Parkchester
Parkchester is the last (and only elevated) express stop on the 6 train in the Bronx, with 2 island platforms for the 3-track line. It is also the terminus of half of all weekday 6 trains. These are 6 local trains in both directions, these trains terminate on the Pelham-bound local track, use switches just beyond the station to reach the middle track, relay and then reenter service on the Brooklyn Bridge-bound local track.
6 Express trains going to Manhattan in the morning switch from the local track (they have made all local stops from Pelham Bay Park) onto the middle track, stop in the station on the middle track and then run express to 3 Avenue-138 Street, only stopping at Hunts Point Avenue before making all local stops to Brooklyn Bridge, returning trains are Pelham Bay Park reverse peak local trains making all stops to Pelham Bay Park, with trains in the reverse-peak direction having to wait for terminating Parkchester-bound trains to discharge all passengers before continuing to middle track to reverse.
Starting at 1:00pm and through the PM rush hours trains do the reverse, with local trains arriving on the local track, able to discharge passengers without blocking any through service, since all through service to Pelham Bay Park is peak-direction by <6> trains running via the express track, and then continue onto the middle track to relay, just after <6> switch onto the local track to continue north as the only service to local stops north of this station to Pelham Bay Park (these return as local trains from Pelham Bay Park, with alternating Manhattan-bound local trains starting their trips at Parkchester).
From about 9:50am through 10:50am service from Manhattan to Parkchester is even more confusing. Parkchester-bound 6 trains run express from Hunts Point Avenue to Parkchester where these trains either reverse on the middle track and return as local 6 trains or are fumigated of passengers and then deadhead up the middle track to just north of the Westchester Square station to enter the Westchester Yard (where trains enter the yard through a, rare for the IRT, flying junction) Through Pelham Bay Park-bound 6 trains run local northbound returning still as <6> trains but running local from Parchester to Hunts Point Avenue (where Parkchester bound local trains run non-stop from Hunts Point Avenue to Parkchester) and then express down to 3 Avenue-138 Street before continuing to Manhattan.
Service to Parkchester got even more confusing during the station’s renaming it used yo be named Parkchester-East 177 Street and reconstruction during 2010 when the platforms were rebuilt one platform at a time. For example, from April 10, 2010 through early July 2010 the Pelham Bay Park-bound platform was closed and service to Parkchester was extremely complicated. All Pelham Bay Park-bound 6 local trains skipped Parkchester, with the only Pelham Bay Park-bound service stopping at the station from 3:00pm to 9:00pm with <6> Express trains stopping at the normal Manhattan-bound platform. During constructionr rush hours all normal Parkchester-bound 6 local trains terminated at St. Lawrence Avenue with the last connection point during the PM rush hours from 6 local trains to <6> express trains for service north of St. Lawrence Avenue at Hunts Point Avenue (requiring double backing during PM rush hours to Hunts Point Avenue get from the stations from Whitlock through St. Lawrence Avenue to stations fromParkchester through Pelham Bay Park), the same service pattern reversed itself in Summer through early Fall 2010 when the Manhattan-bound platform was closed, with the only Manhattan-bound trains being <6> Express trains stopping at Parkchester during the AM rush hour, with rush 6 local trains entering service at St. Lawrence Avenue (and no through service between Middletown Road and St. Lawrence Avenue during AM rush hours).
The station itself is Located above the Cross Bronx Expressway (I-95) whose traffic is visible at each end of the platform. The Cross Bronx Expressway crosses directly under the station which is located above Hugh J Grant Circle in a fairly long tunnel. All traffic along Westchester Avenue must go around the traffic circle (not a roundabout, because the entrances have traffic lights at them including crosswalks passengers use to reach the subway entrances). The circle is also located at the southeastern corner of Parkchester Housing Development whose name was later applied to the subway station and surrounding neighborhood. Parkchester is a post-World War II planned housing development built by the Metropolitan life insurance company, in the same style and is just like Stuyvesant Town-Peter Cooper Village with a mixture of rentals and owner-occupied condominiums. It has its own dedicated shopping strip along Metropolitan Avenue that ends at the northern end of the traffic circle and includes the second ever Macy’s in the world (after the flagship on 34 Street), that is still open as of 2023.
The stations’ currently open entrances are all inside a ground level station house in the middle of Hugh Grant Circle. This building is a historic-looking concrete with mosaics and windows on the sides of building that protrude out from under the elevated. The interior was completely renovated and today includes clean brick walls, and florescent lights in what looks like a Post War silver metal ceiling. Windows were opened up and opaque glass blocks were used in other areas to have as much natural light as possible enter the station house. Passengers can enter the building through sets of doors on the the north and south sides of the building, directly under the elevated. There is a central entrance area with two different banks of turnstiles on each side with a token booth in-between them.
To reach the two train platforms, passengers can enter at either bank of turnstile for either direction these lead to grand staircases on the sides of the station house with large windows that lead up (via small intermediate landings with large windows) to a second level directly beneath the platforms. From this level, two staircases lead up to each platform. These staircases arrive at the platform enclosed in little cream-colored structures with windows. There is finally an always up escalator from the north entrance directly up to the Manhattan-bound platform. This escalator will be closed to accommodate the building of elevators up to each platform, a project currently in progress as of Fall 2023.
The platforms themselves are canopied for about three-quarters of their lengths except for their northern and southern ends. The canopies are held up by a single central column painted green with a red colored roof. The extreme ends of the platforms have modern black lampposts that replaced silver lampposts during the renovations that once had small steel signs that said E 177 St on them. The station as a terminal for 6 trains (which has no crew quarters at Brooklyn Bridge in Manhattan) has a number of cream colored with red roofs at both ends and beyond the ends of both platforms.
The station has what I believe was once another entrance at the southern end of the platforms. This building is located under the elevated structure between the lanes of Westchester Avenue along the southern side of Hugh Grant Circle. Staircases lead up to either platform from the intermediate level inside small and identical cream colored structures that look like other sheds along the ends of the station platforms. The bottom of these staircases is more visible from the street where a third fully encased narrow staircase also leads down to streetlevel. The entire building on the street is surrounded by a chainlink fence with barbed wire.
Photos 1-9: December 29, 2006; 4 & 5: October 5, 2005; 6-40: June 10, 2011; 41-50: September 10, 2012; 51-53: April 4, 2013; 54-58: September 10, 2013;
