TheNEW YORK DIVISION BULLETIN - FEBRUARY, 2006 Bulletin New York Division, Electric Railroaders’ Association Vol. 49, No. 2 February, 2006 The Bulletin NYC TRANSIT STRIKE OF 2005 Published by the New York Division, Electric by Randy Glucksman Railroaders’ Association, To prevent gridlock, a four-person-per-car Incorporated, PO Box Background and Contingency Plan 3001, New York, New It was expected that MTA New York City requirement was imposed for all automobiles th York 10008-3001. Transit subway and bus workers would au- entering Manhattan south of 96 Street until thorize a strike effective 12:01 AM Friday, 11 AM. This included the Lincoln, Holland, December 16, 2005, when the vote was Brooklyn-Battery, and Queens-Midtown Tun- For general inquiries, contact us at nydiv@ taken at the Jacob Javits Convention Center nels as well as the bridges connecting Man- electricrailroaders.org or in Manhattan on Saturday evening, Decem- hattan with Queens or Brooklyn. by phone at (212) 986- ber 10. In the days leading up to the dead- The fares for the special train services 4482 (voice mail line, bits and pieces of the city’s contingency which are described below had been re- available). ERA’s website is plan were released to the media, and it ported as $3 initially, but as the strike dead- www.electricrailroaders. turned out that the plan was just about the line neared the fare was upped to $4, which org. same as was in place the last time that the without a MetroCard is slightly more than Transport Workers Union contract expired in three times the normal subway fare ($2 at a Editorial Staff: Editor-in-Chief: December, 2002. (Please refer to the Janu- 20% discount). Bernard Linder ary, 2003 Bulletin for details.) The New York Providing these services required modifying News Editor: Times quoted Councilman John C. Liu, the normally operated schedules to provide Randy Glucksman chairman of the City Council’s Transportation both crews and equipment. Some regularly Contributing Editor: Jeffrey Erlitz Committee, as describing the plan as a “lite” scheduled trains had their consists reduced version of the 2002 contingency plan. His in size and their stopping patterns modified. Production Manager: explanation is that in 2002, some post-9/11 Shuttle trains were not operating on the first David Ross restrictions on cars entering lower Manhattan day, but were running on Days 2 and 3 and still existed, and there were more ferry lines on Friday morning. in operation. MTA Metro-North Railroad The Strike Begins On the Hudson Line, Metro-North operated When the contract expired on Friday morn- shuttle service between a temporary Yankee ©2006 New York ing at 12:01 AM, workers remained on the Stadium station and Grand Central Terminal, th Division, Electric job, and some negotiations were held over stopping at 125 Street starting at 5 AM. Until Railroaders’ the weekend, but the next deadline loomed 10:36 AM, there were two trains per hour, Association, at 12:01 AM Tuesday, December 20. As the and between 11:10 AM and 4:09 PM, hourly Incorporated clock turned to 12:01 AM Tuesday, there was service was provided. All trains carried 7100- In This Issue: still no strike. That caught many off guard, series numbers, with a 17-to-20-minute run- because at 3 AM as Transport Workers (and ning time. Outbound trains departed hourly Fulton Street Amalgamated Transit) Union members from Grand Central Terminal from 11:25 AM- Subway and walked off the job, and the subway and bus 3:31 PM and 9 PM-12 AM. Two trains per Rockaway systems were shut down. Presumably this hour operated from 4:08 through 7:55 PM. Line—History was done in an orderly fashion. Before dawn, My son Marc went to the Yankee Stadium ...Page 2 when commuters began their trek to work, station and reported that eight sets of temperatures were in the 20s and 30s. (Continued on page 6) 1 NEWNEW YORK YORK DIVISION DIVISION BULLETIN BULLETIN - FEBRUARY,OCTOBER, 2000 2006 FULTON STREET SUBWAY by Bernard Linder CONSTRUCTION HISTORY new technology cars were illuminated by twenty-four Construction of the tunnel between Broadway-East 72-inch and two 48-inch cold cathode fluorescent New York and Grant Avenue was nearly completed long lamps. Light intensity was 15 foot-candles at the read- before service was extended to Broadway-East New ing plane, much higher than that of the older cars. York on December 30, 1946. Installation of equipment Power for the lamps was supplied from the third rail was delayed due to the shortage of materials during through resistors. World War II. Following is a progress report of tunnel Because fluorescent lamps do not operate well on construction: direct current, a timer reversed the polarity frequently. The old-type windmill fans were replaced by eight 12- LOCATION CONTRACT WORK