Areas of interest in NYC

Hello all

As I've posted on many other forums (LIRR, MARC/VRE, NJ Railfan, etc), I'll be visiting the United States in a fortnight's time, coming all the way from Australia.

In the month that I am here, I plan on spending a total of 5 days for general sightseeing and railfanning in New York City. One (Or maybe two if I'm eager to visit Greenport) of the days will be spent railfanning on Long Island, with another to spend a day riding a Metro-North train to somewhere nice, leaving the remaining three days to fill in NYC. I'll be staying out of Philadelphia, PA, and riding Amtrak to get me to NYC and back.

With the size that NYC is, and the immense volume and nature of railroads and transit, I'm overwhelmed on what I could get up to in NYC both for trains and for the city. As I'm aware, NYC has multiple transit and rail operators like the Subway, LIRR, Metro-North, Staten Island, and the interstate operators like NJ Transit out of Penn and Amtrak. In my time in NYC, I am wanting to experience all facets of NYC transportation. The following I am planning to do:

Day 1: Travel to Montauk on Long Island.

Day 2: Travel to somewhere far and nice by a Metro-North. At present, this looks to be Poughkeepsie on the Hudson line. I'll post more of that in the Metro-North forum.

Day 3: 'General railfanning' around the NYC area. Riding subways, watching and photographing trains out of Grand Central and Penn. This will include a visit to the Transit Museum and also a stop at two Model Railroad stores.

Day 4: General sightseeing. I wouldn't mind experiencing NYC off the beaten track. I want to avoid cliched landmarks like the Statute of Liberty and etc that all tourists visit, but I'm thriving to experience real NYC culture and people. Places in NYC like Central Park, local events (In the time I'm visiting), ethnic Neighbourhoods like Little Italy and Harlem, etc. I'm hoping you locals can recommend places.

Day 5: Reserve for any other additional activity. Maybe some more sightseeing around NYC, or going to Greenport on the LIRR.


Like my other posts made on other forums, I'd like to make queries, with the hope of getting some advice before I make my trip over.

1) Ticketing wise, is there any special Day Pass I could get which can provide for unlimited travel on MTA Subway, Ferries and Buses and the like?

2) With General railfanning, I am looking for many suggestions and ideas with what would be of interest in NYC in a railroad context. A visit to Grand Central is a must, but what else could be suggested? Any particular subway lines I should ride on, stations to visit, any 'hot spots' for spotting and photographing rail traffic, etc.

3) With general sightseeing for Day 4, I am open to any and every suggestion that's made. I'm hoping for more help with this query than all the others!

4) Like the other places I'm visiting, cheap places to eat in NYC are much on the agenda as railfanning. Ideas?


Thank you sincerely! NYC and Long Island are the locations which I am most eager to spend my time in.

The MTA has a one-day "fun pass" that's $7 (last time i checked). This is good for 1 day on NYCT Subways and Buses (no express buses). If you want to take a ferry, the Staten Island Ferry is free and the trip is 1/2 hour each way. But, there's no one day pass for everything.

As for cheap places to eat, i'm not sure. I'm too lazy to look. I eat at 12:00 in the McDonald's in Penn Station every day, which I'm sure is not healthy! Usually if it's not anything fancy, It's a pretty good deal. So if you're looking for cheap food to eat, a fast food chain or Pizza should be a safe bet!

As dgraini said, the subway day pass is a good idea, and yes, it's still $7.

Another pass that's good is the NY Water Taxi 2 day unlimited travel pass. It's $20 dollars and allows for unlimited waterfront travel on NY Water Taxi boats. Even if you only use if for a day, it's worth it if you like the watefront and the nice photo-ops you'll have. http://www.nywatertaxi.com/

Hokay, what lines are a must? You'll get many good opinions from posters here, but here are mine.

