BusTalk

[NEW YORK OMNIBUS 2629]

Fifty-one years years ago, this photo was snapped of a train of "Museum" Standards on a fantrip, at the lower level platform at 42nd St........

http://www.nycsubway.org/perl/show?128152

(courtesy: nycsubway.org)

[NEW YORK OMNIBUS 2629]

In addition to the aforementioned specials to Aqueduct, there were also other specials that used the lower level platform at 42nd St., decades ago.

There were summertime "ROCKAWAY PLAYLAND" specials that began their runs at 42nd St., and then made an intermediate stop at Hoyt-Schemerhorn.

R-16's were usually used on these trains, but R-10's could also be found on these runs, from time to time.

In the early 1960's, New York Titans football specials also operated from the lower-level platform; from Jamaica to the Polo Grounds; these specials ran from 179th st., Jamaica, running non-stop to 42nd St. (lower level)

After this one stop, the motorman changed ends south of the station, and then ran non-stop to 155th St. on the Concourse line.......

"NYO"

[NEW YORK OMNIBUS 2629]

Here's another nostalgic, long-ago fantrip at the oild lower level IND platform at 42nd St.; this particular trip was using the restored "D"-type TRIPLEX units (back in the day, no one would have EVER thought of a TRIPLEX running on the 8th Avenue IND!)

http://www.nycsubway.org/perl/show?26345

(courtesy: nycsubway.org)

[NEW YORK OMNIBUS 2629]

These older photos show the now-useless fare control gates on the lower level platform at 42nd St., used until 1981 by patrons of the old Aqueduct specials.......

http://www.nycsubway.org/perl/show?771

http://www.nycsubway.org/perl/show?95441

http://www.nycsubway.org/perl/show?95447

(courtesy: nycsubway.org)

[NEW YORK OMNIBUS 2629]

A few interesting facts on the IRT's majestic City Hall loop station, closed since 1945.

This stately, grand, vaulted station was unique in that it never had coin-operated turnstiles installed;old-fashioned ticket choppers were employed right up until the station closed.

Also, to avoid overcrowding on the curved platform, only a certain amount of people were allowed on the platform at a given time.

Too, in another "Why?", gap fillers were never installed at City Hall, even despite the sharpness of the loop.

Hence, only vestibule doors could be used; in later years, when center doors became the norm for IRT quipment, passengers could only board or alight via the vestibule doors.

Iron railings ran along the edge of the platform, with openings where the vestibule doors would open..........

"NYO"

[NEW YORK OMNIBUS 2629]

Photos, track diagrams, etc., regarding the IRT's historic City Hall loop station.........

http://www.columbia.edu/~brennan/abandoned/cityirt.html

[NEW YORK OMNIBUS 2629]

"MIND THE GAP! WATCH YER STEP!"

http://www.nycsubway.org/perl/show?126956

http://www.nycsubway.org/perl/show?68840

http://www.nycsubway.org/perl/show?8064

(courtesy: nycsubway.org)

[NEW YORK OMNIBUS 2629]

Here is the stately wooden ticket booth at City Hall (long since vanished)

Back in the late 1970's and early 1980's, I well remember a number of IRT stations still using similar old "ticket booths" as token booths; the original Wall St. ticket booth (on the Brooklyn-bound platform, Lexington Avenue line) served through the 1980's, when it was torn out and replaced with a replica (this handsome replica booth has now been closed for a number of years)

Those old booths indeed had a charm and nostalgia all their own, and I miss them still......

http://www.nycsubway.org/perk/show?132607

http://www.nycsubway.org/perl/show?17477

(courtesy: nycsubway.org)

[NEW YORK OMNIBUS 2629]

Here's a photo of the handsome "replica" ticket booth at the IRT (Lex) station at Wall Street.

I worked a stone's throw from this station for nearly 25 years, and used it too many times to count over the years, both for commuting and railfanning......

http://www.nycsubway.org/perl/show?22186

(courtesy: nycsubway.org)

[traildriver]

I once took an "S-Special" from Forest Hills to Yankee Stadium...I'm pretty sure it reversed at the 42nd Street Lower Level, as well...

