The Ozone Park Ramp Up Junction

In Ozone Park, Queens, there is a junction that can be the point of much confusion endured by JFK bound tourists and casual A Train riding NYC residents alike.  It is a common occurrence that commuters bound for JFK Airport will mistakenly board a Lefferts Blvd bound A train and scratch their head when they never make it to the Howard Beach station. This piece of infrastructure is the first of two sequences where A Train, while retaining the same route designation (A) splits in to multiple terminus points.

This next section reveals a small, but complicated piece of NYC Transit lore.  Some of the terms used here may seem somewhat esoteric to people who aren't familiar with the basics of New York City Subway system history.  There is a series in the works in which I will discuss, in further detail, some of the fascinating history of the system and its development.  But until then, all that really needs to be communicated at this point is that much work has been done over the last several decades to try to unify the subway system.  In many ways, however, the system is still a hodgepodge of of different lines created by competing and conflicting interests.
One doesn't have to look very hard to see evidence of this.  The most conspicuous clues that are readily evident  are details like how the system is separated into an A Division (fomerly IRT, Routes with numbers) and a B Division (formerly IND, BMT, Routes with letters), which have completely different train sizes.  Or some of the awkward ways in which transfers are made within connected stations.  The junction above, however, is more subtle, and is resultant from dual contracts, and deconstruction and reconstitution of old transit lines.

This junction is where the 1) IND Rockaway Line,  2) IND Fulton Street Line, and 3) BMT Fulton Street Line.

1. IND Rockaway Line:  Originally part of the Long Island Rail Road System (more on that at a later date), which was rehabilitation and adapted to fully connect the Rockaway Peninsula into the subway system.

2. IND Fulton Street Line: Originally part of the Independent Subway System, beginning in downtown Brooklyn and went to East New York.  Much of it was built during the 1930's and 1940's.  In the late 1950's, this line was connected to this junction.

3. BMT Fulton Street Line: Formerly an elevated line which was operated by the Brooklyn-Manhattan Transit Corp., that spanned Fulton Street.  Most of it was demolished however, and the only remaining section runs along Liberty Avenue From 80th-Hudson Street  to Ozone Park-Lefferts Blvd, which was integrated into the IND Fulton Line via this junction.

In short, any peak time Brooklyn/Queens bound A Trains all travel the same route along the Fulton Line until it reaches this point, after which one train may continue along the even older, elevated Fulton Line, or it heads to the Rockaways.  I really enjoyed talking up this single photo, and I hope you, the reader enjoyed it as well.

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.

A City of Children

    (Taken at the Marcy Avenue subway station in Williamsburg)

A vexed mother flings an uncooperative child on the seat next to where I sit on a public subway bench.  Before I continue, it should be said stated that with the exception of a few children in my life that are dear to me, most kids seem to be quite astute to locating every last nerve of my being, then jabbing at them with an olive fork.  Within the first sixty seconds of being seated next to me, I was jabbed four times with a right elbow and kicked three times with a right foot.  By one minute, thirty seconds of the encounter, a small whiffle ball was  dropped in my lap, which then rolled and fell under the bench.  Before I could lean forward and assist in the retrieval the ball, an awkward moment occurred when the child rushed to the ground on all fours, digging between my feet.  I looked to my left to see the parent's indifferent expression, followed by an equally indifferent shrug.  I then looked right to appreciate this tag.

The Big Platform Tablet Chill

(Commuter relaxing with an Ipad in the Court Street Station, Brooklyn Heights)

The amount of people obliviously chilling with tablets and other pricey consumer electronics on crowded public transit is shocking to me.  Every time I hear somebody express any kind of angst over the possibilities of being mugged, or more laughably, pick pocketed, I sigh.  Why would a thief, these days, get that up close and personal, incurring risk, when a quick grab and shove would work smashingly?  What is worse, Wifi is being implemented in select stations around the city, which will only serve to generate even fatter, fruit, which is not only low hanging, but touching the ground.  Even the MTA is starting to place PSAs in stations, trains, and buses addressing this issue.

Even though I blog frequently and am present on multiple social networks, anyone who really knows me can tell you that I refuse to plugged in 24 hours a day; I don't own a tablet or a smart phone.  I only state this as a matter of disclosure and am by no means some Luddite, technophobe, suggesting one pry their face from their gadgets; I just pleading a case for the exercise of common sense.  One wouldn't casually brandish $600.00 in cash with one hand on their commute, why do so with a device of equal value?

Brooklyn Heights Style

One of the few well preserved of classic New York City transit minutiae. Taken at the Montague Street entrance of the Court Street subway station.

Beaming

The Flushing line, also known as the IRT Flushing Line, or simply the 7 train, is unique in many different ways.  It quite possibly one of the most ethnically diverse lines in the system, but what is demonstrated here, is a fragment one if its many phases of architectural styles.  In Woodside, where this is photographed, this elevated section bears of a more utilitarian girder feel, but as you get to Queens Boulevard, it beings to resemble that of an old European Viaduct.

Hoyt, Street Light. Street Light, Hoyt

I’m standing somewhere in what is the Astoria Blvd subway station/Hoyt Avenue/Grand Central Pkwy Infrastructure Sandwich in Astoria.  Its an early commute, and even though I’m a zombie at 5:30 in the morning, I can still take a photo.

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.

Lucky 7

The 7 Train heading onward to Queensboro Plaza from the Court Square, Long Island City area.

Crazy Willies

How does he do it folks?!?  Because he’s crazy!!!

Taken on McDonald Avenue in the Boro Park area of Brooklyn.

F, G, and 1 WTC

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

The Canal Street Experience

This photo is a dirty, rusty, gritty, and a little crooked...Just like the real thing!

190

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

Bus Stop Blues

Taken on Broadway, near Marcy in Williamsburg, Brooklyn.

Under the Line(s)

Bringing out the wide angle lens under the Marcy Avenue station (J,M,Z) in Brooklyn.

←BDD3S

Very early commute in an empty Herald Square station...

York York York York York

Just which station do you think this was taken? For those readers that are not familiar New York, this station is located along the F / 6th Avenue Line in Brooklyn. This photo is best if viewed larger, you may click this image to do so.

Formerly the Tunnel to Nowhere

Until the F/63rd Street line was connected to the main Queens Blvd line in the early 2000s, F trains terminated here.  Since it was the only stop into Queens from Manhattan, the project was known as the tunnel to nowhere.