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North refers to trains to Forest
Hills and South refers to trains to 2nd
Avenue
For photos see
www.nycsubway.org
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71 AVENUE
CONTINENTAL AVENUE
FOREST HILLS
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71st
Avenue Continental Avenue Forest Hills (Queens
Blvd at 71st Ave/108th
Street) Opened 12/13/1936:
Express
stop, 4 tracks on 2 island platforms,
and is the terminus of
R,
former V, and
orange M
trains. There are 3 fare control areas
along full width mezzanine. 2 of
the 3 fare control areas are near each
other along wraparound passageway
outside of fare control. The full time booth
is near the east end and is closest to
71st Ave/Queens Blvd
staircase on south side. Another
part time booth in the same area is in the
middle and is closest to 108th
street71st Avenue. It
is open during AM rush hours, other
times; a couple of HEETs can be used.
The last part time booth is at the far west end
is at 70th Road/Queens Blvd
and has only one street stair.
There are 7 street stairs to each
platform. On the platform, the
platform wall has green tile band with
black border. Facing the express
tracks are the vintage 1936 white signs
with black lettering "
Contin-ental Ave Forest Hills" .A
renovated and expanded tower is at the
far eastern end of the Jamaica-bound
platform, another mini-tower also sits
on the center of the Manhattan-bound
platform but it is seldom used.
Before we enter this station, there are
a set of tracks rising from the lower
level, one for each direction.
These tracks are used for local trains
relaying back downtown, as well as yard
moves to the massive Jamaica Yard
facility nearby. They come up and
merge with both local and express tracks
in “Y” track configuration.
Between 67th
Avenue and Roosevelt Ave/Jackson
Heights, we see bellmouths of varying
degrees. What is known is that the
IND's second system plans were to build
a new line extension to Far Rockaway
(way before the 1950 LIRR fire), and
take over the LIRR operations via. a
spur from the Queens Blvd along the
present abandoned ROW. What makes
this part of the line so interesting is
the number of bellmouths in this area,
at least 4 bellmouths, plus a ramp to
the lower level at Roosevelt Ave
terminal.
67th
Avenue (67th Avenue
and Queens Blvd) opened
12/13/1936: Local stop, 4
tracks and 2 side platforms. Tile
band on these stations are light shades
of blue. There are 6 stairs to
each platform, plus full length
mezzanine with crossover allowed.
The part time entrance at eastern end has
ghost booth, The full time side is at
the western end.
Each fare control has 2 street stairs,
one for each side of Queens Blvd that
allow underpass usage without paying a
fare
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63 DRIVE
REGO PARK
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63rd Drive
Rego Park
(63rd
drive/Junction Blvd and Queens Blvd)
Opened 12/13/1936:
Like 67th Avenue, there is a full
length mezzanine, however crossover
inside fare control is only allowed at
the westernmost staircase only. Another
local stop with the usual 4 tracks and 2
side platforms, there are a total of 4
fare control areas, 2 exit only, 1
full time
and 1 part time. The 2 exit only
staircases are at the far western end at
platform level, and one for each side.
The Manhattan-bound side of the exit
only staircase not only leads to Sears,
and other stores upstairs, but also
shows evidence of a ghost booth here.
The full time side is on 63rd Drive and has 2
street stairs, one for each side on
Queens Blvd (this affords a safe
underpass outside fare control, for
those who don't like crossing Queens
Blvd.). The south staircase is
closest to the Q53 Triboro Coach Bus
route to Rockaway Park. The part
time
side at 64th Road has ghost
booth and the same 2 street stairs. The
underpass to avoid crossing Queens Blvd
is available at both ends.
As we travel from 63rd
Drive to Woodhaven Blvd, our next stop
we quickly see a bellmouth which leads
to the planned Winfield/Rockaway spur as
part of the IND's never-built second
system. This area will never ever
be built again, the residual effects of
the 1929-1940's Great Depression, and
World War II, forced this and other
planned IND extensions on permanent
hold.
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WOODHAVEN BOULEVARD
QUEENS MALL
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Woodhaven
Boulevard Queens Mall
AKA. Woodhaven Blvd-Slattery Plaza
(Woodhaven Blvd/Horace Harding Blvd/59th
Ave and Queens Blvd) Opened
12/13/1936: Local
stop, although prior
1930's plans were to convert this
station into an express stop, once the
line from lower Roosevelt Ave terminal
to the Winfield spur and the Rockaways
would open. A close observation at
outside both ends of this station does
reveal the tunnel wall extends outward
to allow space for an island platform.
