Modern Twist on Subway Horror: iPod Falls onto Tracks

In the Times' City section, there was a story by Thomas Beller about how his iPod fell as he was getting onto a train - slipping between the subway car and the platform edge onto the tracks. And so he went to pick it up. Oh, yes, he did:

I waited until the train and the two that followed it were finally gone. The iPod lay there on the floor of the tracks. The tunnel was dark and quiet. My knees were a little loose, like those of someone about to jump off a diving board.

New York is a vertical town. The emphasis is on things that rise. But the New Yorker's panic-stricken need for accomplishment — the need to go up — is matched by a kind of vertigo that comes with being constantly aware of the distance below.

Did the MTA issue an angry statement saying that subway riders should never ever do something as stupid as that? Gothamist was cringing as we read this story, because while we are interested in these stories about people who happen to find themselves on the tracks, we would have been the type to wait for an MTA employee to pick up the iPod, only to discover it was waterlogged and partially eaten by rats by the time it was retrieved.

Would you jump to the depths of the subway tracks for your iPod? Beller does explain his attachment to this iPod, but still... And we've always liked Beller's short story collection, The Seduction Theory, and he also has a website, Mr. Beller's Neighborhood, that is a collection of stories from around the city.

Photograph of iPod ad at Spring Street subway station from tmelillo

Contact the author of this article or email tips@gothamist.com with further questions, comments or tips.

By Jen Chung in News on February 13, 2006 2:13 PM

Comments [rss]

b

all you naysayers saying it's hard as hell to get out of the tracks must either be under 5 feet tall or can't even do 1 pull-up.

Tom

In high school I missed my stop once and jumped down to cross the track and avoid paying the $1.25 fare. It strikes me as very stupid now, but at the time I had a different reason to never do it again - the inside of the ledge is covered with soot and I got very, very dirty.

exst

I would jump if something of mine would have fallen down. MTA emplyees are way too lazy to actualy get up and do anything fast enough, and while i'll be on my way to get one, i'm sure some guy would just use that time to jump down and pick up my stuff instead. In subways that are more modernized and taken care of (Japan, Thailand, Etc.) There is a security guy standing at each platform making sure u dont do somthign stupid, and if something falls, he runs right away to get a special stick thingy that was designed just for this.

Jayce

well gosh Lee Presson, some people don't have that kinda time to go back to our apartments when trains are coming in 15 minutes to crush our beloved belongings.... it's all about that urgency...

Cycledelic

Have some adventures people! Wow, I mean that seems so trivial compared to extreme sports that people partake in daily - jump down and jump out - not a big deal!

mike c

When I was a freshman in high school I jumped down to retrieve my Math Regents study guide at Nassau Ave. It wasn't that hard to get back up, I thought. But then again, I could have taken a nap on the tracks before the next G train arrived.

leepresson

I dropped my glasses onto the tracks once. So I walked up to my apartment and got a metal coat hanger, straightened it out and used it to fish them out. USE YOUR BRAINS PEOPLE! Jeez!

Greg

I once retrieved a book I dropped onto the bed of the 7 el out at Elmhurst, and even crossed from one side to another when I've found myself in the situation of having passed my stop or headed off in the wrong direction and then had to either wait for another train to move ahead a station or more for a free crossover or pay an additional fare. But I was younger then, and no doubt stupider.

Suzie

No offense, Jenn, but I'm not sure I'd hold up NYC transit either for a $2 sweater if I was that transit worker.

Ya know...the words NATURAL SELECTION come to mind with these comments....

Suzie

What the hell is wrong with you track divers? Maybe I'm naive, but I really didn't think people actually did this for cell phones and stupid iPods. There is nothing heroic, strong, or smart about jumping onto the tracks! I think MTA workers should be paid more for babysitting people with a lack of common sense and distorted sense of entitlement.

SeanCK

It is a lot harder to get back up onto the platform than you might think... and the panic factor only makes it worse. If it would normally take you 2 tries to hoist yourself up onto a 4 foot platform, it'll take you 5 tries or more when you are standing on the tracks hoping that rumbling isn't the N train coming to put you on the cover of the Post.

jenn

i dropped a cheap but favorite sweater down there once at 110th street about 5 years ago. i asked the attendant and they actually refused to help. so i went in to get it myself, and hell yeah i would do it again for an ipod.

Alex

When I was younger, I jumped down into the tracks several times to retrieve a watch of mine and a number of other items for other people. On the other hand, I've boarded and disembarked from the trains between cars, walked through the train tunnels from station to station and other crazy "growing up in NYC" type of things.

rev pays

You know when you do get hit by a subway car, it spins your who torso around, so what's coming is actually going.

what next, guys telling us their subway surfing stories.

If you want a subway story, ask Sam sifton when he was drunk and fell down on some subway stairs.

Climbing back up those four feet when you haven't done any upper body work will feel like that 12ft wall and rope on the course in basic.

Samantha T

I'm shocked by these postings - I would never, ever considering going down to get something or letting somebody else do it for me.

matthew

DONT DO IT!!! I dropped my treo 650 on 2nd avenue at 4am. It had all my contacts, calendars, and tons of un synced data. not to mention a $100 memory card in it filled with contracts. It landed in a soft patch of sewer runoff and rat poop. anyway, i ran to the TOKEN/METROCARD BOOTH and the guy got on the phone. and in 30 minutes a team recovered it for me! They even told me how much they loved their treos. which was a lil odd. If it wasnt for a suspiciously conductive looking pool of water near the third and other tracks i would have ventured down to an uncertain fate. TRANSIT WORKERS ARE OUR FRIENDS! - x

mickster

You ain't a real New Yawker until you been on da tracks...

MR

OMG, it's going to be the Blog Scandal of 2006! Mr. Beller vs. Mr. Hearst! Bill Keller resigns in disgrace, and somehow Jake jumps in the fray to tell all his readers that they are assholes.

Gwinny

When I'm feeling thirsty, I like to jump down to the tracks for some trackwater. Ah, deliciously foul trackwater. Where would I be without you?

Tim N.

My daughter dropped a beloved toy on the tracks, she's crying, screaming, tears flowing, staring at me like "You're a superhero, do something!"...

... and it never even crossed my mind to hit the tracks.

I'm thinking, she doesn't need to talk to a therapist for the next thirty years how she watched Daddy get hit by the #2.

MissPinkKate got it exactly right. Find an MTA guy and they'll get it for you. They have those long poles with tongs at the end (like the ones in the bodega) and they can pick up most anything. And best of all, no one gets hurt.

And Patrick, I'm sorry man, but no one's that good.