So today I had to chaperone a neighbor’s kid downtown, and ended up at 57 Street & 6 Avenue, in the center of midtown with nothing to do except wend my home. I decided I was in the mood to get a couple of Manhattan Stations. Getting 5th Avenue & 60 Street seemed a logical choice so I walked up there and photographed one of the stations mezzanines outside of fare control before walking to the other one the station has at its other end. I then walked the length of both platforms before hopping on my first R160 W train (A completely American made train car-Built by Kawasaki in Yonkers, NY/Lincoln, NB), down to 28 Street, my intent was to get some of the four Broadway Line local stations done but after I did a photo essay of the 28 Street and waited what felt like quite a while since it was rush hour what could come in but a R42 R train (really a mixed consist with some R40Ms in there), it must have been used to service on the F because all the signs said R with Jamaica-179 St and Coney Island as the destinations. I got a terrible photo of it at 28 Street, much to my surprise that local stop has enough room between the train and the edge of the platform for a back of train photo. I decided to railfan the back window until the next stop that would have enough room at the back of the platform for a photo of the back of the train. I forgot how strange looking out the back window is, especially that so many of the BMT Broadway Line Stations barely fit 10 cars leaving the view from the back window just of a tunnel. At Rector Street, for example I had a good view of an closed and dimly lit platform extension beyond a false wall on the Downtown platform. I ended up going all the way to DeKalb Avenue before I was satisfied I could get a decent shot of the back of the train, which I did get.
It was than time to head home after my spontaneous jaunt to underneath Brooklyn. I took a R68 (I’m still not used to them on the B again, they were before 2004 but were the R40 Slants with the last leaving the B last summer) over the Bridge, intent on finishing for the day. At Broadway-Lafayette I noticed a mixed R40M/R42 consist F train (the front car I photographed was an R40M) across the platform and was in front car so I hopped off to photograph it, and rode it up to 34 Street that has a platform that must accommodate over 11 cars so there’s lots of running to get on trains. Great for me for photos though. I waited there before boarding the next R68 D train that I took to 59 Street where we pulled in on the local track and there was a R44 A train across the platform that I hopped on. The D train left first switching across to the express track, we connected to a B train that pulled in behind the D as well, and I took the A train home.
All in all not what I had planned for a short rush hour time trip but I got some R40M/R42 photos as they run on the E,F, and R, not lines they traditionally run on, so definately worth while!
Early tomorrow I’m off to photograph a rail system in a city I’ve never photographed rail in, much less been do. It’s just a day trip, and I’m taking BaltBus, and only am $6 poorer (plus two subway rides down to Penn Station to get the bus)