The 6th Ave Line was the second half of the original IND system in Manhattan. The subway was built to replace the old 6th Ave elevated trains and, unlike the 8th Ave Line, was opened in sections between 1936 and 1968. The original sections expanded on the recently opened 8th Ave Line along Houston St to East Broadway, then under 6th Ave from West 4th St to 53rd St. The main trunk subway along 6th Ave was originally built with only two local tracks because of the existing PATH running under 6th Ave. Express tracks were not built until 1967.
B trains run only weekdays from 145th St in Manhattan to Brighton Beach via the Manhattan Bridge and the Brighton Line. At peak times B trains are extended into the Bronx to Bedford Park Blvd. D trains run all times from Norwood-205th St in the Bronx to Coney Island via the Manhattan Bridge, 4th Ave subway, and West End line (elevated). At peak times D trains run express along the Concourse subway. Both B and D trains run express in Manhattan, though B trains make all local stops from 59th St-Columbus Circle to 145th St.
F trains run express along the Queens Blvd subway and enter Manhattan via the 63rd St subway built in the 1960s as a part of the 2nd Ave subway. In Manhattan and Brooklyn F trains run local at all times. In Brooklyn the F shares part of its route with the IND G Crosstown line to Church Ave. After Church Ave the subway becomes elevated to Coney Island.
M trains once ran along the BMT Jamaica line to downtown Manhattan but in 2010 were rerouted along 6th Ave to Forest Hills replacing the short lived V train (which ran from Forest Hills to 2nd Ave). Elevated in Brooklyn, the M train runs through a section of tunnel, built in the 1960s but rarely used, to connect the 6th Ave line to the Williamsburg Bridge. M trains run all local weekdays and as a shuttle from Myrtle Ave to Middle Village nights and weekends.
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The 8th Ave Line was the first section to open as part of the Independent Subway (IND), a new system built and operated by the City of New York to compete with the privately run IRT in Manhattan and the Bronx and the BMT in Brooklyn and under Broadway. The first major section opened in September 1932 with express and local service from Washington Heights to Chambers St.
The 8th Ave Line shares its tracks with the 6th Ave trains along Central Park West and 53rd St. The A train (made famous by Billy Strayhorn’s Take the A Train) runs from 207th St in Inwood to Fulton St in downtown Manhattan as express while the C train runs all local from 168th St in Washington Heights to Fulton St. From there the line enters Brooklyn and runs out to Ozone Park along the Fulton St subway (not to be confused with Fulton St in Manhattan). The C train terminates at Euclid Ave while the A train continues on to one of three termini: Lefferts Blvd, Rockaway Park and Far Rockaway. The A is the only train with multiple, regular service, termini.
The E train runs local in Manhattan from World Trade Center to 50th St where it splits from 8th Ave under 53rd St heading east into Long Island City and Queens Plaza. The E train is one of the two workhorse express trains running along the Queens Blvd subway to Forest Hills and Jamaica. The E splits from the Queens Blvd subway at Van Wyck Ave and terminates in Jamaica Center.
The majority of the 8th Ave Line is underground and was built specifically for the IND system. The sections of elevated track after Euclid Ave to Lefferts Blvd were recaptured from the existing Fulton St elevated line in the 1940s and the tracks out to the Rockaways where added in the 1950s after being purchased from the Long Island Rail Road.
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The IND Crosstown line holds the distinction of being the only subway line to never enter Manhattan. Running local between Court Sq in Long Island City, Queens and Church Ave in Kensington, Brooklyn, the G train was opened in segments from 1933 to 1937 to connect the IND Queens Blvd subway to the IND Fulton St and IND South Brooklyn subway. Original plans for a Brooklyn-Queens crosstown line were floated in the 1920s with a line going from Astoria to Bedford-Stuyvesant with a branch going west to downtown Brooklyn and another branch running south along Bedford Ave to Coney Island.
The G train is one of the shortest and least traveled lines in the system and runs through mostly residential areas like Fort Green, Bedford-Stuyvesant, Williamsburg, and Greenpoint. Originally the G served as the only local train along the Queens Blvd line and commuters had to switch at Queens Plaza for express trains into Manhattan. This service proved unpopular and the G was cut back over the years as other trains were rerouted along Queens Blvd.
On the southern section of the line the G train shares tracks with the F along the IND Culver line from Bergen St to Church Ave. Express tracks were built along this section for F trains but, as with service along Queens Blvd, commuters didn’t like having to switch trains so the express tracks remain unused.
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The Independent City-owned Subway System, IND, was created as alternative to the private traction companies, Interborough Rapid Transit Co., IRT, and the Brooklyn-Manhattan Transit Co., BMT. The IND broke ground on the 8th Ave Line in 1925 with plans for lines to Queens, Brooklyn, and the Bronx. In 1929 the IND released an ambitious plan for expanding the initial system. This plan became known as the IND Second System. In 1940 the City of New York was able to purchase the private companies and combine all three systems under the NYC Board of Transportation. In 1953 this evolved into the NY Transit Authority and in 1968 the state took control of the subways as part of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority.
The purpose of this map is the show the history of official subway expansion plans which can be broadly broken down into four phases: the 1929 Second System plan, the 1939 Second System plan, post-World War II plans, and the 1968 MTA Plan for Action.
The map acts as a “choose your own adventure” where by each variant of every plan is drawn. The reader can pick and choose which lines they think could have been built and what the system might have looked like today if they had.
Fine art prints are made in Williamsburg, Brooklyn NY on Semi-Gloss, 10mil Premium Luster Paper.
For more information about the map see the original blog post here.
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A fictitious service guide of the IND division, New York Subway, had the 1939 Second System plans been built after World War 2. This service diagram is based off of the original Board of Transportation map of 1937 showing the new IND 8th Ave Lines, and the modern update done by Chris Neuherz.
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There are two “official” maps of the IND Subway’s expansion plans from the 1930s, colloquially known as the Second System. The plans for expansion evolved greatly as the IND was built. In the 1930s, the New York City subways were still operated by three separate companies. In 1940 the two private companies, the IRT and BMT were purchased by the City of New York under a unification plan. Thus, subway planners were able to imagine physically combining the three systems.
In 1940, John Delaney, Chairman of the Board of Transportation, outlined a new plan, with some additions in 1943. Until now, there were no maps of this plan. So I made one! The 1943 Lost IND Second System Map is probably the last time the city thought about such a large expansion program. The map here is based on the design of the 1939 map, with some changes.
To learn more about the history of this map, and see an outline of the ideas it shows, check out my post.
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The City of New York built Independent Subway (A/B/C/D/E/F/G trains) was opened between 1932 and 1940. All the subway stations at the time featured tile bands and art unique to each station. The IND’s architect, Squire Vickers, created a new tile pattern based on color theory. He grouped express and local stations with color so that each time a rider rode through an express station the color of the tiles would change. He created a modern, streamlined design which featured two colors per station. The idea was that a rider would recognize their station’s color and know when to get off. This map shows how each color group looks when laid out like a subway map.
Note: The design features an orange tile outline. Some frames may obscure this outline.
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