Talk:Chambers Street (BMT Nassau Street Line)

Trackway at Chambers Street

At the s/b end of chambers st.is a tunnel way.the brt/bmt toyed with the idea of making the now unused side platform[canal st.bound]an express station.this is the only trackway in the station area.

At the s/e of Chambers St there was to have been a ramp to the Brooklyn Bridge. There is also what is used now as a sort of turning track for midday M service and weekend J trains.

At the n/e of Chambers St to the right as the train leaves the station there was supposed to have been a platform or 2.

I have been in the Brooklyn Bridge connection to Chambers Street several times. If you go to the J side, head car looking N/B from the platform you can see a lite burning apx. 200 feet into the tunnel, looking up. That is the tunnel connection to the Brooklyn Bridge. In the era`s library they have 4 photos of the subway connection, both looking out onto the bridge and looking into the tunnel. These are n/b&s/b. shots. Amazing stuff! About the platform, I don`t have any knowledge of them. Does anyone out there know of these? Where the light is on in the tunnel is a wall, is very high so you don`t fall on the tracks! --96.250.192.111 (talk) 13:35, 5 January 2010 (UTC) Barry

Mystery Walkway at Chambers Street?

OK, maybe this is obvious but its a mystery to me.

At southbound Chambers on the J/M/Z, the midday M terminates on the "express" track (the turnaround track) and the J continues to Broad Street on the "local" track. If you walk alongside the express track to the south end of the platform, you will see that cavernous empty space. If you look up at approximately a 45 degree angle, in the distance you'll see a single yellow bulb hanging from a ceiling, over what appears to be a darkened elevated walkway that crosses over the entire width of the station. Its too far away from me to discern exactly what it is, but its clear that there is a walkway there, with what appears to be a concrete side wall that is approximately 5 feet high.

I can't imagine that its a trackway because there aren't any lines that cross the station at that location. The 4/5/6 run parallel, not across. I thought maybe its a closed walkway that once connected the side platforms at Chambers Street.

Has anyone else seen this mysterious walkway and if so, does anyone know what it is?

I love Chambers - there are mysteries everywhere.

Some answers: All I can think of is the route that the line was supposed to take to the Brooklyn Bridge. One time we need pics!

If we're talking southbound middle track only, it probably is the space for the Brooklyn Bridge connection.

Actually, the S/B tracks J2 and J4 which were originally designated as N/B were to connect to the Bkln Br at what is now the south end of Chambers St. As originally proposed, the tracks from the Nassau St line were both to connect with J1 and J3 by passing under the ramp to the Bkln Br. As originally configured before the Nassau St line was built, trains from Jamaica and Metropolitan Av stub ended on J2 and J4 tks and trains from the Manhattan Br stub ended on J1 and J3 tks. By the time the Nassau St Line was being constructed, the BMT was no longer interested in using the ramps to the Bkln Br and the connection to the Nassau St Line was built in its present configuration with a relay position south of Chambers St. At that time any continuity between the stub tracks at Chmbrs and the ramp was destroyed. In original BMT terminology, trains which had to pass through Bkln enroute to Manh were considered N/B regardless of point of origin. Thus, until 1967 when the Chrystie St connection was built, Eastern Division trains going from Jamaica and Met. to Manh were N/B. That is the reason for the track numbering as it is. When Nassau St was built, it was built as a Southern Div line so at the south end of Chmbrs St, the track numbering scheme switches and J2 connects to R1 and J1 connects to R2. After the 1967 merger, the QJ from Jam to Stl presented a problem so it was decided that for operational purposes trains operating to Stl were to be considered S/B an trains oerating to Jam were to be considered N/B. M and KK trains were still considered N/B however, which actually made sense since the KK operated N/B on 6 Av to 57 St. When terminals were switched and the M went to Stl, it was now considered S/B to Stl and N/B to Met but the J Line terminology remained the same thus only the K as it was renamed was N/B to Manh. The Eastern div BMT tk numbering scheme actually made sense since lines like the Fulton St were, at one point, to be connected to the BMT subway at DeKalb and would actually be N/B in Manh as the present Fulton/A line is today. A similar situation existed and may still exist between the old New York Central and New Haven RRs leaving GCT. NYC trains were considered westbound and NH trains were considered eastbound.

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--96.250.192.111 (talk) 13:38, 5 January 2010 (UTC) Barry