The Ride up Broadway in the Rain continues as we approach 242nd Street.
Through the rain, those are headlights pointed at us.
The Route of the Broadway Lion The Largest Subway Layout in North Dakota.
Here there be cats. LIONS with CAMERAS
It is still raining when the LION arrives at 242nd Street.
As the trains left the station, the water collected on the roof came rushing off like Niagara Falls.
It was far more impressive in real time that my photograph allows for. By the time I got my camera up, most of the water was already gone.
Waiting in the Rain...
In the last photo, are the trains we see in the distance at the next station down the line, 238th St? Do the headlights indicate both trains are headed toward us?
MidlandMike In the last photo, are the trains we see in the distance at the next station down the line, 238th St? Do the headlights indicate both trains are headed toward us?
Yes. This is correct. NYCT equipment only shows white headlamps when the reversing key is in the forward position. It seems like the train on the middle track is going to move to the yard. Since I am standing next to a train on the north bound track, neither of these two trains can be aligned to our track until our train moves. I was not paying attention to the movements, but an outbound train from the south track would have been the next departure, which would have allowed northbound pax train into that platform.
Still since the middle track train has its lights on, the reverser is engaged, and the T/O is therefore ready to move that train. If he were just waiting there, he would center the reverser.
ROAR
and now, thorough the majyck of LION wizardry, we transport ourselves to the other end of the Broadway line, and are inspecting the old South Ferry Station, now in service again after the destruction of the new station by Super Storm Sandy.
Are the gaps at South Ferry as wide as I remember them. ( Even though I live in Staten Island I have not been in the South Ferry Station in 20 years).
Joe Staten Island West
Yes they are! The station was replaced and modern but in Sandy's aftermath the old station was resurrected and the gap is there and the ramps are pulled out when a train arrives. Was down there about two or three months ago....
RIDEWITHMEHENRY is the name for our almost monthly day of riding trains and transit in either the NYCity or Philadelphia areas including all commuter lines, Amtrak, subways, light rail and trolleys, bus and ferries when warranted. No fees, just let us know you want to join the ride and pay your fares. Ask to be on our email list or find us on FB as RIDEWITHMEHENRY (all caps) to get descriptions of each outing.
GAPS? I don't see no stinkin' gaps!
Gap Fillers to the rescue!
I've always been impressed with the skill of the motormen who have to platform their trains almost within inches of the stopping point to line up with the gap fillers.
I know I should not brag, but I have to rise to the challange. For I time I served as President of the New York based Electric Railroaders' Association, in the late 70's, and we had a chartered "Low-V" IRT train, the same as still used for nostalgia service by the Transit Authority. On a northbound trip on the local track on the "6" Pelham Bay line, Father Cosgrove, a very good freind, ERA member, and official TA employees' Chaplain, was asked leaving 138th Street northbound, if he would like to run the train. He said "yes", took the controls, and started making station stops doing perfect smooth stops at the 6 car marker at each station. At Huntspont Avenue, he turned to me (the cabdoor was open and I was looking out the traindoor window) and said: "Dave, would you like to try it?" The "motor instructor" as the TA called them then, did not object, and I answered "Sure!" Father Cosgrove knew my first experiences in running streetcars in the Bornx on the Bailey Avenue line at age 15, my running a Boston and Maine freight with a GP-7 in the winter of 1952-1953, and my regular operation at Branford (now Shore Line Trolley Museum). I repeated his performance from Hunts Point Avenue to Elders Lane station, including the beautiful climb from the subway portal on to the elevated structure and over the NEC tracks below. I also did a 100% job at each station's 6-car marker.
But I still have not been invited to run an Aslthom low-floor light rail train on Jerusalem Light rail, but do enjoy the usually good performance the operators of all ethnic groups in Jerusalem provide. Easy to watch through the glass door.
CSSHEGEWISCH I've always been impressed with the skill of the motormen who have to platform their trains almost within inches of the stopping point to line up with the gap fillers.
As am I and many of my Ridewithmehenry riders! Stopping and starting a three or 12 car train smoothly and precisely is more of an arty than a science.
It is a learned skill, like driving an auto smoothly or riding a bicycle or motorcycle. However, modern controls, one stick that moves forward for accelleration and backward for brakiing, make it a tad easier than the old K-type drum controler and separate air-brake handle. I am glad started to perfect my skill with the latter at age 15, but really did not make consistant smooth stops in wet as well as dry weather until a few years at Branford. Running a freight on the B&M was of course completely different and my every move there was supevised and called by the regular engineer. Even then, my prior streetcar experience did help.
Henry, you really ought to take advantage of Shore Line's (Branford's) gues operator day and get some instruction and run a car for yourself. You might want to ask them to let you run the High-V deck-roof IRT car, the R-9, or the R-21m all of which are operable but a bit strange with a two trolley poles. (Most BMT "L"-cars once had trolley poles and the first Steels (A and B types) also had them, but not R-types or any passenger IRT cars.)
I have had my hands on the controls of an 0-4-0 saddle tank Porter, a GE 44 Tonner, and a GP38 in the distant past and I can fully appreciate the difficulty and artistry and science it takes to do the job so well!
LION left the Ferry Area on an (R) Train out of Whitehall Street. The Last time the LION took an (R) train to Whitehall Street, him was riding on brand new R-30 subway cars. He was shanghi'd there and sent to Vietnam on an aircraft carrier.
Here is LION on aircraft carrier in the Gulf of Tonkin.
Back to the city... Courtlandt street to be exact. LION took a whole series of these pictures, him will use stitching software to make a single print four feet long to use as a backdrop on his railroad.
An (A) train rolls into 177th Street. The LION had gone upstairs to take pictures of the GW Bridge.
Lion, thank you for your service!
Just curious, when is the new South Ferry expected to be reopened?
Thanks,
NW
LION has herd that it must be rebuilt from scratch. Well, the holes are already there, so they do not need to dig new holes, but everything else in the hole must be replaced. LION guesses two years. Brobably just in time for the next super surge. I sure hope they try to make it more watertight.
But then it is not a submarine, and no matter how clever they think they are, water will still get in there.
Here is today's image taken on the 8th Avenue IND
Tile Stripes? What tile stripes?
Toto... I don't think we are at 175th Street anymore!
And now for something different...
http://new.mta.info/news/2013/08/30/91-year-old-transit-vet-retiring-after-65-years-service
Congratulations and Good Luck!
A train comes for those who wait...
Is it still the quickest way to get to Harlem??
Not on that train... It is headed to the Rockaways.
Harlem bound trains are on the other platform.
On down the line, the Rockaway Branch (aligned) cuts under the Liberty Ave Branch to head on out to the Rockaways...
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