Well today I had access to an Unlimited Ride MetroCard if I walked down to 145th Street and met my mother at her office, so I decided to do that, walking down St. Nicholas Avenue and getting photos of the two unusual storefront station entrances at 163 Street-Amsterdam Avenue and 145 Street (the 147 Street entrance) on the IND that I had seen many times, but hadn’t had a chance to photograph yet.
After getting the Unlimited I ended up getting on the #1 train at 145 Street and taking it to 96th Street, I got off there to run a quick errand, and also took some photos of the new headhouse being errected in Broadway’s median between 95th and 96th Streets, as well as the yellow 1950s style tiling on the small mezzanine for the exit to 94th Street that is slowly being tiled over. I also did a thorough photo essay of the northern side platform’s entrance because once the headhouse in the center of Broadway is built these open side platforms that provide a unique way of entering a subway station will be closed and turned into train crew quarters.
Getting back to 96th Street the next Brooklyn-bound express train that came was a #3 train, I specifically wanted to do the Nostrand Avenue Subway First but I still took this train to Nevins Street where almost as soon as I got off my R62 #3 train a Flatbush Avenue-bound 5 Express train came in on the express track (it has been running through to Brooklyn during Weekdays for slightly over a month now) and took this to Church Avenue. My intent was to photograph the side platforms for both directions of service on this two track subway line and did the doubling-back technique of changing directions at every station to allow myself the opportunity. After I photographed the Flatbush Avenue-bound platform I went up to street level (none of the four intermediate stations I visited on this line had mezzanine cross-overs), crossed Nostrand Avenue and took a Manhattan-bound train one stop north to Winthrop Street, I crossed Nostrand Avenue again, and also had to walk down a block because the entrances to each side of the station at Winthrop Street are a block apart (only the Manhattan-bound entrance is at the namesake street). I took a Flatbush Av-bound train four stops back to Newkirk Avenue double-backed again north one stop to Beverly Road, I crossed Nostrand Avenue another time and took a Flatbush Avenue-bound train two stops to its terminus at Flatbush Avenue. Here I left the subway system and walked from one of the station’s exits through a second one outside of fare control and re-entered the subway at the third one so I could visit every nook and cranny of the three entrances to that station. I had now successfully photographed every station of the IRT Nostrand Avenue Subway (Two of the stops I got on a past trip).
Next up was getting Utica Avenue and all the stations on the Livonia Avenue Elevated (The #3 train is elevated beyond Utica). I took a #2 train back up to Franklin Avenue where I used the free crossover at the fare control area to change directions and took a New Lots-bound #3 train to Utica Avenue, because of lateness this train was sent on a battery run and skipped the two intermediate local stations, Nostrand Ave & Kingston Ave (but on the local track). I got off at Utica Avenue left the station at the one exit and walked down Eastern Parkway to the other. I than did an extensive photo essay of the artwork installation that is unique because it has been installed on the track walls away from the two island platforms.
Now it was time to visit every station on the Linden Avenue Elevated, the rest of the #3 train out to New Lots Avenue, a branch of the IRT that really seems to have quite poor service even as I was getting towards rush hour. I took the next #3 train one stop to Sutter Avenue-Rutland Road, where I left the station briefly for some exterior photos before boarding the next New Lots-bound train one stop to Saratoga Avenue, I did a photo essay of that station and realized that it didn’t seem all that far to Rockaway Avenue so I decided to walk it. At Rockaway Avenue I boarded the next New Lots-bound 3 train and took it to Van Siclen Avenue, here I did another photo essay and walked back east to Pennysvilania Avenue. On this walk I crossed Vermont Street which made me think of relatives I have in Brownsville, VT, since I was currently near the neighborhood of Brownsville Brooklyn, and also weather it would be possible for the racially minority population (East New York, where I really was, is a mostly poor, black neighborhood) of the State of Vermont (Vermont has a tiny population, ~620,000, and 96% of that number is white) could be equal to the number of racial minorities living on Vermont Street. Once I got back on the subway at Pennsylvania Avenue I took it two stops to the terminus at New Lots Avenue where I left the system briefly for photos of the exterior of the station and took a #3 train back to Junis Street. When I was a New Lots Avenue I noticed a R142 train signed up as the #2 on the opposite platform and waited to photograph that train, a rush hour put-in, that ran, in service directly behind the train I took to Junis Street.
