New Site Layout

Posted on May 18, 2012 by

This week I updated the site layout and theme. The background was inspired by the tiles on the walls of the Subway stations. The navigation has been redone a bit to make it easier to find things. As for photo trips, I still haven’t gotten much done. This week during daily errands and things I was able to get some Long Island Railroad photos at a few stations on three different branches, Oyster Bay, Montauk, and Babylon. Later on in the month I plan on getting more Metro-North photos.

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Sorry about the lack of updates

Posted on April 26, 2012 by

Sorry about the lack of updates. Unfortunately I had real life issues to deal with and combined with bad weather on weekends, I haven’t had much of a chance to get train photos. Particularly the NYC Subway which I haven’t been on in a long time, probably was February the last time I was down there.

Don’t worry, I have more time, and with better weather I will be heading out soon to get more photos. I have marked out on a map the spots that I will be looking to get more photos from. Believe me, I can’t wait to get back to the city to get more photos.

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New Nassau Bus Schedules

Posted on March 18, 2012 by

Nassau Inter County Express, the new operator for the Nassau county buses has new schedules for the service adjustments on April 8th.

http://www.nicebus.com/Maps_and_Schedules/Bus_Maps_and_Schedules/index.html

I don’t feel like going through it that closely since I don’t use the service. I am sure that a new map will be coming soon to reflect the changes. The current map is here:

http://www.nicebus.com/_meta/routePDFs/NICE_SystemMap_Feb_2012.pdf

Due to the popularity of the Nassau bus photos I have taken, I have the section searchable by bus model like the city buses.

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Metro North West of Hudson Today

Posted on March 4, 2012 by

Today I rode for the first time, NJTransit as well as the Metro-North Pascack Valley line. From Penn Station, I took an NJTransit train and then changed at Secacus Junction for the Pascack Valley line train. I dont have photos from Secacus Junction since I was playing it extra safe because I am unfamiliar with NJTransit. The ride up to Nanuet NY was kinda long but somewhat interesting seeing suburban New Jersey. Heading back I went down to Hoboken. Unsure of the photo policies I wandered around for a bit then finally took a photo of a Port Jervis bound train, it had an MTA branded locomotive, however the cab car was NJTransit branded. Somehow I forgot to grab a photo of the other trains there, and by the time I realized it, I was already on PATH heading back to New York. Ah well… there’s always next time. In Manhattan I got some photos of bus routes I didn’t have before, and then I called it a day. I think I would have been a bit better off today had I got more sleep, I only managed to get like 2-3 hours of sleep last nite so I was tired.

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New Late Night Subway Map Available!

Posted on February 8, 2012 by

The MTA has released a new print and online late night Subway map. This map details the service changes late at night and makes it easier for people who happen to be up that late to be able to plan their trip easier and not get confused waiting for something that only shows up in the daytime.

Limited Quantities are available at the Transit Museum store in Grand Central so get em before they’re gone!

More Info and to View the PDF Version.

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New Haven and Danbury today

Posted on January 22, 2012 by

Today I rode the Danbury branch for the first time. This marks off another Metro-North branch I still need to ride. I took a New Haven Line train to South Norwalk for the connecting Danbury branch train. I got one of the M4s heading out to South Norwalk, they look similar to the M2 but they are in sets of 3 instead of 2. The Danbury train is a standard diesel set. The ride was long but scenic. At Danbury I had a 45 minute layover, so after photographing the train, I went over to the Danbury Rail Museum. Due to the snow the outdoor portion was closed, but the inside was open so I walked around there for a bit, then went to Dunkin Donuts for a snack, and by then it was time to head back to catch the train back. The New Haven line train back was the standard M2 model, but one of the newer ones that wasn’t totally worn out. That’s it for rail trips for January, the next trip will be in February sometime.

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Upcoming trips and things – January 2012

Posted on January 16, 2012 by

Last week I took a trip to Brooklyn to photograph the last tower I needed for the LIRR Towers Page. I tried to get it a while back but was stopped by a LIRR employees. I also got photos of the and . I was unlucky and managed to go on a day where it appeared they were doing a lot of track work, also some of the Express stations were still being worked on, such as Kings Highway. I took the bus to head over to the since its easier and quicker than backtracking. The photo was one of those photos that I didn’t think was gonna come out but it wound up coming out anyway.

If the weather holds out and we get some warmer days, I plan on heading out to Danbury to get some photos of the Danbury branch, and some more New Haven line photos. Next month if the winter remians a mild one this year I plan on continuing my expansion of Metro-North coverage by photographing the Pascack Valley line.

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First Update of 2012

Posted on January 3, 2012 by

My first trip to New York City in 2012 was really more of a sightseeing trip. I did however manage to get a few Manhattan bus photos from all over, as well as some Subway photos at 96th Street of the 1, 2, and 3. 96 St is one of the few stops on the numbered lines in Manhattan where there is extra space on the platform to grab a photo.

I tried to get photos of the M15 near South Ferry and get a set of new maps, but it was too windy and cold and the MTA center down there was closed.

This month while I am off from school, I hope to also get photos of the b and 6 which are weekday only. When the weather warms up, I will also resume Metro-North trips.

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Nassau Bus Trip

Posted on December 30, 2011 by

Yesterday I was invited to come along on a special bus trip in Nassau county to ride Long Island bus and capture some last minute photos before the system is taken over by a new operator. The trip started at 168th Street bus terminal, a shady looking bus terminal in eastern Queens. In waiting for the group to arrive I managed to get a bunch of photos of buses coming in and out. We then went out to Hempstead to get photos from there. After a while our next stop was Mineola. In both Hempstead and Mineola there were also Long Island Railroad photo ops. After that we went down to Sunrise Mall for lunch, at this point it was a late lunch, since we got there around 2pm. After that we hung around for the next connection, which was very late. At that point I gave up and went back since it was starting to get dark. From what I hear they went to Freeport then Flushing Queens. Overall it was a great trip, and probably the best chance I got to get Nassau bus photos because I probably wouldn’t have gone to Hempstead or 168 Street on my own. Next Month I will resume more train related photo trips.

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Staten Island Bus Photos and other improvements

Posted on December 19, 2011 by

Yesterday I went to Staten Island to visit the zoo there. On the way, it gave me a great opportunity, to get bus photos from Staten Island, which I didn’t have any. I took the X1 down there, then while waiting for the S53 to the Zoo, I took some photos of the other bus routes that are along Hylan Bl

The zoo was very nice, it’s not very big but it still had a wide variety of animals, including the only zoo in New York city with my favorite animal, the Red Fox. On the way back I did the same thing, got photos of the various buses I took to get there for the site.

I have been making some improvements to the bus photos section. The routes now are displayed in the colors they appear on the MTA timelines, blue for NYC Transit Bus, light blue for MTA Bus company, and green for Express bus routes. I have also added in the feature to view photos by bus model. I have also gotten more photos from Nassau county Long Island Bus, since the service is changing hands next year and I would like the photos for historical purposes.

Next Month I will resume Subway and Railroad photography again. While I am off from school, I plan to get photos from the lines that only run on weekdays.

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