Railroad Forums 

Discussion relating to the past and present operations of the NYC Subway, PATH, and Staten Island Railway (SIRT).

Moderator: GirlOnTheTrain

 #1442235  by trainbrain
 
Looking at this track map http://www.nycsubway.org/perl/caption.p ... e180th.png, I can see that the only switches onto the Dyre Ave Line are off the local tracks. This means that during rush hours, 5 trains that are running to Dyre Ave need to switch back onto the local track to get onto the correct line, possibly interfering with 2 service which stays on the local track the whole way. The switch just south of Bronx Park East is shown as unused, but 5 trains to Nereid Ave might use it. I don't know.

Do 5 trains to Dyre Ave crossing the WPR local track cause delays in service? Looking at the map, it seems like it would make more sense to switch the 2 to the peak direction express and have it use the switches just south of Bronx Park East to prevent 2 and 5 trains from needing to merge twice. Is there any reason that the MTA hasn't moved to this? Decades ago they changed the 1 to the local and the 3 to express to prevent delays associated with trains switching between local and express at 96th Street.
 #1442263  by GirlOnTheTrain
 
East 180th Street has been completely reconfigured for more efficient service...that map you're linking to is like 20 years out of date and in no way reflects the current configuration as per our own checkthedoorlight.

My hot tip to you is to go to http://nyctrackbook.com/ and buy a copy of Peter Dougherty's track map book. It gets updated on an annual basis. It's the same person who provided the maps to nycsubway.org - and there is a tab on the website that explains why those don't get updated. It's money well spent - I have a hard copy, but you can also buy a PDF which is nice and portable on whatever tablet-y device you might carry while out and about.
 #1442264  by trainbrain
 
I'll have to buy myself one. I knew that they didn't update the service patterns because that's not really the point of a track map, but I figured they'd at least update the track configurations.
 #1442421  by checkthedoorlight
 
Yes I'm sure. The Dyre flyover connects to track 2, but there's a switch immediately south that will put a 5 express on track M. Furthermore, the new B Lead is used by 2 trains during rush hour specifically to keep them out of the 5 train's path and allows both trains to enter and leave E180 simultaneously.
 #1449314  by Peter Dougherty
 
GirlOnTheTrain wrote:East 180th Street has been completely reconfigured for more efficient service...that map you're linking to is like 20 years out of date and in no way reflects the current configuration as per our own checkthedoorlight.

My hot tip to you is to go to http://nyctrackbook.com/ and buy a copy of Peter Dougherty's track map book. It gets updated on an annual basis. It's the same person who provided the maps to nycsubway.org - and there is a tab on the website that explains why those don't get updated. It's money well spent - I have a hard copy, but you can also buy a PDF which is nice and portable on whatever tablet-y device you might carry while out and about.
Why thank you for the kind words <grin>. Indeed, the online maps are woefully out of date (circa 1997), and are available as a courtesy. I should probably do something about them one of these days.

East 180th got a full rebuild a few years back and it's well documented in my book (both old and new yard configurations). Late last year and continuing into this past summer the Dyre line was reconfigured as well. Old IRT signals (the last ones on the system) were finally removed and a modified track plant was put in on that line between E. 180th and Morris Park.

Incidentally, the new printed version goes to press in a couple of weeks. Preorders now being accepted and books will ship the first week of December.