PERCENT AWARDED STOPPED COMPLETE inch bracket fans mounted two on a fixture, arranged to circulate the air around the car. The car heaters were Pennsylvania Avenue October, August, 100% thermostatically controlled to maintain uniform car tem- from Conway Street to 1939 1942 Fulton Street perature. The installation of shock absorbers improved riding qualities by dampening vibration and side sway. Fulton Street to Ashford September, November, 99 New-type interlocking machines using the entrance- Street 1938 1941 exit (NX) system were installed at Euclid Avenue and Ashford Street to Crystal October, November, 100 Pitkin Yard. Under the NX system, a route is set up by Street 1938 1942 operating or pushing an entrance button and pushing Crystal Street to Grant October, December, 96 an exit button at the point at which the train is to be Avenue 1940 1942 moved. After pushing these buttons, all the signals and East of the Broadway-East New York station, the tun- switches are operated automatically. When the route is nel curves under the former East New York Depot. established, a white line of light indicates that the signal When the new bus garage and repair sop was built, part cleared. As soon as the train passes the signal, the of the new storehouse was supported on the subway white line of light turns red. This line of light extin- roof. A portion of the old trolley barn was removed. guishes when the rear end of the train passes the point As soon as materials were available, equipment was indicated by the exit button. installed in the tunnel and Pitkin Yard: In the older system, a lever must be operated for every switch moved and every signal controlling move- EQUIPMENT CONTRACT AWARDED ments over the switch. Under this system, several lev- Escalator—Broadway-East New January, 1946 ers must be moved before a route can be established York station (in service July 1, and more than one person may be needed in busy tow- 1948) ers. Pitkin Yard lighting October, 1946 The next project was the extension from Euclid Ave- Pitkin Yard electrical work October, 1946 nue to Lefferts Boulevard via the Liberty Avenue Ele- vated. To operate this through service, a ramp was built Pitkin Yard heating November, 1946 connecting the new Grant Avenue station with the Hud- Pitkin Yard special work February and March, 1946 son (80th) Street station. Station platforms on the Liberty Euclid Avenue station finish November, 1946 Avenue Line were lengthened to accommodate 10-car IND trains. The estimated cost of this project was $8.7 The cost of this extension, including Pitkin Yard, which million. could accommodate 585 cars on 40 tracks, was $46.5 The Fulton Street “L” ceased operating on April 27, million. This figure includes 139 additional cars, which 1956. Buses replaced trains between Euclid Avenue cost $9.5 million. and Lefferts Boulevard from 7:15 PM Friday, April 27 to Trains started operating to Euclid Avenue on Novem- 1:00 PM Sunday, April 29, 1956, after which A trains ber 28, 1948. Forty R-10 cars, which were just deliv- started operating to Lefferts Boulevard. ered, provided the additional service. These postwar 2 NEW YORK DIVISION BULLETIN - FEBRUARY, 2006 ROCKAWAY LINE by Bernard Linder (Photographs from the author’s collection) Most LIRR Rockaway trains were routed across Ja- Interlocking closed on October 20, 1950. Rockaway maica Bay on a wooden trestle where fires occurred Park service was discontinued on October 2, 1955. The frequently. On May 7, 1950, another fire on this trestle last Rockaway Park train left Flatbush Avenue at 9:53 gutted the timbers supporting it. When it became appar- PM and the last train departed from Rockaway Park at ent that the bankrupt railroad was unwilling to spend 11:29 PM, after which all trains terminated at Far Rock- large sums of money to repair it, the City of New York away. Trains still used the station built for the grade decided to purchase it. On June 11, 1952, the Rock- away Line was sold to the city for $8.5 million and the portions still operated by the Long Island Rail Road were leased back to it. NYC Transit replaced the old wooden trestle with an embankment built of sand dredged from Jamaica Bay. Tracks were supported by steel and concrete pilings. Two new bridges were built and several stations were rebuilt. Tracks in Rockaway Park Yard were rearranged. After the trestle fire, Long Island Rail Road service was rearranged. Trains operated via Valley Stream and Rockaway Park station, August 27, 1955. The Long Island Rail Road’s Far Rockaway station, looking west, August, 1954. Nassau County to Far Rockaway and Rockaway Park. There were still some Far Rockaway short-turns until later in the year, probably discontinued when ROCK Far Rockaway station, looking east from Mott Avenue, August, 1954.