SUBWAY - Random Thoughts Topic

[Around the Horn]

13 hours ago, T to Dyre Avenue said:

No, but they can start planning for the replacement of the R68/As now. It was 10 years from the time they started planning for the R211s to the time the first ten cars were delivered. They started planning for the R142/As and the R143s in the 90s. Surely, the MTA brain can start planning for the replacement of both the R62/As and the R68/As at the same time, no?

This is what I was trying to get at with my first response... I imagine it will be an R211 derivative the way R160s are a continuation of the R143 aesthetically.

[R10 2952]

1 hour ago, trainfan22 said:

In the IRT cars were assigned by propulsion, West Side was GE while the East Side was Westinghouse (or it made have been the other way around, I forget). That could have minimized the bucking. Not sure how they did things in the B div back then as I never seen that discussed. I know the R30 contract had both GE and Westinghouse cars IIRC.

Yeah, I hear they were very consistent in the A Division about that.  I know there was a brief period in 2001-02 or so when ML R33s got intermixed in consists with WF cars on the , but apparently that didn't last long.

B Division seemed to be the complete opposite, for whatever reason.  I remember being on a couple of R32/R38 and R40M/42 consists that bucked like crazy.

[paulrivera]

3 hours ago, R10 2952 said:

I know there was a brief period in 2001-02 or so when ML R33s got intermixed in consists with WF cars on the , but apparently that didn't last long.

For those who may not know, there was an experiment with an  R142 set and an R142A set too around that same time period. Needless to say this experiment didn't last long either.

[VIP]

The  has a regular R160 for the day today. 8797-8793/9418-9422. And Also “Cuomo” wrapped R160 9192-9188 is out of service until further notice due to yesterday’s Battery fire at Coney Island Yard.

[QM1to6Ave]

On 11/29/2021 at 12:23 AM, Lex said:

You'd think they would upgrade the trains' computer systems in order to future-proof them enough to avoid running out of space after so few changes in less than 25 years (to say nothing of radical expansion that should at least be considered), but that probably requires far more competence than the MTA has shown in this regard.

It really is crazy that this memory issue keeps coming up considering the technology we have available! It seems like a 2005 Ipod holds more audio than these trains

[DaPr03]

10 hours ago, VIP said:

The  has a regular R160 for the day today. 8797-8793/9418-9422. And Also “Cuomo” wrapped R160 9192-9188 is out of service until further notice due to yesterday’s Battery fire at Coney Island Yard.

I saw this set on the  today as a 179 tripper around 7 PM, seems like they took it out of service afterwards.

Edited December 4, 2021 by DaPr03

[Lawrence St]

21 hours ago, VIP said:

The  has a regular R160 for the day today. 8797-8793/9418-9422. And Also “Cuomo” wrapped R160 9192-9188 is out of service until further notice due to yesterday’s Battery fire at Coney Island Yard.

Battery fire? The battery on the train itself caught on fire? How bad?

[Siemenslover]

Why does the  59-QP feel so much longer than  59-QBP?

[trainfan22]

 

Weekday ridership may not be back 100% but I'm pretty sure weekend ridership is completely back, or close to it, trains were packed today! 

 

 

16 minutes ago, Siemenslover said:

Why does the  59-QP feel so much longer than  59-QBP?

QBP is closer to the tunnel than Queens Plaza, and has an straight shot into the tunnel where's the has curves.

Edited December 5, 2021 by trainfan22

[darkstar8983]

8 hours ago, Lawrence St said:

Battery fire? The battery on the train itself caught on fire? How bad?

And isn’t 9108-9112 also out of service following the flood from September’s hurricane

[Around the Horn]

4 hours ago, trainfan22 said:

Weekday ridership may not be back 100% but I'm pretty sure weekend ridership is completely back, or close to it, trains were packed today!

According to this page, weekend ridership is roughly 65-75% of the pre pandemic norm and weekday service is roughly 55-65% of the norm. We'll just have to wait for today's numbers to go up. It definitely feels like more especially during rush hour nowadays.

[T to Dyre Avenue]

There’s definitely more crowded trains on Lex and Broadway during the rush. Those are the two lines I generally ride. Though still not quite as crush loaded as before the pandemic.

[R32 3838]

On 12/3/2021 at 12:41 AM, R10 2952 said:

Yeah, I hear they were very consistent in the A Division about that.  I know there was a brief period in 2001-02 or so when ML R33s got intermixed in consists with WF cars on the , but apparently that didn't last long.

B Division seemed to be the complete opposite, for whatever reason.  I remember being on a couple of R32/R38 and R40M/42 consists that bucked like crazy.

 

If that worked back then, The redbirds could have ran on the until early 2005. The 80 R142A's (Called R142S) were the replacements for those 80 SMS'ed R33 ML cars that were in storage. 90% of those cars are still in use today as rider cars and the TOMC.

I felt that the R36ML retired too early. Very small fleet of cars but were in great shape when they retired them.

[R10 2952]

4 hours ago, R32 3838 said:

I felt that the R36ML retired too early. Very small fleet of cars but were in great shape when they retired them.

The R36 MLs on the were arguably in the best shape of all the Redbirds; I've heard this sentiment expressed both by personnel and enthusiasts alike.  Small fleet, decent build quality, didn't get worked overtime the way TA did with the R26/28/29s.   I remember the cars on the (2)/(5) being absolute garage towards the end.

[QM1to6Ave]

20 hours ago, Around the Horn said:

According to this page, weekend ridership is roughly 65-75% of the pre pandemic norm and weekday service is roughly 55-65% of the norm. We'll just have to wait for today's numbers to go up. It definitely feels like more especially during rush hour nowadays.

