Oren’s Reading List is an occasional feature on The Travelogue in which I share articles that I’ve read that might also be of interest to the readers of this website.
New Flyer C40LF 259
Location: Brooklyn Avenue and St. Marks Place, Brooklyn, NY
Operator of Vehicle: MTA New York City Transit
Date of Photo: February 26, 2024
The New Flyer Low Floor bus model was the cornerstone of New Flyer Industries’ product line for nearly 30 years. The model was introduced in 1991 after a Dutch bus model, Den Oudsten’s B86 Low Floor, was adapted for the North American market. Ultimately, the New Flyer Low Floor would be available in 30, 35, 40, and 60 foot lengths and with CNG, diesel, diesel-electric hybrid, electric (trolleybus), hydrogen fuel cell, gasoline-electric hybrid, hydrogen electric hybrid, and LNG variants. The New Flyer Low Floor was available commercially through the 2010 model year, having effectively been replaced by the “restyled” New Flyer Low Floor model starting in 2006. However, when New York City Transit wished to purchase a large order of new CNG buses despite the original Low Floor line being discontinued, an additional four orders of C40LFs were manufactured for the United States’s largest transit agency. One of those buses is pictured here.
For more photos of MTA New York City Transit’s C40LF buses, please click here.
M9 9010
Location: Grand Central Terminal, New York, NY
Operator of Vehicle: Long Island Railroad
Date of Photo: February 26, 2024
About a year ago and after about 60 years of planning and construction, the Long Island Railroad finally arrived at Grand Central Terminal on Manhattan’s east side. Since 1910, the LIRR’s sole Manhattan terminal had been Penn Station on the west side but there had been a longstanding desire to make it convenient for LIRR passengers to reach the east side and avoid congestion at Penn Station. The first proposal to bring the LIRR to Manhattan’s east side was formally made in 1963. In 1968, the MTA proposed the construction of the 63rd Street Line, a two level tunnel under the East River and Roosevelt Island that would have subway trains running on its upper level and LIRR trains on its lower level. Groundbreaking for the 63rd Street Line took place on November 24, 1969 and the upper level subway tunnels would open for service on October 29, 1989, initially as a stub line to 21st Street-Queensbridge before being connected to the Queens Boulevard Line at the end of 2001. However, the LIRR tunnels remained unused and unconnected to any other tracks.
In the 1990s after a study showed that more LIRR riders worked closer to Grand Central than to Penn Station, the MTA began to make plans to make use of the lower level tunnel meant for LIRR trains. Construction on the tunnels to the east (in Queens) and west (in Manhattan) of the initial tunnel, as well as the LIRR platforms at Grand Central itself, began in 2008. On January 25, 2023, the new station, referred to officially as “Grand Central Madison”, opened for service. For about a month, trains shuttled between Grand Central and the LIRR’s hub at Jamaica. On February 27, “full service” at Grand Central Madison began. In conjunction with the construction of a third track on the LIRR main line east of Jamaica, a significant increase in the number of trains that the LIRR could operate into Manhattan at peak periods was facilitated with this service change.
Grand Central Madison features eight tracks served by four platforms about 140 feet beneath street level. The escalators that serve the station’s mezzanine are the longest in all of New York City. One of the most remarkable things I found while exploring the station earlier this week is that despite this section of Grand Central being brand new, it was designed to feel as if it was a part of Grand Central “proper” with its curved roofs and using the same style of font and positioning for wayfinding as the older parts of Grand Central. With the exception of the escalator that created the “transition” between the Metro-North section and LIRR section of the station which didn’t mesh nearly as well as the rest, the aesthetics really made for a unified station experience. The artwork above each escalator from the concourse to the mezzanine featuring elements of the New York State seal was a nice touch as well.
Have you been to Grand Central Madison yet?
For more photos of the Long Island Railroad, please click here.
R160B 9093 at Coney Island, September 1, 2019
There is something alluring about the last stop on a train line. Perhaps you take a train regularly and wonder what exactly is at a place such as Wonderland (end of the MBTA Blue Line) or Cockfosters (end of the London Piccadilly Line). Since 2013, New York based artist and photographer Rita Nannini has been on a quest to photograph the first and last stations on each of New York’s 26 subway lines (she counts each of the three shuttles separately, the Z as its own line, and also included the Staten Island Railway). It is interesting to see what she has selected for each station, since I myself have also been to each terminal station (as well as all the other intermediate stations along the way), and remarkable given the breadth of New York’s subway system the many different places you will be deposited should you ride a train to the end of its route. One only has to take the A train to the Rockaways to understand.
