Welcome to the blog and Photo a Day of Arel English. Relax and enjoy!
Catching Elephant is a theme by Andy Taylor
Photo a Whenever: Photo 124. This is a picture of the Interborough Rapid Transit (IRT) 7 train Flushing Line elevated track at Court Square in Queens, NY.
The NYC subway system was built by three different companies, the IRT, the Brooklyn–Manhattan Transit Corporation (BMT), and the Independent Subway System (IND), which was run by the city. Because the subway system was built by competing companies, they didn’t build transfers between their lines, and would even go out of their way to make it difficult to transfer or for the other company to build competing service.
Where this picture is taken, there is also underground service from two IND lines, serving three other trains, the G, E, and M. It wasn’t until June 3rd 2011 that a transfer was built between the IRT 7 line and the IND G,E, and M lines even though the stations are right above one another.
Photo a Day: Day 55. This is another subway picture! I took this picture of the Clark St. Station in Brooklyn because this station is interesting/ unique in several different ways. First, you can only access the station by elevator, but the station isn’t wheelchair accessible. The elevators in the station don’t go to the platform level. You have to take stars once you get off the elevator. There are two other stations in the system that are only accessible by elevator, but they are in upper Manhattan.
The other interesting thing about this station is the curved walls, which is unique in the NY subway system. The walls are curved because of ‘deep bore tunneling’ that was used to construct this portion of the line.
Finally, if you are interested, the 2 and 3 trains stop at this station, which are part of the 123 Broadway – Seventh Avenue Line which was constructed by the Interborough Rapid Transit Company (IRT), the first subway company in New York. The portion of the 7th ave line above 42nd street, which the 123 travel’s on is part of the original subway line built in the city.
These pictures are from a tour I took of the abandoned City Hall subway station in New York City. The station was the South terminus of the original (Interborough Rapid Transit) IRT subway line that stretched all the way uptown to 145th street.
The City Hall Station was permanently closed on December 31st 1945, but the tracks in the station are still used by the 6 train to turn around from the southbound to the northbound track of the Brooklyn Bridge/ City Hall station.
The station was closed for a number of reasons, chief among them was that the City Hall station is a tight loop that left a huge gap between the platform and the train once trains with side doors started being used. Originally, subway cars only had entrances at the front and rear of the car, so having a large gap in the center of a car wasn’t a concern. Other factors also played a role in the closing of the City Hall station, including the inability to lengthen the station once longer trains started being used, the close proximity to an express station, and the location right under City Hall, making it inconvenient to get to by anyone except people in City Hall.
Photo a Day: Day 23. This is a photo of the NYC MTA R train entering the City Hall station. This station isn’t actually under City Hall, but there is a station under City Hall that has been closed since 1945. The old City Hall station is still visible by staying on the 6 train after the final stop at Brooklyn Bridge/ City Hall. You loop through the beautiful City Hall station on your way to the uptown tracks back in the Brooklyn Bridge/ City Hall Station.
The R train runs local service, making all stops, and travels through Queens, Manhattan, and Brooklyn.
Photo a Day: Day 18. This photo is from what is (so far) my favorite NYC subway station. The 8th Avenue and 14th street ACE and L station.
The large 8th ave station is covered with over 100 bronze sculptures, doing things like sneaking under subway gates, carrying giant subway tokens, getting eaten by alligators coming out of man holes, using giant wrenches to undo bolts from structures in the station, and lots of other amusing things. Every time I go into the station I see something new.
The sculptures are all part of an art installation by Tom Otterness called ‘Life Underground.’ The MTA’s ‘Arts for Transit’ program commissioned the installation for $200,000 in the 90’s.
Most of the sculptures are related to money in some way, like this one, which is holding a money bag. According to Otterness, the money theme is in reference to the corruption that existed at the time of the subway’s original construction.
