Transportation Sandwich

 (The foot of the Hellgate bridge and the Astoria-Ditmars Blvd Subway Station in Queens)

A nice tasty transportation sandwich in on the menu here in Astoria.  Fixings include 31st Street on the bottom, N and Q Trains in the middle, and topped with Amtrak.  New York and many other cities along the Eastern Corridor frequently enjoy similar sandwiches, if only the entire country would develop a taste for them.

Late Night Airport Run

Like the bus above, I've been tracking quite a but of miles in this area as of late.  The reasons are all self evident for I was leaving work at night, which leaves me less time to diversify the locations in which I  photograph.  Looking down Hoyt Street and Grand Central Parkway towards the Triborough Bridge in Astoria, Queens.

Best Value Shopping // Low Clearance

Personally, I find tiny, interlinkable minutiae to completely irresistible  If there were some kind of desire in play to lure me into an ambush, all one would have to do is stage an elaborate scene that could be sandwiched into a title.

This area we are looking at here is 61st and Roosevelt in Woodside, Queens, a significant transit location.  Transit options include the LIRR, 7 Train, multiple bus lines, and is only two stops away from the larger Jackson Heights-Roosevelt station at 74th, providing access to all the Queens Blvd trains (E,F,M,R) and more bus routes.

Culver Viaduct Discontinuation Syndrome

Long needed, ongoing construction on the Culver Viaduct has caused an array of disruption of G and F train riders in South Brooklyn.  The most persistent of these disruptions has been the closing of the Smith-9th Station.  I'm not a resident of Gowanus, but I can only image how much they want their Smith-9th Station back.  Its been even worse for Red Hook, whom have no direct subway service, that station is the closest link.  According to the MTA, this should reopen in Fall 2012, but then again, it was originally supposed to open by Summer of 2012.

Semi-Secret Passage

Semi-secret as in seen by many, but not readily accessible.  There's a spot of the West End line in Brooklyn, near Sunset Park when the D train enters a fragmented set of tunnels before it becomes elevated.  I was lucky enough to have a nice mix of filthy train car windows and rain give serve as a nice texture to enhance the photograph's mood.

In a Row

Queued, off duty M trains in the Fresh Pond yard in Queens.

Train Bomb

Train has been suspended, pending graffiti removal.

Monochrome Commute

The 72nd Street station (1,2,3 trains) on the Upper West Side.

The Bus Stop Creep

Ever feel like your being watched at the bus stop?  Taken on Flushing Avenue, near Bushwick in Brooklyn.

F, G, and 1 WTC

Taken from the Culver Line in the Boro Bark area of Brooklyn.

MTA Safety Campaign v2?

Taken on a indistinct brick wall in Greenpoint...

190

The 190th Street station near Washington Heights in Upper Manhattan is one of the deeper (but not the deepest) in the subway system…

C Train Blur I and II

See the oldest subway car in revenue operation, coming into that station where Michael Jackson shot his “Bad” music video.  Living in the past today, and whenever possible.  For those not familiar, this is an R32 subway car at the Hoyt-Schermerhorn station in downtown Brooklyn.

31st Street Surreal Lights and Rail

Low horizon, winter lighting always delivers interesting photos. These photographs were taken on 31st Street, between Astoria and Ditmars Blvd in Queens.

An Amtrak train from the foot of the Hellgate Bridge as it passes over an N Train coming into the Astoria-Ditmars station.

An old interlocking/signal station that is still standing, a much more substantial one is now over at the terminus station by Ditmars.

Alone at 18

Along the Culver Line (F Train) in the Borough Park area of Brooklyn.

Choose your Weapon

Take from the Williamsburg Bridge Plaza bus terminal on the South Side of Williamsburg.

Y?

I've seen many examples of people attempting to create a two-way dialogue with the MTA service changes that greet you on night and weekends.  What can only be described as an entity that slightly resembles Slimer, questioning its merit; that would be a first.  Taken from the Bedford-Nostrand subway station, one of the few stations in my neighborhood.

The Tales that Tiles Tell within the Subway

 

The New York City Subway system is an old rapid transit system, which is the source for many of the issues it faces, however it is also responsible for much of it distinctive character.  Much of the stations in the system are either over or approaching 100 years old, a different time when greater detail was focused on the aesthetics of the architecture of public spaces and infrastructure.  One of the most distinctive features within the New York City Subway systems is its mosaic tile work.  What’s even more interesting is the story that this tile work has to tell.

The operation of the system has a complicated history, which is worthy of its own post in the future, but lets just say that in the past, before a single agency operated it, there were three separate companies operating their own lines throughout the city.  The Brooklyn-Manhattan Transit Corporation (BMT), Interborough Rapid Transit (IRT), and the Independent Subway System (IND) all competed in servicing the passengers of the city’s boroughs.  Each company has their own style of tile work that was implemented in the stations.

IRT Style

This is from the 86th Street Station on the Seventh Avenue-Broadway Line (Manhattan, 1 train).  I fully admit, I indulged myself a little in the composition of this photo, but I felt only a wide angle photo would tell the complete story here.  Much like the IND style, the station name is plainly identified within a mosaic.  Unlike the IND style however, is the use of frieze around it and as a border.  The older the station, more of this is used.  This station was opened in 1904 and most of the original tile was removed in renovation years ago, this small section still exists.

More of the station featured above, showing a more human perspective.

The Bleecker Street station on the Lexington Avenue Line (Manhattan, 6 Train) uses faience tablets to identify the station name.  Like the previous station, much of the original work has been removed, by a few remain preserved.

IND STYLE

The Metropolitan Avenue Station on the Crosstown Line (Brooklyn, G Train) features a very standard form of tile work featuring plain lettering that is used widely on the old IND lines.  The IND lines tend to be newer than the IRT and BMT lines and the style and the tile work tend to have a more streamlined look.

This work is a little more unique and is located on the Smith-9th station on the Culver Viaduct (Brooklyn, G and F Trains).  This station (and the viaduct as a whole) is undergoing renovation, and I hope this remains untouched.

Many station also use individual letter tiling to identify the station.  Carries much less prestige, but hey its easier to maintain I guess…The modern attitude of how infrastructure is treated.

BMT Style

The tile work in BMT stations tend to be a little more intricate than IND tile work and use monogram frieze work.  This work was taken from the 42nd-Time Square station on the Broadway Line (Manhattan, N, Q, R Trains).

Taken from the Prince Street Station on the Broadway Line (Manhattan, N and R Trains), demonstrating a BMT Style name tablet.

‘Modern Style’

This tile work is typical in stations that have been renovated or relatively new stations built in the ‘60s and ‘70s.  Many stations in Brooklyn use this light blue tile, such as Court Street Station (R Train) (Pictured).  Many other stations use similar tile in that 1960’w rusty-red color, such as the Lexington Avenue-63rd Street (Manhattan, F Train) and 125th Street Station (Manhattan, A,B,C,D Trains).  Others use an off white, such as the 57th Street Station (Manhattan, F Train).

The Golden Nostrand

The title of this post sounds a little like some of that frat boy slang you would see somewhere on urbandictionary.com.  Innuendo building aside, this station is located at Fulton and (you guessed it) Nostrand Avenues in Bedford Stuyvesant, Brooklyn.  One distinctive feature of this station is that express platform is on the upper level while the local is on the lower; as far as I know, this is the only station in the system with this configuration.

Bored, Waiting to Board

Piss, bleach, garbage, unhinged bums, delayed J trains, and excessive heat…The Chambers Street Station near City Hall has a little bit of something for everyone on a late Saturday night.  Pay me no mind for I feel a little ornery on this night…