A trip to Coney Island Stillwell via the F train so you can stop at Smith-9th for an outstanding view of lower Manhattan from Brooklyn. Continue to Stillwell Avenue and check out Coney Island. I recommend you stop at Nathan's for a hot dog, for that real NY experience.

At Stillwell, you have a choice of returning on the F, or taking the N, which is the Sea Beach Line, an open cut subway featuring some of the most decripit stations in the city. Or you could take the D, West End Line with a great stop at 9th Avenue for railfanning. The Q or Brigton is an embankment/open cut subway and features 4 tracks of fun, express and local. It's a great spot on a weekday rush hour.

Another good trip is taking the 7 express from either Times Square or Grand Central out to flushing. Stop at Queensboro Plaza for a busy double level elevated station. Continue out along the Flushing Line and you'll pass through Ireland, India, Pakistan, Colombia, Peru, and finally Korea and China. The area along the Flushing Line has been heavily settled by several groups and the cuisine reflects it. On the way back, stop again at Queensboro Plaza and take a short trip on the Astoria Line. At the end is Ditmars Blvd where you can see Amtrak and sometimes freight trains on the approach the Hell Gate Bridge above. Downstairs, there's a variety of great restaurants, mostly Greek. Telly's Taverna has outstanding grilled octopus, among other things.

If you like stations that are elevated monstrosities, then Broadway Junction on the J or L is for you. Great photo spot and a nice mass of metal which is a lot smaller now than in its heyday. Still impressive though!

Brooklyn and Queens will me cheaper for eats than Manhattan, although there are a lot of affordable places downtown, like in the lower east side. There are over 12,000 restaurants in NYC; I'm sure you'll find some winners. Some good places to inquire about eats in NYC:

nyc.food
rec.food.restaurants
rec.food.cooking

These groups are on Usenet, so don some asbestos but you should get some decent answers in the next couple of weeks.

Again, ask away for more questions!

My cousin, the John Bobsin, the worlds original railfan planned a one day subway ride for me, which we took a year or so ago. I will try and get the itenary from him and post it here. The key was, you paid once, then rode and rode and rode.
Greenport may not be worth a day unless you like new england type boats also and the train sometimes is a bus. You might, on weekends, want to visit a few lighthouses, but that requires a car. Good ones are, Montauk Point Light, Fire Island Light and the Horton Point light, all of which have museums.. Once you leave the immediate service area of the NY City subway system, well, there are trains, but a car is superior.
The airtrain, Jamaica to JKF and back is ten bux, but a nice elevated ride. You might also want to ride the "el" or elevated lines, the subway, really, has a lousey view...
The run up the hudson to Pokeepsie is river view most of the way, sit on the port side going north, starboard returning...Don't take the Amtrk, the commuter line is about 1/2 price..MetroNorth??. Did you say Trenton, there are better ways to get to NYC than Amtrk, Philly, well you hafta take Amtrak, I think.... Ed

Consider a visit to Hoboken Terminal, simply for the classic railroad architecture and a chance to see one of America's few surviving "Golden Age of Railroading" train stations with an actual train shed over the tracks. It's just across the river from Manhattan, and easily reachable by PATH train (the New York to New Jersey subway) or ferry from various Manhattan locations. It's a genuine antique. Very busy during rush hour. And the riverfront view of Manhattan from the public park next door is quite impressive.

I second the previous posters' opinions about Greenport. It's a long haul, and not really worth it if your time is limited. Most of the route passes through little more than bland semi-suburban nothingness, and the poorer areas are quite grim.

A better bet would be a day trip on Metro North to the excellent Danbury Railroad Museum in Connecticut. Another option is a day trip on one of New Jersey Transit's commuter routes out of New York Penn or Hoboken. All are more interesting than the route to Greenport.

