Apocalypse on the Subway

Will it happen tomorrow?
The apocalypse?

It's kind of fun to think about.

Without any of us here, the pumps on the train would fail in about two days. This is from Alan Weisman's The World Without Us. Check out these images

This picture of the rats has haunted me for years. I think about it every time I look at the rats on the A train platform at Broadway Nassau. Which is pretty much every time I'm on that platform.

Samuel L. Jackson vs. the A Train

Say what you want about rats on this m%thaf#ckin' train, Sam Jackson has his own issues with the subway.

This Daily Show clip is probably the thing that gave me the whole idea for this blog, years and years ago.

Jon Stewart himself said this was the wildest subway story he'd ever heard.

Here's a quote....

"I myself was dragged by a subway train. Years ago, in 1990. I was getting off the train, a lady dropped her bag, and I stopped to pick up her stuff. Had one foot on the platform, one foot on the train, and the door shut and the train took off. I got dragged the length of the platform! Luckily I was in the last car, I was a car and a half away from the tunnel before someone pulled the emergency cord. It ripped my ACL to shreds. And I sued the shit out of the MTA!"

Samuel L. Jackson, from Time Out New York

(Who would have guessed that Samuel L. Jackson would find the subways more stressful than flying?)

A Tribute to a Train Car of the Past.....

The R-10s and the A - a match made in subway heaven.

They thundered. They blazed. They were tailor made for the Abbott. When they ruled, the CPW express run was a DASH and not a leisurely jog. When they bore down on 81st St. in full flight, you had the feeling that nothing could stop them. If you were standing on the platform at 81st, you got an earful as they ripped past.

The TA has made some blunders through the years, but putting the R-10s on the route they were tailor-made for was among the best moves - if not THE best move - ever made.

A combination of express runs and the speed capabilities of those cars. Now, I know that all SMEEs had the same operating characteristics in terms of acceleration and balancing speed, so in that regard the R-10s were no different than, say, the R-42s. Perhaps the fact that the R-10s were, shall we say, noisier than other SMEEs gave the perception of greater speed. Being that as it may, I enjoyed riding on them.

My very first CPW express dash was on a prewar D on November 24, 1967. Their bull and pinion gears wailed away at F# above middle C for most of that sprint.

The R-10s were an immortal fleet. I affectionately refer to then as the Thunderbirds. I still remember the racing stripe scheme they wore in the late 60s.

--Steve

Magic Trick about the A train

There are two magic tricks in this video. The first is a silly card trick.

The second is the Columbus Circle 59th St. Subway Station.

Best moment starts at minute 2:40.

From the 80's cult film "Brother from Another Planet"



If you know the Columbus Circle station, you may have seen this yourself....

(background: protagonist is a mute alien disguised as a human, and more than just a little freaked out by NYC.)