narrow gauge subway line? (Times Sq Shuttle)

I no longer reside in New York, but I remember there was a subway line connecting the IRT with 42nd st. I think it was a free shuttle. All I can remember is the platforms were wood, the track narrow gauge with sharp curves and the cars were short and I think wood. Does anyone remember and can direct me to a link?

You're probably thinking of the 42nd Street Shuttle. It was not narrow gauge, nor were the cars made of wood. However your indications that the train did go around a sharp curve would indicate that this was the above shuttle. It is part of the IRT, whose cars are shorter and slightly narrower than the IND-BMT cars. Same track gauge however.

[quote="UpperHarlemLine4ever"]You're probably thinking of the 42nd Street Shuttle. It was not narrow gauge, nor were the cars made of wood. However your indications that the train did go around a sharp curve would indicate that this was the above shuttle. It is part of the IRT, whose cars are shorter and slightly narrower than the IND-BMT cars. Same track gauge however.[/quote]
Thanks for the reply. It was about 57years ago that I rode that train. I guess I assumed it was narrow gauge due to the sharp curves. I remember walking on a concrete surface and then the surface turned to wood. (Childhood memories)

The 42nd street shuttle flanges quite a bit pulling into Times Square, possibly giving the impression of a sharp curve. Don't know about the wood platforms though.

The Times Square end of the 42nd St Shuttle is on a sharp curve which is the original curve from the IRT. I believe on of the island platforms is wood but the rest are concrete. The uptown local track (the northernmost one) still connects to the IRT 7th Ave Line (1, 2, 3)

Hi All,

Sounds about right. What always impressed me about the 42nd st shuttle was that there was a parallel line an additional flight of stairs down from the shuttle. That was the Queens line that went out into Long Island City. When the Shuttle was over crowded, you could go downstairs and pick up that line and still get across town.

The 42nd St. routes are interesting in that the shuttle runs express from GCT to Times while the 7 train stops at 5th Av. One express track of the original 4 track subway was removed to provide platform space at Times. All 3 remaining tracks are connected to the through routes, the northern two via a drawbridge platform to the NB locall track under Broadway. The southernmost track, connects between the SB express and local tracks under Park Av. south of the GCT station in a flying junction. Despite the script of "Pelham 123", there is no way to through route a train through the shuttle tunnel. The actual track arrangement can be seen on nycsubway.org or in Peter Dougherty's excellent track map book.

For wooden cars or platforms and tight curves, there was also an elevated spur from 2nd Av. to GCT along 42nd. There was a transfer stop at 3rd Av. It was abandoned long before rest of the 2nd Av. el though.

IIRC, the el spur was from the 3rd ave El not the 2nd?

Thank you for finding our site... hopefully we can bring back some of those memories!

The Times Square Shuttle was once part of the mainline. It was made into a cross-town shuttle operation once the Dual Contract construction extended the other lines in Manhattan. The platforms at Grand Central were once wooden, they burned and were replaced with concrete.

http://www.nycsubway.org/lines/irtshuttle.html

Wooden cars have been forbidden from carrying passengers undergound for quite some time.

Gerry6309 wrote:The 42nd St. routes are interesting in that the shuttle runs express from GCT to Times while the 7 train stops at 5th Av. One express track of the original 4 track subway was removed to provide platform space at Times. All 3 remaining tracks are connected to the through routes, the northern two via a drawbridge platform to the NB locall track under Broadway. The southernmost track, connects between the SB express and local tracks under Park Av. south of the GCT station in a flying junction. Despite the script of "Pelham 123", there is no way to through route a train through the shuttle tunnel. The actual track arrangement can be seen on nycsubway.org or in Peter Dougherty's excellent track map book.

For wooden cars or platforms and tight curves, there was also an elevated spur from 2nd Av. to GCT along 42nd. There was a transfer stop at 3rd Av. It was abandoned long before rest of the 2nd Av. el though.

Only the northernmost track, Track 4, connects with the NB Broadway local. Track 3 is connected by switch with Track 1 and Track 1 is connected to the SB Lexington Avenue LOCAL track by a ramp from the Shuttle down to a switch on the lower level.

Trainmaster5 wrote:

Gerry6309 wrote:The 42nd St. routes are interesting in that the shuttle runs express from GCT to Times while the 7 train stops at 5th Av. One express track of the original 4 track subway was removed to provide platform space at Times. All 3 remaining tracks are connected to the through routes, the northern two via a drawbridge platform to the NB locall track under Broadway. The southernmost track, connects between the SB express and local tracks under Park Av. south of the GCT station in a flying junction. Despite the script of "Pelham 123", there is no way to through route a train through the shuttle tunnel. The actual track arrangement can be seen on nycsubway.org or in Peter Dougherty's excellent track map book.

For wooden cars or platforms and tight curves, there was also an elevated spur from 2nd Av. to GCT along 42nd. There was a transfer stop at 3rd Av. It was abandoned long before rest of the 2nd Av. el though.

Only the northernmost track, Track 4, connects with the NB Broadway local. Track 3 is connected by switch with Track 1 and Track 1 is connected to the SB Lexington Avenue LOCAL track by a ramp from the Shuttle down to a switch on the lower level.

The northernmost track connects to the IRT 7th Ave. Line uptown local track. The Broadway line carries the N, Q, R, and W and is not connected to the 42nd St. Shuttle tracks.

Raritan Express wrote:The Times Square end of the 42nd St Shuttle is on a sharp curve which is the original curve from the IRT. I believe on of the island platforms is wood but the rest are concrete. The uptown local track (the northernmost one) still connects to the IRT 7th Ave Line (1, 2, 3)

i don't think there are any more wooden platforms in the subway

Raritan Express wrote:

Trainmaster5 wrote:

Gerry6309 wrote:The 42nd St. routes are interesting in that the shuttle runs express from GCT to Times while the 7 train stops at 5th Av. One express track of the original 4 track subway was removed to provide platform space at Times. All 3 remaining tracks are connected to the through routes, the northern two via a drawbridge platform to the NB locall track under Broadway. The southernmost track, connects between the SB express and local tracks under Park Av. south of the GCT station in a flying junction. Despite the script of "Pelham 123", there is no way to through route a train through the shuttle tunnel. The actual track arrangement can be seen on nycsubway.org or in Peter Dougherty's excellent track map book.

For wooden cars or platforms and tight curves, there was also an elevated spur from 2nd Av. to GCT along 42nd. There was a transfer stop at 3rd Av. It was abandoned long before rest of the 2nd Av. el though.

Only the northernmost track, Track 4, connects with the NB Broadway local. Track 3 is connected by switch with Track 1 and Track 1 is connected to the SB Lexington Avenue LOCAL track by a ramp from the Shuttle down to a switch on the lower level.

The northernmost track connects to the IRT 7th Ave. Line uptown local track. The Broadway line carries the N, Q, R, and W and is not connected to the 42nd St. Shuttle tracks.

The # 1 Line in the IRT is known as the Broadway Local from 242nd St to South Ferry. AKA Broadway- 7th Ave Local.