Even through I had done my main objective for the day I decided that I might has well finish off the four stations I had been meaning to revisit on the Jamaica Avenue Elevated (the J,Z in Queens). I left the subway and Junis Street and used the footbridge over the freight railroad tracks to reach the Livonia Avenue L-Canarsie Line Station. I took the next Manhattan-bound L train to Broadway Junction, where I switched to a Jamaica-bound J train, Skip-Stop Service hadn’t quite started but I knew it would soon so I decided to stop at these stations in the reverse order (Skip stop on the J/Z is only runs in the peak direction). I took the next R160A-1 J train to 121 Street, where I left the station at a secondary exit at one end of the station, walked down beneath the station to the primary entrance and token booth. I took a Manhattan-bound J train one stop to 111 Street, here I left the subway again and walked down to the next stop 104 Street, I got back on and continued towards Manhattan for a final stop at Woodhaven Blvd, here I also left the subway and walked between the two exits (at either end of the station’s platforms) that station still has. While I was waiting for the rather infrequent J trains I used my zoom lens and got some quite good photos of R160 J and Z trains, as well as off the two older R42 trains that still seem to be in service, albeit only as extra service that is run during rush hours.
At Woodhaven Blvd a R42 Z train came in (Woodhaven is an all-stop, all trains stop) and I took this to the end of the line at Jamaica Center. Once we pulled in an announcement was made that this train was being completely out of service and No Passengers, the train crew closed the doors and I watched them walk the train and check each car for passengers. At this point I started walking towards the other end of the train. I couldn’t get any extra clearance from what was the back of the train at the Eastern (Southern) end of the platform at Jamaica Center. Once I got to what was the front of the train (the Western end), to amazement I saw someone in this cab and the white this is the front car lights on. The train than started moving, not back out of the station towards Manhattan but forward and onto the tracks at the western end of the station that lead to nowhere because funding problems have shelved any plans to extend the subway deeper into Queens. The train slowly left the Platform at Jamaica Center going to the station’s stub-end tracks and eventually stopped after clearing the platform only by a short distance. It sounded its air break again, and stopped for good before tomorrow’s rush hour, still visible from the J/Z platform at Jamaica Center. I than decided that I would actually leave the subway at Jamaica Center and absorb everything the station has to offer. I went up to street level and walked between the station’s two major entrances. This walk was mostly between the stops for what seem like an endless number of bus routes that begin there journeys on the southern side of Archer Avenue, beneath the embankment that carries the Long Island Rail Road. I also photographed all 5 station entrances, three of them are only designed to provide access to the bus stops. The station even has lots of signs on the station platforms directing people to what exit is most convenient for what bus route.
I got back on the E train at Jamaica Center and my intent was just to take the E to 42nd Street and transfer back to the A. At Forest Hills-71 Avenue, something caught my eye. A R32 V train was about to enter service on the opposite local track. I decided I had to ride these R32s that I had never scene on the V. I was near the back of the train and made my way to the last car. I looked out the back window and decided and got off at Roosevelt Avenue for room for photos of the back of the train. A 160 E train (I haven’t seen and E train that wasn’t 160s in a good month) pulled in on the express track and I decided to take this to the great place for photos (higher ceilings, no columns) upper level downtown platform at 53 St-5 Av. The same train of R32s came in behind my E train, (we’d passed it on the express run). I took this train on e stop to Rockefeller Center. Here I used the crossover mezzanine to change directions and photographed an uptown R42 V train stopped in the station. I took a R68A B train to 59th Street where I transferred to a R44 A train that I took home.
All in all in was a very good but long and exhausting afternoon of railfanning. The biggest surprise of the day is the fact the V train now seems to be the most interesting line when it comes to rollingstock. It seems to now use a verity of R32s, R40Ms, and R42s. Even a month ago the V seemed to only have R46s. These R46s for the Vs entire existence have seemed to be its subway cars of choice. I guess the fact thatthe Jamaica Yard has been sending so many R46s to the A train, and the fact the E train seems to be running only R160s, leaving its R32s that were in quite good shape, is the reason the V train seems to have become, overnight, one of the most diverse subway lines when it comes to rollingstock.
Number of Swipes Overall Today, on my mother’s Unlimited Ride MetroCard: 17 I believe, a rather high number.
I also took far too many photos today, 763 photos overall