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If you want to know when New York City joined the ranks of major cities of the world, one possible date would be October 27, 1904 -- the inauguration of the city's first underground subway line, during which Mayor George B. McClellan predicted that the subway would guarantee New York's status as a great city. Wikipedia tells us that the subway system trails only Tokyo, Moscow, and Seoul in annual ridership, and that it carries more passengers than all other rail mass-transit systems in the U.S. combined.

But ironically, the original station that was used to inaugurate the subway line is a "ghost" terminal, closed and no longer in service. Located under the public area in front of New York's City Hall, and intended to be the showpiece of the new subway, the "City Hall," or "City Hall Loop," station was the the southern terminus of the IRT line (also known as the "Manhattan Main Line" that stretched north to Grand Central Termsinal, across 42nd Street to Times Square, and then north all the way up to 145th Street. But as it turned out, the City Hall station was never very popular -- mostly because the Brooklyn Bridge station, located a short walk away at the opposite end of City Hall Park, provided both local and express service, including trains to the outer fringes of the known universe, otherwise known as Brooklyn.

There were also engineering issues: as the overall subway system grew more popular, the city responded by adding more cars to each subway train. That required longer subway platforms, which would have been difficult at City Hall station because it was built on a tight curve (there is not a single straight line of sight on the tracks, when you're at the station). In addition, the new, longer trains had center cars in each door, which were located at an unsafe distance from the platform edge. This would have required movable platform extensions to fill the gap; and while that was done at South Ferry and 14th St - Union Square, it was deemed too expensive at City Hall station. Instead, the station was closed on December 31, 1945.

Since then, City Hall station has been a "ghost station," though it is still used as a turning loop for #6 trains on the Lexington Avenue line. You're supposed get off at the Brooklyn Bridge stop, at which point loudspeakers in the station proclaim that you've reached the "last stop." But the conductors and MTA personnel don't check, and you can actually stay on the train ... at which point you're carried forward, and into a loop that goes past the silent City Hall station, and then all the way around, to head northward on the uptown track.

Also, the New York Transit Museum operates guided tours of the ghost station a couple times a year. I've lived in this city for over 40 years, and I wasn't surprised to learn that there was a "transit museum" ... but I never knew that they conducted such tours, nor did I actually know anything about this abandoned station. So it was a great treat to learn about this bit of New York City history, sign up for the tour, and then show up at the appointed time.

There were about two dozen other people in the group, and quite a few had "serious" cameras. Someone even brought along a tripod, and said he would be taking a series of HDR compositions; and if you search various photo sites on the Internet, you'll find quite a few other collections as well. And now you can add my modest little collection of 30 photographs, for what it's worth ...

Better yet, take the tour yourself. You can start by visiting the website of the New York Transit Museum, and finding out when the next tour is scheduled...

(More details later, as time permits)

**************************************

If you want to know when New York City joined the ranks of major cities of the world, one possible date would be October 27, 1904 -- the inauguration of the city's first underground subway line, during which Mayor George B. McClellan predicted that the subway would guarantee New York's status as a great city. Wikipedia tells us that the subway system trails only Tokyo, Moscow, and Seoul in annual ridership, and that it carries more passengers than all other rail mass-transit systems in the U.S. combined.

But ironically, the original station that was used to inaugurate the subway line is a "ghost" terminal, closed and no longer in service. Located under the public area in front of New York's City Hall, and intended to be the showpiece of the new subway, the "City Hall," or "City Hall Loop," station was the the southern terminus of the IRT line (also known as the "Manhattan Main Line" that stretched north to Grand Central Termsinal, across 42nd Street to Times Square, and then north all the way up to 145th Street. But as it turned out, the City Hall station was never very popular -- mostly because the Brooklyn Bridge station, located a short walk away at the opposite end of City Hall Park, provided both local and express service, including trains to the outer fringes of the known universe, otherwise known as Brooklyn.

There were also engineering issues: as the overall subway system grew more popular, the city responded by adding more cars to each subway train. That required longer subway platforms, which would have been difficult at City Hall station because it was built on a tight curve (there is not a single straight line of sight on the tracks, when you're at the station). In addition, the new, longer trains had center cars in each door, which were located at an unsafe distance from the platform edge. This would have required movable platform extensions to fill the gap; and while that was done at South Ferry and 14th St - Union Square, it was deemed too expensive at City Hall station. Instead, the station was closed on December 31, 1945.

Since then, City Hall station has been a "ghost station," though it is still used as a turning loop for #6 trains on the Lexington Avenue line. You're supposed get off at the Brooklyn Bridge stop, at which point loudspeakers in the station proclaim that you've reached the "last stop." But the conductors and MTA personnel don't check, and you can actually stay on the train ... at which point you're carried forward, and into a loop that goes past the silent City Hall station, and then all the way around, to head northward on the uptown track.

Also, the New York Transit Museum operates guided tours of the ghost station a couple times a year. I've lived in this city for over 40 years, and I wasn't surprised to learn that there was a "transit museum" ... but I never knew that they conducted such tours, nor did I actually know anything about this abandoned station. So it was a great treat to learn about this bit of New York City history, sign up for the tour, and then show up at the appointed time.

There were about two dozen other people in the group, and quite a few had "serious" cameras. Someone even brought along a tripod, and said he would be taking a series of HDR compositions; and if you search various photo sites on the Internet, you'll find quite a few other collections as well. And now you can add my modest little collection of 30 photographs, for what it's worth ...

Better yet, take the tour yourself. You can start by visiting the website of the New York Transit Museum, and finding out when the next tour is scheduled...

A View from the Mezzanine

See photo in original gallery.

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