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.

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.

Cakes and Shakes

A nice little piece of Americana at Metropolitan and Eliot in Ridgewood.

Sweet Tooth for Ghost Ads

Who can resist these old ghost signs and ads?  Taken on the South Side of Williamsburg, near Marcy and 5th.

Top of the World

Summer is on the horizon in Soho.

Sun Sets Over Tribeca

One Way Canyon

Taken along Flushing Avenue and the Brooklyn Navy Yard.

People in Tribeca

Lower East Side Rooftops

Well Armed Architecture

One of the buildings with the coolest Romanesque architecture in NYC is the Kingsbridge Armory in The Bronx. Its future use has been somewhat of an area of political contention for the city and the Bloomberg administration.

Atlantic Avenue

This is one of those places I've walked by countless times, but have never given it much photographic attention; an issue I remedied this afternoon. Taken at the corner of Atlantic and Flatbush in downtown Brooklyn.

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.

Its All Here

Just about every classic architectural New York City feature is composed in this photo. Taken on Nassau Street, near Fulton in Lower Manhattan.

Holiday Greetings from the South Street Seaport

Taken from the corner of Pearl and Fulton Street, in one of the oldest and most preserved historic districts in New York City.

Old IRT Style Station

The Lobby on the Brooklyn Bridge bound side of the 33rd Street station on the Lexington Avenue Line.  This is a local only station which the 6 train services and was opened in 1904.

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).

To Know Brooklyn II

http://www.flickr.com/photos/mmheidelberger/5914408684/in/photostream

Fire Escapes…Many

Near the corner of Walker and Church in the Tribeca area of Lower Manhattan…

To Know Brooklyn…

An iconic street in the Ft. Green, Brooklyn…

The Scale of Perspective

A fellow large man and a small, [moderately] expensive automobile out in the Meat Packing District.