SUBWAY - Random Thoughts Topic

[Jemorie]

1 hour ago, S78 via Hylan said:

Not a good idea to mention areas of speed here.

Not to be rude or anything, but things like this are worthy of a discussion, and I'm generally more for fast service than slow service. There are many areas in the system where timers aren't even necessary. All I asked is have timers been removed from the area (leaving Nevins Street on the Brooklyn IRT northbound) or has the speed restriction been lifted. Nothing personal. Besides, the  are already pretty slow enough as they are with all those timers, which makes rush hour service crawl like snails. That, combined those horrible at-grade junction levels, overall slowing down service repeatedly. The R62s on the , like all the other SMEEs, feel even more slower partly because of their lack of field shunting, which were all removed following those 1990s collisions (Union Sq and Willy B), which makes them more prone to slow-take offs when leaving a station and going through timers. I also heard that the CBTC-equipped R143s on the  were recently programmed to slow down a bit mid-way through the Canarsie Tubes shortly after Hurricane Sandy (understandable).

Look at the  expresses through Spring Street and Astor Place where, despite the curvy stretches, those trains zoom through with no problem and all signals are green. (Could this be because there's more space in the area?) Or the Fulton St locals arriving/leaving Lafayette Av, and southbound Fulton St express passing through said station, despite the curve north of the station. And last but not least, telling me that "it's not a good idea to mention areas of speed here" honestly makes no sense, especially since something might be bound to happen, and you'll probably be one of the first few to go on and on about why that even happen.  The  has from time to time contradicted itself anyway. Some curvy or swing stretches have clear, green signals, while others have timers...some straight-shot tracks have clear, green signals, while others have...timers.

Edited November 27, 2019 by Jemorie

[AlgorithmOfTruth]

3 hours ago, S78 via Hylan said:

Not a good idea to mention areas of speed here.

It's called the random thoughts thread for a reason dude... He didn't post anything out of line...

[S78 via Hylan]

1 hour ago, AlgorithmOfTruth said:

It's called the random thoughts thread for a reason dude... He didn't post anything out of line...

I’m not saying he did. It’s just that I was piggybacking off of what TM5 said. He decided to take it personal, so I’m not entertaining it any further.

[brakethrow]

11 hours ago, RR503 said:

They changed the speed signs leaving the station. 10 became 15 or 20 (can't remember which).

Plenty t/o's were wrapping it up out of Nevins as if there wasn't a speed restriction prior to the change anyway.

[Maxwell179]

anyone know why Manhattan J slows down on the express track when approaching Kosciouszko and Myrtle 

[Q23 via 108]

Just out of curiousity, why were some R33s painted Green in the mid - late 80s?

Always liked how "Greenbirds" look but never knew the reasoning behind it

 

[GojiMet86]

That looks like a fantrip or a museum run.

[CenSin]

Ungodly late if this is to be trusted…

[Around the Horn]

14 minutes ago, CenSin said:

Ungodly late if this is to be trusted…

Queens Blvd is an absolute mess right now so I can believe it.

[MHV9218]

3 hours ago, Q23 via 108 said:

Just out of curiousity, why were some R33s painted Green in the mid - late 80s?

Always liked how "Greenbirds" look but never knew the reasoning behind it

There was only one full train of greenbirds to my knowledge. It was a trial color that was probably introduced around the same time as the R10 greenbirds, but on the IRT the red replaced it. Supposedly the repainted set looked essentially brown since the red over green came out so dark, even with whatever primer.

[CenSin]

5 minutes ago, Around the Horn said:

Queens Blvd is an absolute mess right now so I can believe it.

No trains on tracks 5 or 6 at the Coney Island terminal.

[Trainmaster5]

7 hours ago, brakethrow said:

Plenty t/o's were wrapping it up out of Nevins as if there wasn't a speed restriction prior to the change anyway.

That’s part of the reason why I responded the way I did. There was never a timer leaving Nevins on either track. We were taught by our instructors that the reasoning was twofold . One was that the C/R and any passengers riding the rear section of the train were not to be whipped around any curves where they might lose their balance or their seats. That was an instant write up. The second reason I learned from working with the track department. Excessive force on the outer rail was a constant worry and Car Equipment was concerned about the wheel flanges. Early in my career I witnessed a fist fight in the parking lot at East 180th St because a C/R took exception to being thrown around at Nevins and the curve at Astor Place. Back then the consensus was that the conductor was justified. Times change. Carry on.

[CyclonicTrainLookout]

8 hours ago, Maxwell179 said:

anyone know why Manhattan J slows down on the express track when approaching Kosciouszko and Myrtle 

IIRC, there was planned work somewhere between Broadway Junction and Myrtle Avenue. I'm assuming the G.O. occurred between those two stations.

[QM1to6Ave]

1 hour ago, Trainmaster5 said:

That’s part of the reason why I responded the way I did. There was never a timer leaving Nevins on either track. We were taught by our instructors that the reasoning was twofold . One was that the C/R and any passengers riding the rear section of the train were not to be whipped around any curves where they might lose their balance or their seats. That was an instant write up. The second reason I learned from working with the track department. Excessive force on the outer rail was a constant worry and Car Equipment was concerned about the wheel flanges. Early in my career I witnessed a fist fight in the parking lot at East 180th St because a C/R took exception to being thrown around at Nevins and the curve at Astor Place. Back then the consensus was that the conductor was justified. Times change. Carry on.

LMAO! I didn't think losing your balance was worth throwing a punch LOL. I hope that C/R and M/M (I'm assuming this was back before T/O was the term) weren't paired up again!

[Abba]

22 hours ago, RR503 said:

They changed the speed signs leaving the station. 10 became 15 or 20 (can't remember which).

