8 foot tall mesh wire fencing.

Finally, the 69 Street secondary exit received High Entrance/Exit turnstiles for service in both directions (previously it was Exit Only from the Coney Island-bound platform). When I visited in 2012, the signage was super poor with no signs specifying the direction of service from each staircase. These were fixed with new signs that say "To Coney Island" or "To Manhattan" around 2016.
Photos 1-26: August 11, 2009; 27-48: October 1, 2012;