It never happened so it's still a local
stop. The station was renovated in
the 1990's, but thankfully retains the
1930's "Woodhaven Blvd-Slattery
Plaza" name tablet and "Horace Harding
Blvd" directional signs below the name
tablet. The Queens Center Mall
first opened in 1972, but the name
conversion on subway maps was not in use
until the late 1980's. There is no
direct indoor access to the Mall's
entrance across 59th Ave from the
full time
mezzanine. The mezzanine allows
crossover from any of the stations' 4
staircases from each platform (total of
8 staircases). There are 3 street
stairs on the F/T side at the western
end of the mezzanine. One
staircase leads to north side of Queens
Blvd and 59th Ave and is the most
heavily used staircase because it is
closest to Queens Mall and some bus
lines. The other 2 staircases are
through a semi long passageway to the
south side of Queens Blvd and both sides
of Woodhaven Blvd. Had the
Winfield spur was ever constructed and
built, this passageway would most likely
be a free transfer to/from the Queens
Blvd line and the Winfield/Rockaway line
instead. The part time side at Horace
Harding Blvd has ghost booth and 1
street stair. Since the
construction of the Long Island
Expressway in the mid-1950's the station
entrance at street level appears to be
orphaned, out of character with the rest
of the area since there is nothing for
300 feet in any direction and is too
close to an expressway exit ramp.
Artwork: "In Memory of The Lost
Battalion" by Pablo Tauler (1996) takes
nine support beams in the station's
mezzanine and creates different
materials, such as stainless steel and
other material, to honor the soldiers
who served in the 77th Infantry in
Yaphank, NY during World War 2.Between
Woodhaven and Grand Ave, we see a
bellmouth inward; again this was part of
the failed Winfield/Rockaway spur.
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GRAND AVENUE
NEWTOWN
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Grand Avenue Newtown
(Grand Ave/Broadway at
Queens Blvd)
Opened
12/13/1936:
Local stop, 4 tracks and 2 side
platforms. Full length mezzanine,
however due to the setup of fare control
and booth area being at the middle of
this mezzanine, crossover is only
allowed at the easternmost staircase.
Each side has 2 street stairs, however
only the staircases at Grand Ave and
Broadway at the western end, are open 24
hours a day. The other 2
staircases by the crossover are closed
at night, however there is HEET access
at both ends without having to walk down
to the middle of the mezzanine in order
to enter fare control. It is
evident from the 2 closed staircases at
the Manhattan-bound side, that there
were 2 fare control areas, one at each
end. Manhattan-bond side has 4
stairs, plus the 2 closed staircases
mentioned, while Jamaica bound side has
5 staircases. Tile band is a
darker shade of blue
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ELMHURST AVENUE
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Elmhurst Avenue
(Elmhurst/Britton
Avenues on Broadway)
Opened 12/13/1936:
Local stop, similar setup on the
mezzanine area as Grand Avenue, only
this time the crossover is allowed at
the western end, around an exit
staircase (sometimes difficult to spot
if you do not use this station on a
regular basis.). Unlike
Grand Ave, any staircase can be used to
crossover, however you must walk to the
western end of the mezzanine in order to
do. A total of 5 street stairs at
both ends, fare control is at the
middle, showing evidence that there were
2 separated fare control areas.
Staircase at Britton Ave on western end
has a small arcade of stores.
Each platform has 7 stairs to/from
mezzanine. Up until the early
1980's, this station was a direct
connection with the LIRR's Port
Washington branch at the now-abandoned
Elmhurst station, about 1/2 block away.
As we about to enter Roosevelt Ave,
we see a semi-sealed tunnel along with
what were supposed to be a switch about
800 feet to the north. This was
supposed to be a track way to the
Roosevelt Ave terminal station on the
lower level of Roosevelt Ave station, we
even see the almost finished tunnel
making it's descent from the local
track. It was part of the never-built IND
extension to the Rockaways via. the
Winfield spur.
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ROOSEVELT AVENUE
JACKSON HEIGHTS
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Roosevelt
Avenue Jackson Heights
is discussed on the
Complexes
Page
65th
Street
(65th
Street and Broadway) opened
8/19/1933: Local stop, 4
tracks and 2 side platforms. Tile
band is purple. The, current and
surviving full time mezzanine is at the
eastern end. I noticed signs to
the Forest Hills-bound platform
strategically positioned on the wall,
instead of hanging over the staircase.