You can see Rita Nannini’s work on her website.
Oren’s Reading List is an occasional feature on The Travelogue in which I share articles that I’ve read that might also be of interest to the readers of this website.
1956 GMC TDH-5106 Old Look 3100
Location: West 42nd Street & 9th Avenue, New York, NY
Operator of Vehicle: MTA New York City Transit
Date of Photo: December 12, 2012
In addition to running the vintage train during the holiday season as I wrote about yesterday, for some number of years, the MTA also ran vintage buses in service during the December holiday period. Most years, the service was limited to Manhattan, but there were other years the buses ventured out into other parts of the city, including the other four boroughs. I don’t believe the vintage buses have run since 2018. It was often hard to catch one since even the slightest bit of precipitation would result in them being pulled off the road for safety reasons, plus they were subject to traffic delays and the like. However, I did get to ride some of them in 2012.
Would you want the MTA to try bringing back the vintage buses in a future year?
For more photos of MTA New York City Transit’s GMC Old Look Buses, please click here.
R1 100
Location: Broadway-Lafayette Station, New York, NY
Operator of Vehicle: MTA New York City Transit
Date of Photo: December 27, 2015
For the past five Saturdays, New York City Transit ran the “Arnine” vintage train during the winter holiday season for the first time since the pandemic. This tradition began nearly 20 years ago, typically with the train operating each Saturday or Sunday from Thanksgiving through Christmas or New Years Day along the 6th Avenue Line and then to Queens Plaza via the 53rd Street Tunnel (most years) or to Harlem via Central Park West (other years). However, no vintage train was operated in 2020. In 2021, a series of events to mark the retirement of the R32s was held instead. In 2022, the “Train of Many Colors” was used for the holiday train, running along the 7th Avenue-Broadway Line.
Some transit fans complain that the MTA just does the same thing each year and never changes up the route or equipment all that much. I’ve always enjoyed getting to run into friends in the transit fan community on the vintage train in the years I have been able to ride it, and Mrs. Oren’s Transit Page and our son have enjoyed riding it as well. My attitude is be thankful the MTA runs anything at all, since they could always opt to run nothing.
I didn’t make it to New York to ride this year, but did you ride the vintage train this year?
For more photos of MTA New York City Transit’s “Arnine” cars, please click here.
R62A 1946
Location: Grand Central, New York, NY
Operator of Vehicle: MTA New York City Transit
Date of Photo: June 20, 2009
On this date in 1913, Grand Central Terminal opened following ten years of construction. Today’s Grand Central is not the first train station to be built on that site. The first Grand Central Depot opened in October of 1871 with 12 tracks. At that time, it was the largest open space in the United States and the largest railroad station in the world. However, the station reached capacity by the mid-1890s. An annex was added but capacity was reached again in 1897. The terminal was reconstructed and in 1900, became known as Grand Central Station.
At that time, the trains serving the station were steam hauled, which meant that the busy tunnel under Park Avenue leading to the station from the north (the only way for trains to access the station) was filled with smoke and soot. Following a January 1902 crash that killed 15 passengers, the New York Central Railroad (which owned Grand Central) and the New York State legislature agreed to only operate electric trains into the terminal. Less than 12 months after that fatal collision, New York Central Vice President William J. Wilgus proposed an extension of the Park Avenue Tunnel by covering the existing open cut used by the railroad from 46th Street to 59th Street. This was now feasible because once Grand Central was only served by electric trains, there would be no need to vent smoke and soot from steam trains (since there wouldn’t be any). The air rights over the terminal could then be sold to raise money for the railroad. This proposal had to be approved and enacted upon quickly because plans were already underway for the Interborough Rapid Transit Company (better known as the IRT and now a part of the New York City Subway) to build subway lines around Grand Central, at which time the New York Central would lose its rights to construct underground in that area. The new station was built in phases around the existing station so as to maintain train service throughout the duration of the project. The rebuilt terminal, now known as Grand Central, saw its first train arrive just minutes after midnight on February 2, 1913.
In the ensuing 110 years, Grand Central has served as a catalyst for development in what is now Midtown Manhattan. At the time Cornelius Vanderbilt commissioned the original Grand Central, there was not much in the way of development in the area. However, he was convinced New York City would grow to the north and eventually, his railroad terminal would be in the heart of the city. His vision proved to be very accurate, to the point that the Long Island Railroad began a long term project (that was first proposed in the 1960s) to connect its tracks to Grand Central Terminal in the 1990s when surveys indicated most LIRR riders worked near Grand Central, not Penn Station where LIRR trains terminate. That project, known as East Side Access and more recently as “Grand Central Madison” culminated in the opening of eight new tracks served by four new platforms 140 feet below street level on January 25, 2023.
