The Secret Colors Of The Subway Revealed

Take the raspberry train to Citifield

While visiting the NYC Transit Sign shop in Brooklyn recently, Off the Rails blog caught a glimpse of the secret names of subway colors. Since the current design for the subway map was adopted in 1979, each shade for each line was given its own moniker; only a "handful of transit workers who oversee the system’s maps and signs" had seen it before. But now the colorful cat's out of the bag!

The colors are assigned based on a subway route’s “trunk line” - that is, which avenue it runs along in Manhattan (because this is a pre-Copernican world of Manhattan-centricity). So the N, R, Q and W lines are called “sunflower yellow.” The Nos. 1, 2, and 3 trains are “tomato red.” The No. 7 line, which is purple, is actually known as “raspberry.” The hue for the A, C and E lines is “vivid blue.” The Lexington Avenue line is “apple green.” The L line is “slate gray,” and the J and Z lines are “terra cotta brown.” Changing trains to get from the sunflower to the tomato never felt so agrarian.

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

By Ben Yakas in News on May 10, 2010 5:35 PM

Comments [rss]

aprilnyc

The effin' F train is goldfish.

Pull My Finger

What do they call the color of the vomit left on the train from the drunk hipsters going back to Brooklyn early Sunday mornings.

oinonio

Isn't that called "Williamsburg Heave" ?

ddhboy

No shit. I realized this when I was 5, come on, this is no secret.

ddhboy

In other news, scientists are convening a conference where they are expected to announce the results of a study, claiming that fish tend to live in water.

Piltdown Man

Lol, according to a google search, these "super secret" subway color names are just the stock names of different colors of vinyl adhesive from 3M.

I think someone at the Times just got punked by the MTA.

maatthias

That's hilarious.

belated

What about the BDFV lines?

ganghiscon

"Bright orange." The article says the M will change from terra cotta brown to bright orange when it's route is changed.

aydiosmio

Google for "7 train" and one of my photos comes up... I get it now. Where's my royalty check?

Kevin Walsh

If and when

www.forgotten-ny.com

solves the server problems and comes back online, check the weekly feature page on retired subway numbers and letters.

ed_Extinct

yeah... but what did it cost?

BDS=(Boycott.Divest.Sanction)

they've either inadvertantly or purposefully changed the G green from a lime green to tree a green on some new signs. I'm not used to the new color yet.