The reason for this was the original
1933 IND tile sign read "Jamaica and
Rockaway", meaning the IND went too fast
in saying the Winfield/Rockaway spur
would be built in advance, yet these
signs were never covered until at late
as 1998. The 1933 IND
Manhattan-bound tile signs are left
intact to this day. Both sides had
fare controls and ghost booths at
platform levels at the far western end,
opposite end of the current mezzanine,
they are sealed. There are 3
stairs to each platform and 2 street
stairs.
As we leave 65h
Street, the express tracks descend
to a lower level and take a more direct
route The E and
F express now
run underneath Northern Blvd, while we
continue under Broadway, make a left
onto Steinway Street before meeting up
with the express trains underneath
Norther n
and Steinway due to Broadway and Steinway Streets
being
very narrow streets and it would be
impossible to align 4 tracks side by
side underneath these streets. The
IND was the only one of the 3 NYC
transit systems that had the express
tracks take a shortcut off the main
line, while skipping a few stops, (aside
from the BMT use of the Manhattan
Bridge). Only other place along
the IND where express train take a
mini-shortcut is the section between 7th
Ave and Church Ave on the
F line in
Brooklyn, currently not in active use
except for late night and weekend G.O.
diversions
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NORTHERN BOULEVARD
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Northern Boulevard
(Northern Blvd and Broadway) opened
8/19/1933: Local stop, 2
tracks and 2 side platforms. Exit
at western end by Northern Blvd and
Broadway, fare controls are at platform
level so no crossover or crossunder is
allowed. The full time booth is Manhattan
bound while Forest Hills booth is open
part time, other times, HEET access is
required. Each fare control has only 1
street stair. Closed exits at
eastern end on both side, IND direction
tile "56th St.", and arrow
are left intact on both platforms under
the Northern Blvd. tablet.
46th
Street (46th
Street and Broadway)
Opened 8/19/1933: Local
stop, 2 tracks and 2 side
platforms. Like Northern Blvd, all fare
control areas are at platform level and
there is no mezzanine.
Manhattan-bound side has a full
time area at
46th Street (western end), and a part
time
entrance and booth at Newton Ave side.
Forest Hills-bound side has a part time booth
with nightly and weekend HEET access and
another HEET only entrance (no booth) at
Newtown Road side. Contrary to
myth about the area in the center of the
platform, there never was a 3rd
exit constructed, the original IND
directional signs only have 46th
and 48th Streets, no 47th
Street is visible or covered
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STEINWAY STREET
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Steinway Street
(Steinway Street, about 200 feet
south of Broadway)
Opened 8/19/1933:
Local stop, 2 tracks and 2 side
platforms. There are 2
separate mezzanines at both ends of the
station, crossover is allowed on both
sides. The full time side on Steinway Street
and about 200 feet south of
Broadway with 2 street stairs, while
the part time
side at 34th Ave and Steinway Street,
has booth that is open during
Monday-Friday, during the day and
evening and weekend HEET access, plus 2
street stairs and 1 stair to each
platform. From the full time area, there
are 2 small staircases on the Manhattan
bound side, while the Forest Hills bound
side has a single platform wide
staircase that makes it easier to exit
the station. Good move by the IND
at that time, it is the busiest local
station between Queens Plaza and
Roosevelt Avenue!! Leaving Steinway
Street, the express tracks for
the E and F lines
rejoin our line.
We now resume 4 tracks
36th
Street (36th Street
and Northern Blvd)
Opened 8/19/1933: Local
stop, 4 tracks, 2 side platforms, no
crossover or crossunder is present, so
you have to go to either Queens Plaza or
Steinway Street if you need to double
back. Manhattan-bound side has
platform level mezzanine and 3 street
stairs, one of which stretches out 1
block to the north at 37th
Street, via a platform-level passageway.
One HEET is available so a MetroCard or
Single ride ticket can be used to enter
the station without taking the long walk
down to the main fare control area.
The Forest Hills bound side has 2
mezzanines, north end is HEET access and
the
south end has a part time booth. Both ends
have 1 street stair to exit.
