65th Street station (IND Queens Boulevard Line) explained

65 Street
Address:65th Street & Broadway
Queens, NY
Borough:Queens
Locale:Woodside
Coordinates:40.7494°N -73.8973°W
Division:IND
Line:IND Queens Boulevard Line
Service:Queens local
Service Header:Queens local header
Platforms:2 side platforms
Tracks:4
Structure:Underground

The 65th Street station is a local station on the IND Queens Boulevard Line of the New York City Subway, located at the intersection of 65th Street and Broadway in Queens. It is served by the M train on weekdays, the R train at all times except nights, and the E and F trains at night. The station opened on August 19, 1933, as part of the Independent Subway System's Queens Boulevard Line.

History

The Queens Boulevard Line was one of the first lines built by the city-owned Independent Subway System (IND),[1] [2] [3] and stretches between the IND Eighth Avenue Line in Manhattan and 179th Street and Hillside Avenue in Jamaica, Queens.[4] The Queens Boulevard Line was in part financed by a Public Works Administration (PWA) loan and grant of $25 million.[5] One of the proposed stations would have been located at 65th Street.

The first section of the line, west from Roosevelt Avenue to 50th Street, opened on August 19, 1933. trains ran local to Hudson Terminal (today's World Trade Center) in Manhattan, while the (predecessor to current G service) ran as a shuttle service between Queens Plaza and Nassau Avenue on the IND Crosstown Line.[6] [7] [8] [9]

Station layout

There are four tracks and two side platforms; the two center express tracks are used by the E and F trains at all times except late nights. The E and F trains serve the station at night, the M train serves the station on weekdays during the day, and the R train serves the station at all times except late nights. The station is between Northern Boulevard to the west and Jackson Heights - Roosevelt Avenue to the east.

Signs to the northbound platform are on the wall instead of hanging over the staircase. The reason for this was because the original 1933 IND tile sign read "Jamaica and Rockaway", anticipating construction of a never-built system expansion. These signs remained uncovered as late as 2001.[10] The 1933 Manhattan-bound tile signs remain intact.

Both platforms are column-less, and their platform walls have a purple tile band with a black border, with a number of replacement tiles in different shades of violet and purple having been placed during repairs. There are also mosaic name tablets reading "65TH ST." in white sans-serif lettering on a black background and purple border. Small tile captions reading "65TH ST" in white lettering on black run below the trim line, and directional signs in the same style are present below some of the name tablets.The tile band was part of a color-coded tile system used throughout the IND.[11] The tile colors were designed to facilitate navigation for travelers going away from Lower Manhattan. As such, the purple tiles used at the 65th Street station were originally also used at, the next express station to the west, while a different tile color is used at, the next express station to the east. Purple tiles are similarly used at the other local stations between Queens Plaza and Roosevelt Avenue.[12] [13]

There are girders above the platforms, which are connected to columns in the walls adjoining each platform.[14] The tunnel is covered by a U-shaped trough that contains utility pipes and wires. The outer walls of this trough are composed of columns, spaced approximately every 5feet with concrete infill between them. There is a 1abbr=NaNabbr= gap between the tunnel wall and the platform wall, which is made of 4abbr=NaNabbr=-thick brick covered over by a tiled finish. The columns between the tracks are also spaced every 5feet, with no infill.

West of this station, the express tracks become depressed and break from the local tracks. The express tracks run underneath Northern Boulevard, while the local tracks continue under Broadway and then turn to Steinway Street before meeting up with the express trains underneath Northern and Steinway. The line was built in this fashion because Broadway and Steinway Street are too narrow to align four tracks side by side underneath them.

Exits

The full-time mezzanine at the eastern end has three staircases to each platform and two staircases to the street, one to either eastern corner of Broadway and 65th Street.[15] Both sides had fare controls and former booths at platform levels at the far western end, at the opposite end of the current mezzanine. They have since been sealed. Signs at the northeast exit as well as the Manhattan-bound platforms are for Rowan Street, the former name of 65th Street.[16] [17]

External links

Notes and References

  1. News: Our Great Subway Network Spreads Wider; New Plans of Board of Transportation Involve the Building of More Than One Hundred Miles of Additional Rapid Transit Routes for New York. September 22, 1929. The New York Times. Duffus. R.L.. 0362-4331. August 19, 2015.
  2. News: Queens Subway Work Ahead of Schedule: Completion Will Lead to Big Apartrnent Building, Says William C. Speers.. April 7, 1929. The New York Times. 0362-4331. September 1, 2015.
  3. Web site: Queens Lauded as Best Boro By Chamber Chief. September 23, 1929. Newspapers.com. The Brooklyn Daily Eagle. 40. October 4, 2015.
  4. News: The New York Times . New Subway Routes in Hylan Program to Cost $186,046,000 . March 21, 1925 . 1.
  5. News: Test Trains Running In Queens Subway; Switch and Signal Equipment of New Independent Line Is Being Checked.. December 20, 1936. The New York Times. 0362-4331. April 26, 2016.
  6. Book: Kramer, Frederick A.. Building the Independent Subway. 1990. Quadrant Press. 978-0-915276-50-9. en.
  7. News: Two Subway Units Open At Midnight; Links in City-Owned System in Queens and Brooklyn to Have 15 Stations.. August 18, 1933. 0362-4331. The New York Times. November 7, 2015.
  8. News: New Queens Subway Service Will Be Launched Tonight; Tunnel From Manhattan Open to Jackson Heights; Service Will Eventually Be Extended Through To Jamaica. August 18, 1933. Long Island Daily Press. Fultonhistory.com. 20. July 27, 2016.
  9. News: New Queens Tube To Open Saturday: Brooklyn-Long Island City Link of City Line Also to Be Put in Operation. August 17, 1933. New York Evening Post. Fultonhistory.com. 18. July 27, 2016.
  10. http://forgotten-ny.com/1998/08/subway-signs-to-nowhere-rowan-street-ny-central-and-the-k-train/ Subway Signs to Nowhere (Forgotten New York)
  11. News: August 22, 1932 . Tile Colors a Guide in the New Subway; Decoration Scheme Changes at Each Express Stop to Tell Riders Where They Are . en-US . The New York Times . live . July 1, 2022 . https://web.archive.org/web/20220701184626/https://www.nytimes.com/1932/08/22/archives/tile-colors-a-guide-in-the-new-subway-decoration-scheme-changes-at.html . July 1, 2022 . 0362-4331.
  12. Web site: Carlson . Jen . Map: These Color Tiles In The Subway System Used To Mean Something . Gothamist . February 18, 2016 . May 10, 2023.
  13. Web site: Gleason . Will . The hidden meaning behind the New York subway's colored tiles . Time Out New York . February 18, 2016 . May 10, 2023.
  14. Records of the National Park Service, 1785 - 2006. National Archives. https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/lz/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_NY/05000672.pdf. National Register of Historic Places and National Historic Landmarks Program Records, 2013 - 2017. New York MPS Elmhurst Avenue Subway Station (IND). 05000672. National Register of Historic Places and National Historic Landmarks Program Records: New York.
  15. Web site: 65th Street Neighborhood Map. April 2018. mta.info. Metropolitan Transportation Authority. December 28, 2020.
  16. March 16, 2017 . 65th Street; Rowan Street Mosaic . photograph . April 2, 2017.
  17. March 16, 2017 . 65th Street IND Queens; Rowan & B'Way Exit.jpg . photograph . April 2, 2017.