Prior to the opening of Grand Central Madison, the most recent significant change to Grand Central was on the New York City Subway’s shuttle platforms. As part of the 2015-2019 MTA Capital Program, the 42nd Street Shuttle that connects Grand Central to Times Square became ADA accessible and as part of that project, Track 3, the center shuttle track and the one the train in this photo is using, was removed. The single island platform that now exists between Track 1 and Track 4 measures 22,000 square feet (2,000 square meters) and is the largest platform in the New York City by area. The rebuilt Shuttle reopened on September 7, 2021. You can see where Track 3 was by looking at the floor tiles on the new platform, the pattern of the tiles and columns between the floor and ceiling indicate where the track right-of-way used to be.
For more photos of R62A trains, please click here.
The “highlights” from this update in my opinion in “chronological” order are:
The rest of 2022’s photos are still to come, and I’ve already taken one trip within the US in 2023 and I’m sure more are to come, so stay tuned. The photos from all those travels will be posted. Eventually.
Here is the full listing of where new photos were added to the site, with new sections highlighted in bold and italics.
R33 9017
Location: 125th Street/Broadway, New York, NY
Operator of Vehicle: MTA New York City Transit
Date of Photo: November 27, 2022
For the past 15 years or so, the New York Transit Museum has operated a vintage holiday train once a week (usually on Sundays) between Thanksgiving and New Years. The holiday train would be made up of “Arnine” cars, start from 2nd Avenue on the Lower East Side, and operate up the 6th Avenue Line, typically terminating at Queens Plaza. However, there was one year the train terminated at 145th Street in Harlem and another year it terminated at 96th Street on the Second Avenue Subway due to trackwork along the “traditional” route. In 2020, there was no holiday train and the R32 farewell event effectively replaced the holiday train last year. This year, the holiday train is making a comeback, but with a twist. For the first time ever, the holiday train is operating on the A Division (former IRT) and is using the “Train of Many Colors”, a set of “Redbirds” that have been repainted in various paint schemes that these trains wore during their service lives. I was able to catch the train a few times this past Sunday.
If you want to ride it this year, it operates between Chambers Street and 137th Street on the 1 line for three more Sundays (December 4, 11, and 18). Northbound trips depart at 10 AM, 12 PM, 2 PM, and 4 PM, while southbound trips depart at 11 AM, 1 PM, 3 PM, and 5 PM. While the original plan was to have it make all local stops along the route, for the final three weeks, the holiday train will run express on the local track and only stop at Chambers Street, 14th Street, 34th Street, 42nd Street, 72nd Street, 96th Street, 125th Street, and 137th Street. Also, there is no free crossover between the uptown and downtown platforms at 137th Street, so be sure to get off at 125th Street to change directions for free.
For more photos of R33 cars, please click here.
NOTE: This post was updated to reflect the decision to operate express on the local on all trips starting on December 4, 2022. For the most up to date information, it is best to check the MTA’s website. The information here is provided as a courtesy but its accuracy cannot be guaranteed.
R142 6415 at East Tremont Avenue, June 20, 2009
In keeping with the recent post about a podcast episode recommendation, here comes another one that may be worth your time. This time, we’re featuring the “Mind the Gap” episode from “Twenty Thousand Hertz“, which describes itself as “the stories behind the world’s most recognizable and interesting sounds.” If the episode’s title immediately conjures an image of the London Underground in your head, I think it is fair to say this podcast is achieving its goal.
This episode features the stories of the voices behind the iconic subway announcements in London by Elinor Hamilton and in New York City by Charlie Pellett and even though I had some familiarity with some aspects of their stories, there were also some parts of their careers and stories I was not familiar with, especially Elinor Hamilton’s. If you’re really into the automated, prerecorded announcements that are commonplace on public transit today, you’ll want to give this a listen. (Even Mrs. Oren’s Transit Page, who is not the biggest podcast fan, enjoyed listening to this one with me.)
Listen to Twenty Thousand Hertz’s “Mind the Gap” episode (or read the transcript) by clicking here, or searching wherever you prefer to download your podcasts.
Oren’s Reading List is an occasional feature on The Travelogue in which I share articles that I’ve read that might also be of interest to the readers of this website.