I recall when I first worked at The Port in 1968 thru 1971, riding the 'E' frorm Forest Hills to 42nd Street Lower Level at times. I recall they had some escalators that went direct from that platform to the mezzanine, bypassing the main level platform.

I also recall when the passageway under 41st Street, from the Eighth Avenue Line to the Times Square station, was out of the fare control, and hence, not a free transfer. I also recall an exit to 41st Street, well west of 7th Avenue, just before the ramp down to the Flushing Line mezzanine level. It had I believe a part-time token booth. It now is gone, but there is a shop or storage room in that location, blocking any view of evidence of the former exit.

There is still a very short 'arcade' of stores at the SE exit at 8th Avenue and 40th Street. From the stairway at the SW corner of that intersection, it is less than a 5 block walk to the stairway on the NW corner of 8th Avenue and 35th Street, where you can continue underground the rest of the way to the Penn Station complex...one of my "rainy day" passageways around the city...

[NEW YORK OMNIBUS 2629]

"Back to the future", in a manner of speaking........

I've been reading for quite awhile now, that some of the cars in the upcoming R-211 fleet will be of the "open gangway" type.

This type of equipment has been commonplace in other cities for some time now, including Toronto and London.

In some sense, the ancestor of the "open gangway" unit were the BMT's unique "C" Class elevated units, which were rebuilt from open-gate elevated cars.

Though the cars looked like articulated units (originally, they were supposed to be built as articulated trainsets) they were not.

These cars were, indeed, "made to order" for the hobbyists in later years who enjoyed both kitbashing and scratchbuilding; different door arrangements were used; some had deck roofs, while others had railroad roofs.

The cars were arranged in an "A-B-C" pattern, with "A" and "C" being motor cars, and the "C" cars being trailers.

MUDC eliminated the need for need for a conductor between each car; in this arrangement, two-man crews could be used.

Most units used doors that were actuated via an external crankarm, which turned out to be problematic in inclement weather.

The earliest "C" types were equipped with ends built of wood and steel; later units used all-steel ends. In one of the earliest such experiments, the "C" units had early PA systems installed, with twin megaphone speakers mounted from the ceiling of each car; this experiment, however, ran only for a few years.

Throughout their service lives, these unique trains ran on several lines, including:

FULTON

WEST END (SHUTTLE)

BRIGHTON-FRANKLIN

CULVER (between Kings Highway and Stillwell Avenue)

These ungainly-looking (but most interesting!) units swayed and clattered over the rooftops of Brooklyn well into the 1950's, when they were finally retired.

Sadly, no examples of these unique trains survive today......

"NYO"

[NEW YORK OMNIBUS 2629]

Some photos of the unique BMT "C" units.......

http://www.nycsubway.org/perl/show?6586

http://www.nycsubway.org/perl/show?6599

http://www.nycsubway.org/perl/show?6601

(courtesy: nycsubway.org)

[NEW YORK OMNIBUS 2629]

A few more........

http://www.nycsubway.org/perl/shoW?6603

http://www.nycsubway.org/perl/show?78227

http://www.nycsubway.org/perl/show?26431

(courtesy: nycsubway.org)

[NEW YORK OMNIBUS 2629]

[NEW YORK OMNIBUS 2629]

Oddly enough, when the MTA demolished the old wooden ticket booth at the Lex station on Wall St., and replaced it with a replica, they also removed the modern (for the time) turnstiles, and replaced them with a battery of 1920's IRT-style turnstiles (I WAS IN HEAVEN!)

When I used the Lex to head back uptown in the late afternoon, I would use the downtown platform, in order to use these old turnstiles(!!), and then use the passageway under the tracks to reach the uptown side.......was a LOT of fun, while it lasted!

Loving the old change booths as I did, I used to make it my business to locate old booths, even if they were long closed, in whatever stations I passed through.

I clearly remember some IND stations having "wall" booths, where the face of the booth itself would look as though it were emerging from the wall of the station.

Another old booth I remember (still in use, into the 80's, was at the BMT Broad St., station, on the Brooklyn (via tunnel) side; this booth was built into the wall (it looked like a large box covered in tile), and had a "cut out" near the agent's window for the turnstile arms to rotate.

Ahhh, the good ol' days.........

"NYO"