Route selector punch boxes are found at
the Manhattan-bound local and express
tracks,
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QUEENS PLAZA
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Queens Plaza
(Jackson Ave, at Bridge Plaza
South/Queens Blvd) opened 8/19/1933:
This
station has undergone a full scale
renovation by Arena Construction . 4
tracks, 2 island platforms along curved
section. Tile band is purple, . Before the renovation, the
station had full length mezzanine
(inside and outside fare control) with
as many as 3 booths. The full time booth is near
the center of the mezzanine has 3 street
stairs and outside passage to 2 more
street stairs at south end, near ghost
booth. The old-style change booth was in
place as recent as 1998 before it was
subsequently removed. 2 of the outside
entrances were redone to match the color
of the NYC DOT indoor parking lot
structure, when it was constructed in
1975. The part time booth has 2 street stairs
and 1 stair to each platform. A station
facility now blocks the passage between
the part time and full timer fare control areas inside
fare control, thus the mezzanine is
divided in half (consistent with other
IND mezzanine reconfigurations). But the
full time area now boasts of balconies that
allow you to see the local trains and
platforms down below, it didn’t have
this unique feature prior to the
renovation. There are 3 stairs to each
platform from the full time end, 2 stairs in
between both fare control areas were
removed during the renovation process.
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COURT SQUARE
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Court Square
(was23rd
Street Ely Avenue)
is discussed on
the
complexes page
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LEXINGTON AVENUE
53 STREET
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Lexington Avenue/ 53rd
Street is discussed on the
complexes
page
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5 AVENUE
53 STREET
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5th
Avenue/ 53rd Street
opened 8/19/1933 and has two one track
levels with the platform on the South
side. A tower is on the south end of the
upper platform which serves trains to
lower Manhattan and Brooklyn while the
lower level serves trains to Queens. The
north exit leads to Madison Avenue while
the south leads to Fifth Avenue.
Escalators are used to access the
platform from the mezzanine and the
lower platform from the upper platform.
The station has a hint of refrigerator
tile as if they could not decide. It has
been renovated. The upper platform is in
a tube design. Leaving this station, the
E
trains turn off before we enter the next
station and B,
D and
F Join the line.
The tower on the upper level which controlled
this junction has been closed and
control transferred to Queensboro Plaza
Master Tower.
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47- 50
STREET
ROCKEFELLER CENTER
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47th-
50th Street Rockefeller
Center
(Ave
of the Americas, between West 47th
and West 50th Streets) Opened
12/15/1940: Very large station,
it is an express stop along the
prestigious Avenue of the Americas, with
4 tracks and 2 island platforms.
Ordinarily, we would be arriving
on the local track. Because of the
tricky "T" shaped line configuration ,
southbound express and local trains come
in on opposite sides, the
B and
D
express trains use the local track,
while F
, orange
M and former V trains use the
express track. Station has numerous
passageways and exits, a total count of
at least 14 entrances from street level
alone, were taken. This does not include
several passageways through Rockefeller
Center, all outside fare control. The
full timeT
booth is at the north end of full-length
mezzanine, at West 49th
Street, with 1 passageway through
Rockefeller Center on the East side, and
another set of passageways through
various Concourse levels of office
buildings along the west side of Avenue
of the Americas. A passageway to one
northern part time staircase leads to Radio
City Music Hall/West 50th
Street and is open late during evening
performances. Another passageway along
west side of 49th Street was
recently extended to connect with the
BMT 49th St station on the
N,
R and
former W
lines (no free transfer). Middle fare
control at West 48th Street
has ghost booth and all-day HEET access.
South fare control at West 47th
St has a part time booth and more staircases.
Eagle eye movie fans who saw the 1976
thriller "Marathon Man", will note the
old KK rush hour subway route on a
street entrance of the east side of Ave
of the Americas and West 47th
Street, before the routes’ demise. Each
platform has 7 stairs to mezzanine, the
north end of the N/B platform has an
active tower, and is depressed about 10
feet below the S/B platform. This is to
prepare the lines to be branched out
towards the Bronx and Queens. Color band
is red, with dark brown borders, "47"
and "50" alternate each other below the
tile band
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42 STREET
BRYANT PARK
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42nd
Street Bryant Park is discussed
on the
complexes page
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34 STREET
HERALD SQUARE
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34th
Street Herald Square is
discussed on the
complexes page
23rd Street
(23rd Street and 6th
Avenue)
Opened 12/15/1940:
Local stop, 2 tracks along 2 separate side
platforms. Because the Hudson and
Manhattan tunnels (now
PATH) were
constructed over 40 years prior to the IND, the
local platforms do not allow any crossover or
cross under, nor was any mezzanine ever
constructed at this station (there is a
mezzanine at 14th Street station, though.)
