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Delancey Street/ Essex Street Complex
This complex serves the IND F trains as
Delancey Street, with the BMT J trains within Essex Street. Like
59th Street/Columbus Circle and
Broadway-Nassau/Fulton Street, the good folks of the IND made a
transfer connection to the a competing company. This 3 tiered
complex utilizes the BMT trains on the upper level running on
Delancey Street, IND mezzanines at mid level, and finally the
IND F trains at the lowest level, running on Essex Street.
Recently, the complex was renovated by Cab Associates.
BMT Essex Street (On Delancey Street) Opened
7/4/1908 Station has 3 tracks on one side platform and
one island platform. The side platform lies to the north and is
exclusively for southbound travel (towards Broad Street). The
island platform has the other 2 tracks; the middle track is now
for northbound trains over the Williamsburg Bridge. The 3rd
track is no longer is use, a recent track reconfiguration of the
northbound track from Canal Street to south of Essex Street, now
prohibits southbound travel because the of the new alignment of
the northbound track. However this 3rd track can be
used for special reroutes from the Chrystie Connection from
Broadway-Lafayette station. The last time the special connection
was used for revenue service was 1982 when weekend D service was
diverted through a very strange route from Manhattan to
Brooklyn. The Manhattan Bridge was in horrible shape and NY
State DOT (at that time when they had partial control in
rebuilding this bridge), requested the suspension of weekend
subway service over this bridge for several weeks. To get from
West 4th Street to DeKalb (which should take 11
minutes under normal operating conditions), D trains would
switch over to the F line to West 4th Street. From
there, D trains would run non-stop (I may recall that they never
stopped at Broadway-Lafayette so riders would not think
otherwise to get off and wait for another D) to DeKalb via this
route: On F line, through Chrystie connection to Essex Street.
There would be a quick crew change and D trains would head up
over to the mouth of the Willy-B, relay back to Essex middle
track for another crew change, then along the M line to DeKalb
Ave and back to normal over the Brighton Line. See how far we
have come in making G.O.s simpler? There are 2 different
crossunders that can be used; both are via either F line
platform.
The most interesting part of this complex is
next to the island platform. To the south of the Williamsburg
Bridge-bound side and island platform, are tracks and a
long-closed trolley terminal. There are approx. 3 to 4 tracks
against a wall, which were used for trolley service from 1908 to
1948, and traveled over the Williamsburg Bridge to different
parts in Brooklyn (presumably the current bus routes that end at
Williamsburg Bridge Plaza, were originally destined to the Essex
St trolley terminal when the trolleys were operating.). The
tunnel north of this station merges with the current BMT tunnel;
however I do believe the trolley tracks used the adjacent
roadway (Brooklyn-bound inner roadway). Joe Cunningham notes the
tracks, deep inside this area are in very good condition and
they can be used today, they form 8 semi-circle loops so
trolleys can turn around and return back over the Williamsburg
Bridge. Looking toward the barn from standing at the far north
end of the island platform, I can see a wall that looks like the
remains of part of the trolley terminal. The Essex Street Master
Tower is inside the trolley barn area and right next to the now
closed end track. The southbound side platform has a newly
relocated full time booth, with easier access to both F line
platforms downstairs from the downtown BMT platform; it has 2
street stairs and 1 escalator to north side of Delancey Street.
Another full time booth is at platform level and is accessible
from the S/B side platform. This booth has 2 staircases to the
north side of Delancey Street. The new station name tablets on
the southbound platform wall are faux BMT style, red background
on white ESSEX letters, surrounded by a mix of blue, yellow, and
purple borders. The E letter dots the tile band at the top of
the wall. The attempt is to have a new look on the BMT station
name tablets and mosaics; it is appealing for the eyes to see
this.
IND Delancey Street (On Essex Street) Opened
1/1/1936 Station has 2 side platforms and 2 tracks, the
exits are dead center of the platform on both sides, that lead
to a F/T and P/T booth as well as transfers. The F/T booth is
mentioned earlier, while the P/T booth is on the south side of
Delancey Street and has 2 street stairs; either side allows
crossovers to either IND platform. There used to be exits at
both the north (Rivington Street) and south (Broome Street)
ends. Twelve staircases, 6 on each side, which led to the
Rivington and Broome Street exits, are removed at platform
level. This also means that there are a minimum of 2 ghost
booths in this area. Of all the street stairs removed over the
years, only the staircase at the S/E corner of Rivington and
Essex Streets remain, used only for storage and NYCT use only.
The staircase is easily identifiable as it is right next to the
rear of the Essex Street Market building. The tile band is
purple with black borders, consistent with 2nd Ave,
East Broadway and the faux tile band at York Street
station. The tiles are all replaced to give the station, its
"grand opening" appearance, attention to detail was done on the
station name tablets as well. In a departure from the norm of
recent restoration IND stations, every other column at platform
level has a large "D" for the station name. There are 2 large
wall sized pieces of artwork, one on each wall where the
staircase exits and transfers are, and the artist for both glass
mosaics is Ming Fay (2004). The Downtown side is titled "Shad
Crossing" and details two giant shad fish "swimming", along with
another wall mosaic of blue waters. In the late 19th
century, these shad were found along the Hudson River when new
immigrants came to New York, most of them settled on the Lower
East side. The new staircase to the relocated F/T booth also has
another painting of a shad wrapped around the bottom of the
stairs. The Uptown side is titled "Delancey Orchard"; it has a
cherry orchard tree mosaic, which symbolized the tree owned by
the Delancey family in the 18th century. Along all
staircases leading from the F line platforms to either fare
control are miniature versions of these paintings.
Originally, Essex Street was the terminal for trains coming
off the bridge and had one island platform and two side
platforms joined at the South (closer to Broad Street) end. When
service was extended to Chambers, the Broad Street side platform
was retained, the island removed for a third track, a new island
built and the side platform for trains to Marcy was removed. The
wide area on the bridge end of the Broad Street bound side
platform remains a mystery as to its use or intended use.
(SOURCE: David S. Rogof)
The artwork is entitled Shad Crossing,
Delancey Orchard and was installed in 2004. According to the
MTA Web Site "...Ming Fay
brings to the station the liveliness of thriving
marketplace overhead in this storied Lower East Side
neighborhood. The artist extensively researched the
neighborhood's history marketplace overhead in this storied
Lower East Side neighborhood. The images of Shad Crossing
celebrate the return of the once abundant fish to New York and
water as a metaphor for "crossing." Delancey Orchard is
the mural on the Manhattan-bound platform on the Manhattan-bound
platform, inspired by the prominent DeLancey family's eighteenth
century farm,which stretched from the East River to the Hudson
River. The farm's cherry orchard was located where Orchard
Street stands and is memorialized with radiant cherry trees on
the Brooklyn-bound platform. "
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