Finally, when you take your day trip on the Hudson Line, allow an hour or so to explore Grand Central Terminal. It has an outpost of the Transit Museum and presents worthwhile exhibits. It has the Biltmore Room, with its vintage New York Central arrivals board. It has the Campbell Apartment, which you can visit even if you don't want to buy a drink. It has the famous Oyster Bar, where a bowl of clam chowder at the counter will set you back about $5. Plus Grand Central is also New York's best place to have a cup of coffee and people watch. So take time to look around and soak up the atmosphere.

Whatever you choose to do, you'll be putting in some extremely long days. Be sure to factor in the time it takes to travel to and from your base in Philadelphia, and make certain that you get a very early start.

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If you like stations that are elevated monstrosities, then Broadway Junction on the J or L is for you. Great photo spot and a nice mass of metal which is a lot smaller now than in its heyday. Still impressive though!

I would avoid this station. Yes, it is a large station but East New York is not a great area, especially if you're going to be taking pictures.

http://www.nycsubway.org/faq/subwaytour.html

Here is a great page from nycsubway.org that has itineraries and info for touring the subway. It gives good ideas for food as well.

arrow wrote:

If you like stations that are elevated monstrosities, then Broadway Junction on the J or L is for you. Great photo spot and a nice mass of metal which is a lot smaller now than in its heyday. Still impressive though!

I would avoid this station. Yes, it is a large station but East New York is not a great area, especially if you're going to be taking pictures.

Baloney! I've railfanned that area often and without incident. True, 3 am may not be a good time but 3 pm certainly is.

Well, suit yourself but I would avoid it. That area is notorius for murders and rapes. Check out the crime stats for the 75th precinct and you'll see what I mean.

Especially being a tourist from another country, I wouldn't chance it.

But, I guess I'm getting off topic here.

the first clue is seeing those guys wearing blue uniforms, walking sideways,back to back with their weapons drawn...

. "why did you list it at a murder, when you know the mayor says there are too many murders in the city?,........... make it a suicide..",

"But Sarge, he has a knife sticking out of his back",

"Looks like a suicide to me!",

"Anything you say sarge, anything you say"...

arrow wrote:Well, suit yourself but I would avoid it. That area is notorius for murders and rapes. Check out the crime stats for the 75th precinct and you'll see what I mean.

Especially being a tourist from another country, I wouldn't chance it.

But, I guess I'm getting off topic here.

Yes, we are getting off topic, but I submit that you are simply incorrect and suspect that you don't have any first hand experience there. Plus if you do look up the 75th's statistics, you'll see that it's about average with the rest of the city.

Someone always has something bad about some station on the NYC Subway. Anyway, if our guest doesn't feel comfortable, he can always simply ride through it.

iI you really want to play "subway", Peter Dougherty (W2IRT) publishes a book,"Tracks of the NYC Subway", contains track plans and signals.. Worth its weight in gold.. Mine lives in the "throne room" for casual page turning/study..

BTW, NYC for subway/el trains, fine. BUT if you are coming from down under to see the states, nothing beats the museums in Washington, DC, aboslutely nothing..Other people waste their time visiting the White House, watching money being printed, waiting on line to ride up the top of the Wash Mon, etc,etc, fine......but compared to some of those museums, you wasted your time...... Ya gotta hit the Museum of Science and Technology, then the Air And Space Museum..
And if Don,N2QHV, finds out what I said about his Greenport, I will never get the T shirt he owes me., that bit of advise to you came at considerable risk to me hi hi ... Ed

Don't listen to EdM. You can't get in the White House and there is no such thing as the Museum of History and Technology, at least, not for the last ten years. It is the National Museum of American History.

I dont appreciate being misquoted, please have someone read it to you again... thank you ever so much,..I shall remember your accuracy and your name. Now go away...

Yes, we are getting off topic, but I submit that you are simply incorrect and suspect that you don't have any first hand experience there.

Believe me, I have plenty of first hand experience there and while nothing bad has ever happened to me, it wouldn't be on my list of places I'd like to visit any time soon.
I was just trying to give some friendly advise to someone visiting NYC from abroad.