The F and M
use the 2 outside tracks while inside the walls,
the PATH trains
use the 2 inner tracks. The
B and
D express
tracks are way below the
PATH tracks,
and were constructed using the "deep-bore"
tunneling method in the mid 1960's. Each
mezzanine has 4 street stairs and a direct
indoor entrance to the 23rd Street
PATH
station. 2 of the 4 entrances on each
side appear to be part of the original 1911
PATH entrances.
Tile band is lime green. The tile band on
the track walls appears to be obscured by
support beams directly underneath 23rd Street.
Your webmaster has had detailed
discussions with track personnel from NYCT and
PATH in regards to track elevation. The common
answer was a three level arrangement. NYCT on
the top, PATH in the middle, and NYCT
express on the bottom level.
14th
Street is discussed on the
complexes page
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WEST 4 STREET
WASHINGTON SQUARE
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West 4th
Street (Ave of the Americas
between West 3rd St and
Waverly Place) Upper level opened
9/10/1932, Lower level opened
12/15/1940. has four tracks on the upper
level, serving A,( see
A Lefferts
and A
Rockaway)
C and
E
trains, a lower Mezzanine and then a
lower level serving
B,
D,
F ,
Orange M
and former V trains. The lower
Mezzanine is full width and length and
also holds numerous offices for NYCT.
The north end of the upper level has
exits to the street. The south end of
the upper level ramps up to a crossover
and a booth. Full ADA is i via the south
end. A tower is at the south end of the
southbound lower level platform. The
North exit leads to West Eighth Street
and the south to west Third Street. The
exit to west Fourth Street has been
removed. The station has a secondary
name of Washington Square.
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BROADWAY LAFAYETTE
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Broadway Lafayette
(West Houston Street between Broadway
and Lafayette Ave) Opened 10/1/1936
. The relatively high ceiling
at the east end indicates a ramp was
planned somewhere also. This station
features only 1 full time fare control area at
Broadway and West Houston, with 2 street
stairs. Before the renovation, the fare
control was situated in the middle,
between the 2 Broadway entrances and the
Lafayette Ave entrance. The Lafayette
Ave entrance on the south side is
currently 24/7 HEET access. A new
entrance and booth on the North side of
Lafayette Ave and Houston was
constructed during the renovation, the
booth fell victim to the 2003 ax, as is
now listed a ghost booth and part-time
HEET access. There is an intermediate
level between the mezzanine/IRT level
and platform level; it contains artwork
on the columns. "Signal" by Mel Chin
(1998) uses various materials to create
a lighted appearance at the bottom of
the column. There are 3 stairs from each
platform to intermediate level and an
additional 2 stairs from intermediate to
mezzanine level. At the far western end
(due north in accordance to lines
traveled) is another set of stairs (1
for each side) that lead directly up to
fare control, 3 levels and a steep walk
up This station is now a part of the
Broadway
Lafayette Bleecker Street Complex
2nd
Avenue Lower East Side
(East Houston Street between 2nd
Ave/Chrystie Street and 1st
Avenue/Allen Street)
Opened 10/7/1933:
This is a terminal stop for V trains, it
has 4 tracks, 2 island platforms and 2
mezzanines. The full time side is at 1st
Avenel/Allen Street, while the part time side is
at 2nd Avenel/Chrystie Street.
When the station first opened, it had a
full length mezzanine, both inside and
outside fare control. Clear
evidence of this mezzanine points to the
following: 1. partially obscured
directional sign "2nd Ave" at the 1st
Avenue end. 2. Three closed
staircases from the closed mezzanine, to
each platform. Walk from one end
of the platform to another and you will
see a break in the ceiling's pattern
from time to time, and 3. The mezzanine
area is covered on both sides by various
station and RTO facilities, along with
the gates that would have separated the
inside and outside fare control areas.
This would have been a transfer point to
the IND's second system along 2nd
Avenue, there is a small closed
staircase found at the part time side that
confirms this. The MTA is
currently proposing the building of the
full length 2nd Ave line within 20
years, and a free transfer at the
proposed Houston Street station, to this
station is being considered. The 2
"express" tracks end in a false wall,
further evidence suggests that the 2
middle tracks were being planned to be
routed into Brooklyn's South 4th Street
line as part of the IND second
system, none of which ever got past the
planning stage. Tile band is purple
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Contact us at
subway-buff@stationreporter.net
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