For the  and  Manhattan bound is 10 for the  and  is 15 .was there today.

[Around the Horn]

3 hours ago, Trainmaster5 said:

 One was that the C/R and any passengers riding the rear section of the train were not to be whipped around any curves where they might lose their balance or their seats. That was an instant write up.

Well that's definitely not a write up anymore in 2019 the way operators are whipping around curves nowadays lol...

[Calvin]

https://www.nbcnewyork.com/news/local/Thanksgiving-Dinner-Feast-on-Subway-Train-565416042.html?fbclid=IwAR0FOe96xmqrgnXbxhbUFpJdXhySKZsc-1PCLUJ0GDq_FtqJtyxXpcOYCWI

Happy Thanksgiving from friends on the Canarsie-14 St line 

Edited November 28, 2019 by Calvin

[bwwnyc123]

Some stations on Lines has some fast curves like: 125 St, in-between West 4 St and 14 St.

[Trainmaster5]

4 hours ago, QM1to6Ave said:

LMAO! I didn't think losing your balance was worth throwing a punch LOL. I hope that C/R and M/M (I'm assuming this was back before T/O was the term) weren't paired up again!

Reckless operation was a big no no and the M/M would lose their handles and be demoted depending on their record and who was the hearing officer. Motor instructors took infractions as personal affronts. My school car instructors were my  instructors until they retired. They would ride my train after their retirement and still critique my operation. I didn’t mind it one bit. Meant I couldn’t let my standards slip.Things were different back then. When I broke in as a C/R in the IRT our instructors told us that we were to ride outside the cab between station stops so we were visible to our riders. We were also told that if you had a good M/M you shouldn’t have to grab a pole when the train rounded a curve period. Back then I worked what was called the “Lenox “ division. That was the  , and  lines back then. As a conductor and up front. Think about Houston St and the stretch between 50st and 72nd on the West Side. On the East Side Spring St to 14th St and entering and leaving Grand Central. Nevins St northbound was an obvious location. If a conductor lost his balance because of improper operation at any of those locations, especially if the riders noticed it, I guarantee you that every RTO person in the  Lenox division, including the dispatchers and motor instructors would be aware of that. I remember asking some school car instructors why I, who always worked pms, was being assigned students for road break in ( today’s route familiarization concept ) which was normally done by am crews. I was told that I was taught properly by the old school instructors and that there were only 3 of us left on the  line to do that job. There were school car instructors that I personally broke in for the yard and/or road who can attest to the truthfulness of what I say. I never signed up for students . There are probably RTO folks that post here that can tell you that many RTO people will refuse to take any students under any circumstance. I wouldn’t increase my speed leaving Nevins St. if the posted speed signs were increased because no matter what is posted the laws of gravity and physics haven’t changed. Let a rider lose their balance, get injured and sue, and I can guarantee that my last sentence will be used against the  by the lawyers of the plaintiff who will win the lawsuit. I would also bet that no one will take sole ownership of the speed increase. Just my opinion. Carry on.

[Lawrence St]

There have been WAY to many 12-9's the past week. Is there no way to prevent these tragedies?

[CenSin]

57 minutes ago, Lawrence St said:

There have been WAY to many 12-9's the past week. Is there no way to prevent these tragedies?

Since platform doors are out of the question…

• Additional platform conductors with some doing double duty as spotters looking for drunk commuters
• Well-supported mental health care institutions and proactive screening of patients at their annual physicals to make sure that they get the services they need instead of slipping through the cracks and into the tracks
• Assisted suicide for those who really want to die and has his/her mind made up
  • Torture for those whose goals are to die and screw up everyone’s commute in the process—can’t let these bastards log out of life the easy way

[MHV9218]

When it comes to throwing passengers around, I will say that the last car leaving Grand Central on the  s/b is always astounding to me. People go flying, but it's such a norm that TSS protocol must be to allow it these days. 

[RR503]

7 hours ago, Trainmaster5 said:

I wouldn’t increase my speed leaving Nevins St. if the posted speed signs were increased because no matter what is posted the laws of gravity and physics haven’t changed. Let a rider lose their balance, get injured and sue, and I can guarantee that my last sentence will be used against the  by the lawyers of the plaintiff who will win the lawsuit. I would also bet that no one will take sole ownership of the speed increase.

System safety signs off on all the speed increases — this isn’t something happing via an obfuscated chain of command. While I understand that there are some areas that are, shall we say, fun-prone, I don’t think that sign compliant operation actually feels all that rough. Remember, the point of the sign effort is to find areas where limits are set below NYCT standards, which dictate a maximum of 4 inches of unbalanced force around curves — or, frankly, not all that much. As far as I can tell, areas such as Nevins on tracks 3 and 4 and GC on 4 suffer not so much from overly aggressive sign speeds as they do from operation that either exceeds sign when rounding the curve or resuming speed before the R sign. All of which is to say I think you’d be fine if you increase and just stay within delineated bounds.

[subway4832]

The people up at RCC really dropped the ball yesterday during that 12-9 at Brook Ave Last night. Service was crippled on the 1,2,4,5 and 6 yesterday cause of the power off situation. After everything cleared up, people on the 2 were basically stranded for over 2 hours in The Bronx and Manhattan. No trains got turned, and nothing got rerouted to remediate it leaving these nasty gaps. See attached Stringline. 

[Lawrence St]

I've noticed that on some weekends and offpeak weekdays, uptown trains will arrive on the middle track at 149th St-GC using the 138th St bypass track, and during rush hour and peak times, trains will arrive on the uptown local track at 149th St-GC bypassing 138th St on the regular uptown local.