Boardwalk Empire Lo-Vs (September 4)

Visited on September 4, 2011 by Emily

I heard whisperings on an earlier nostalgia train trip that the Lo-V cars would be running in September as some sort of promotion. I had to find out details! A few days before the first weekend of the month, and concurrently with my asking around, the media picked up the story (I thought it was supposed to be 100% viral marketing, oh well).

Of course I couldn’t stay away – just a Metrocard swipe ($2.25) to ride these beautiful old machines every single weekend in September? What a luxury! Continue reading →

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Governors Island birthday

Visited on May 28, 2011 by Emily

My birthday fell on a Saturday this year and it was likely to be a beautiful day, so why not try to get people to come out and celebrate it with me? Since it was my day I’d get to pick the activity, and what would I rather do than take my friends on an infrastructure excursion? I looked at my long list of future excursions, thought, and decided on Governors Island.

My cousin told me about this place late last summer, but it was only open seasonally so I’d missed my chance to go that year. “You’d love it,” she said then. In preparation for this trip I read up on how to get there, concocted a plan, and emailed a dozen of my closest New York area friends. Continue reading →

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Lo-V Nostalgia Train

Visited on May 22, 2011 by Emily

I was super excited to ride my first nostalgia train since the holidays. The particular ones I was to ride this day were Lo-Vs, even older than the “Arnines” I rode over the holidays. Lo-V stands for low voltage – the full 600 volts from the third rail didn’t course through these cars and up into the controls, so they were much safer than earlier models.

I didn’t much care what model or era, though, I was ready to ride any vintage subway cars! Continue reading →

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City Hall Station and more

Visited on May 14, 2011 by Emily

The “Jewel in the Crown: Old City Hall Station” was the first of the four New York Transit Museum excursions I signed up for during this, my first cycle of being a member, in spring/summer of 2011. I squealed when I first got the simple, one-page list of excursions and events in the mail and called on the first day of members-only booking days to get signed up for the ones I wanted, including City Hall Station.

This overcast day came before I knew it and I left plenty early to get down to the meeting place, the downtown platform of the 6 train Brooklyn Bridge station. Indeed, I got there early enough to pop up from underground, explore, and locate brunch.  Continue reading →

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To Phoenixville, Pennsylvania by Train

Visited on May 8, 2011 by Emily

A dear old friend of mine (the friendship is old, not the friend) invited me to her birthday party so I thought I’d make the trip to just outside of Philadelphia to reconnect and help her celebrate. I had traveled to a town nearby via train several years ago to visit this same friend and thought that would be a nice, stress-free way to travel. Plus, with my newfound love for all things infrastructure, I’d have a whole new appreciation for the trip.

Continue reading →

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Walk to work

Visited on April 29, 2011 by Emily

I don’t remember how the plan to try to walk to work first came about. Probably a few things inspired it – my excursion to and fascination with Tibbetts Brook Park and its pedestrian bridge (a path through the park runs parallel to part of my commute); the fact that I’d pretty easily walked about five miles on my Newtown Creek excursion; and in general, my friend, coworker, and expert long distance walker who had carpooled with me for so many years.

From driving this route for so long, I surmised it would be a beautiful walk – the Saw Mill Parkway stays true to its “parkway” name in that Van Cortlandt and Tibbetts Brook Parks run alongside it for the stretch between my house and work. I also knew from getting car insurance quotes that the drive is 6.3 miles. Continue reading →

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Secaucus Junction

Visited on April 2, 2011 by Emily

It was a beautiful, sunny, but still chilly Saturday morning. The weather was trying to be spring but still had the chill of winter. I had planned to take an infrastructure excursion this day, but earlier in the week my dad called. He was to have a layover at Newark Airpot, would I want to come see him for an hour or two? Of course I would! One would think that my excursion plans would be cramped by this, but instead I brainstormed a destination in New Jersey to visit after dropping my dad back off at the airport. Continue reading →

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Blog News

Posted on March 29, 2011 by Emily

My dear infrastructure followers, I wanted to take a minute between excursion posts to bring you a couple of pieces of news about the blog: Continue reading →

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Ward’s Island Bridge open

Visited on March 27, 2011 by Emily

Boyfriend and I were driving home to the Bronx from Brooklyn via the Williamsburg bridge and FDR Drive. Other than the traffic I like this drive lots – beautiful views of the bridges and buildings that skirt the east side of the island. One of my favorites is the Ward’s Island Bridge, which I usually call “turquoise pedestrian bridge”. Continue reading →

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Mini-scursion: The New York Transit Museum

Visited on March 18, 2011 by Emily

It was the warmest, nicest day we’d had yet this spring and I set out for the New York Transit Museum. I’d shuffled some things around in my schedule in order to go on a weekday – less crowded, I figured, though I worried there might be big groups of school children. I had been once before and definitely wanted to experience at least the old trains in the lower level in relative solitude. My plans beyond that were relatively open-ended. Continue reading →

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