Eastern Railroad Discussion > 100 Unadulterated Minutes Of A Train Traveling Down A NYC Subway

The A Line

A few friends pointed out some specifics - 168th St , time mark: 9:50 and West 4th St, time mark: 36:45.

Its run is 27 miles. The part south of the title photo is ex-LIRR, since 1954.

A hundred minutes on a New York subway?  Probably seemed like a hundred hours!

Express trains, unique to NYC's subway, gives the psychological impression of time moving faster. A local is boring schlep. People ride expresses to save 3 minutes, but think they are saving huge amounts of time,

>>>The part south of the title photo is ex-LIRR, since 1954.

The bridge burned in what year, 1950?  LIRR wouldn't rebuild it, or maybe didn't have the money.  They may have been in receivership then.

 



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 02/26/19 14:19 by SpeederDriver.

SpeederDriver Wrote:

> The bridge burned in what year, 1950?  LIRR
> wouldn't rebuild it, or maybe didn't have the
> money.  They may have been in receivership then.


Politically and financially, that was not to be.

Bridge burned in 1950. Service truncated to Hamilton Beach. Far Rockaway Branch trains extended to Rockaway Park. But neither the LIRR nor the City wanted LIRR service there, but to become a subway line. It was supposed to be a branch off the Queen Blvd IND - there are bellmouths and track in its junction point, around 67th Avenue. LIRR was bankrupt. PRR was not going to bankroll it.

To simply have the city rebuild the trestle as they did and turn it back to the LIRR would have cost $4 million. No one was going to hand money to a private bankrupt RR that was owned by another disinterested RR named Pennsylvania . So they convert to subway operation, signals, sub stations, fare control at stations, and made a junction with the Fulton Street line along Liberty Avenue, "thanks" to Robert Moses. That cost another $23 million. Turned over to NYCTA in 1954. 4 mile residual LIRR cut back to Ozone Park, then abandoned in 1962. City still owns entire ROW. Q53 Bus franchise was handed to Triboro Coach, today MTA Bus Company along Woodhaven Blvd from Woodside. It is a traffic-choked schlep.

Thanks joemvcnj for the history. There really is a big difference in the ROW after the line diverges toward the Rockaways. I had looked at Google maps to see where the abandoned tracks went and saw where the ROW extended north to the LIRR and thought that it was a bit odd.
I was surprised by how much curvature and reduced running speed there was ain teh subway. Not like the Broad Street Line in Philly, Arrow straight and fast excepting the stations around City Hall.
I noticed a NY City rat wandering around between the rigth side rail and the platform at about the 58 minute mark!
Gonut



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 02/27/19 12:52 by Gonut1.

Thanks for all of that.  How long is the AirTrain/A train ride from the far end ot JFK to midtown?  Maybe 90 minutes?

And how does that compare with EWR?



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 02/27/19 14:46 by SpeederDriver.