Agreed--trains are getting more and more full every time I take them, even at off hours. Even on Black Friday I was on a packed   in mid-afternoon

[R32 3838]

3 hours ago, R10 2952 said:

The R36 MLs on the were arguably in the best shape of all the Redbirds; I've heard this sentiment expressed both by personnel and enthusiasts alike.  Small fleet, decent build quality, didn't get worked overtime the way TA did with the R26/28/29s.   I remember the cars on the (2)/(5) being absolute garage towards the end.

They should have just kept them running on the with the R33WF cars until 2004 or 2005. A redbird retirement on the subway's 100th birthday was a missed opportunity but those GE R36WF bodies were shot. 

[NewFlyer 230]

I always wondered, why is the  like the  is allowed to have different route branches instead of having its branches renamed to avoid confusion. 

I know it would cost a lot of money to change signs and all but wouldn’t it make sense for the  to Nereid Ave to be called the  instead and leave Dyre Ave as the .

So is there a reason why the MTA has never renamed the  and the  trains branches? 

 

[darkstar8983]

1 hour ago, NewFlyer 230 said:

I always wondered, why is the  like the  is allowed to have different route branches instead of having its branches renamed to avoid confusion. 

I know it would cost a lot of money to change signs and all but wouldn’t it make sense for the  to Nereid Ave to be called the  instead and leave Dyre Ave as the .

So is there a reason why the MTA has never renamed the  and the  trains branches? 

 

Its probably since the majority of the routes would overlap. The  branches out at Rockaway Blvd, but the route from 207 St to Rockaway Blvd is identical for both branches, similar to how the  from Flatbush Av to E180 St would be identical between the 238 St and Dyre Av branches. Another point against relabeling the  branch is that it only runs in the peak direction rush, as opposed to the  branches that run at all times except late nights

[Vulturious]

1 hour ago, darkstar8983 said:

3 hours ago, NewFlyer 230 said:

I always wondered, why is the  like the  is allowed to have different route branches instead of having its branches renamed to avoid confusion. 

I know it would cost a lot of money to change signs and all but wouldn’t it make sense for the  to Nereid Ave to be called the  instead and leave Dyre Ave as the .

So is there a reason why the MTA has never renamed the  and the  trains branches? 

 

Its probably since the majority of the routes would overlap. The  branches out at Rockaway Blvd, but the route from 207 St to Rockaway Blvd is identical for both branches, similar to how the  from Flatbush Av to E180 St would be identical between the 238 St and Dyre Av branches. Another point against relabeling the  branch is that it only runs in the peak direction rush, as opposed to the  branches that run at all times except late nights

Personally, and I've said this plenty times before, but maybe it wouldn't be a bad idea to rename the  to Lefferts as the  to get rid of that confusion. Nothing much would change and some people might be confused at first, but it'll die down quick and people would definitely get used to it. Especially since most people won't have much issues on deciding which trains is going where if they aren't going further east of Rockaway Blvd. The R211's or whatever other NTT gets assigned to the  would help switching a lot at Inwood.

[Lawrence St]

On 12/7/2021 at 9:34 AM, NewFlyer 230 said:

I always wondered, why is the  like the  is allowed to have different route branches instead of having its branches renamed to avoid confusion. 

I know it would cost a lot of money to change signs and all but wouldn’t it make sense for the  to Nereid Ave to be called the  instead and leave Dyre Ave as the .

So is there a reason why the MTA has never renamed the  and the  trains branches? 

 

Before 2005 IIRC, there were branch designations for the . The signified it was going via WPR to Neried or Crown Heights.

For some odd reason, they changed it afterwards to only include rush hour express service, which is why the and still have it, even though the also falls under that category.

[Lex]

2 hours ago, Lawrence St said:

Before 2005 IIRC, there were branch designations for the . The signified it was going via WPR to Neried or Crown Heights.

For some odd reason, they changed it afterwards to only include rush hour express service, which is why the and still have it, even though the also falls under that category.

Unlike the  and , you'd be hard-pressed to find express/local splits under the same letter/number in the peak direction.

[Missabassie]

7 hours ago, Lawrence St said:

Before 2005 IIRC, there were branch designations for the . The signified it was going via WPR to Neried or Crown Heights.

For some odd reason, they changed it afterwards to only include rush hour express service, which is why the and still have it, even though the also falls under that category.

I saw this in the news back in the day, and they had the nerve to say they were getting rid of the to eliminate confusion, in reality the opposite occurred. 

Stupid games for stupid prizes.

[Lawrence St]

52 minutes ago, Missabassie said:

I saw this in the news back in the day, and they had the nerve to say they were getting rid of the to eliminate confusion, in reality the opposite occurred. 

Stupid games for stupid prizes.

What made it even more funny is when they did the pilot and used the designation for the first version, then reverted back to the for the second express pilot.

Side note these emojiis are way better then the original ones we had.

[Calvin]

The  's at Woodside-61 St: At 5:30 AM, the Manhattan-bound trains are full (crowded) on all 11 cars. This was during the wait to the Airport. Also, when it comes to AM rush, between Wilets Pt and Main St, there are trains that forms a long line b/c of the ones to Main St with passengers and others preparing the trains for passenger service. 

[4 via Mosholu]

2 hours ago, Lawrence St said:

What made it even more funny is when they did the pilot and used the designation for the first version, then reverted back to the for the second express pilot.

Side note these emojiis are way better then the original ones we had.

It was the other way around, if I remember correctly.