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Via Triborugh, the New York Public Library has this cool map showing the Brooklyn Bridge Station and City Hall loop. The station was first opened at the start of the Interborough Rapid Transit Line on October 27, 1904, but it closed in 1945 - there were big gaps between the platform and doors of newer and longer trains. Since the station wasn't used very much, the MTA decided that the Brooklyn Bridge station was enough.
There were some plans to reopen the loop as part of the New York Transit Museum, but those were abandoned due to the Giuliani administration's fears of terrorist attacks (like how City Hall is now closed to the public). The downtown 6 train that terminates at Brooklyn Bridge station still uses the loop to work its way to the uptown side (you're supposed to get off the train at Brooklyn Bridge, but we know some have stayed on to see City Hall station). The Transit Museum offers tours of the station occasionally to members, so that's one very good reason to join.
You can order digital prints of the plan from the NYPL, starting at $30 for a 10" digital print (a 30" digital print runs $125). And here's more information about the City Hall loop from Abandoned Stations, NYC Subway, and Forgotten NY.
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there were gaps between the platform and doors of newer and longer trains opened.
What does this mean?
This is amazing - Triborough actually contributed something helpful!
It's a nice change from the endless stream of useless unrelated crap he tags with gothamist.
The City Hall platform is on a very sharp curve and was built for the older trains. To get the idea: if you've been to the Times Square Shuttle or South Ferry stations, you might notice that a) there are large gaps between the train and the edge of the platform, b) that the train and platform are at different heights, and that c) the platforms aren't long enough to accommodate a full ten-car train. That's pretty much how it is at City Hall, except the gaps are even more extreme.
this is the same print used in older SUBWAY sandwhich shop wallpaper
you used to be able to stay on the 6 train and see the station as it does the round to the uptown side but now the conductors goes inside every car to ensure there's no more passenger left.
The URL to the New York Public Library map apparently was cut off. This is the correct link to that NYPL item:
digitalgallery.nypl.org/nypldigital/dgkeysearchdetail.cfm?trg=1&strucID=357715
anedo- i've stayed on the 6 train twice recently- last time this past saturday. you really have to look hard because the station is dark but you can definitely see the arched ceilings and iron chandeliers, which are lit. pretty cool highly recommend trying it. bonus is the look on people's faces when you emerge from the empty train as it stops again at brooklyn bridge stop before continuing north.
there were gaps between the platform and doors of newer and longer trains opened. What does this mean?
Picture a circle.
Now, picture a narrow rectangle inside that circle, touching its edges.
The circle is the 'City Hall Loop', the track that returns a southbound 6 train to the northbound tracks.
The narrow rectangle is a subway car, kissing the inside edge of the circle.
In 1904, subway cars had entry/exit doors on either end--the end of the rectangle, where it meets the circle...er, platform.
Modern subway cars have multiple doors along the long edge of the rectangle--which, sadly, don't touch the edge of the circle/platform. A formula for...Whoops! (Splat!)
Please forgive my enthusiasm--my wife and I took the tour last weekend!