Saturday’s Danbury Railway Day was a great event, and had perfect weather… hopefully you were all able to make it! I know I saw a few people I knew there :D I spent the day taking far too many pictures (and possibly getting in the way of Eric’s photos), and hanging out at the members picnic that was held afterward (for which I made railroad cupcakes).

I’m a member of both the Danbury museum, and the Transit Museum in the city… and spending a day at the museum in Danbury you get to see how different these two places are. Unlike the Transit Museum, where employees are on the MTA’s payroll, everyone at the museum in Danbury is a volunteer. They don’t have nearly the funds of what the Transit Museum has, but they make up for it with their tenacity and sheer devotion. Some of those volunteers spend their every weekend, if not more, working there – restoring the old trains in the railyard, or even giving talks on Wednesday evenings.

I know I am so bad at processing photos (which is why I still have Japan and Canada photos I haven’t posted yet), and I am so anal about it. It takes me just about forever. But I worked hard Sunday to get all of these ready. Out of the hundreds of photos I took on Saturday, I narrowed it down to around 40 of the best… I did take some video as well, but that will have to be for another day! If you didn’t get the chance to make it to Danbury Railway Day, the museum is still open during normal hours, and is a great place to visit.

Although I mention the Transit Museum in Brooklyn a bit more often, I am also a member of the Danbury Railway Museum. I just figured I’d let you all know that this Saturday there will be a great event that is definitely worth checking out if you are in the area. And even if you really aren’t that close, you can always take the New Haven Line’s Danbury branch to Danbury station.

Like this, except no snow, and more fun… I am in desperate need of taking better photos at this place!

This Satuday the 14th will be Danbury Railway Day at the museum. Festivities will start at 10am until 5pm, followed by a picnic for museum members. Admission is $8, or $7 for members, and children under 3 are free. Plus, if you print out this page, you can get a dollar off that admission price. Admission includes regular access to the museum and the museum’s great railyard, plus free rides on the turntable and caboose (usually rides are an additional fee). There will also be special tours of the Pennsylvania Railroad railway post office car, which is celebrating its 100th birthday, and other additional attractions for children (coloring, temporary tattoos, etc…)

You can find more information about the event on the Danbury Railway Museum web site. It is sure to be a great event, and I hope to see you all there!

After spending a day riding trains on Saturday, I have unfortunately come to the conclusion that my mother never wants to ride the subway again. My mom was born in Brooklyn, grew up in Queens, but when she was in high school her family moved to Connecticut. Despite all that, she never had been on the subway until later on in life. I’m sure most subway riders dislike the crazy folk that occasionally share the ride with them, but by now are used to it. My mother, on the other hand, is not used to it. The ride began normally… until a beggar boarded the train. At the start I was unsure as to whether the beggar was male or female… but I did notice a rather odd shaped stomach. After a few moments I realized that it was a woman, and that she was wearing no bra. Her breasts sagged to waist level, and under a rather baggy shirt it gave her the appearance of a really messed up stomach. As she began to sing religious songs and praise god, the subway rider reflex kicked in: everyone in the vicinity pretended to be asleep. Except for one man, who shouted, “Nobody give her money! She’s going to use it to buy drugs!” And then the fights began…

A white trashy looking lady gets on the train, and instead of walking in, just stands in front of the door, blocking it. Aman behind her keeps saying “excuse me” to try and get her to move, so he can also board the train. She does not, and he drops the f-bomb. Between the two, words begin to fly, as she shouts “You messed with the wrong girl, punk!” I was totally on the side of the man, until he started going batshit, screaming about the “white devil” and how the lady should go “lick a pussy.” As the woman’s stop neared she attempted to convince the man to exit the train with her, so she could fight him on the platform, which he did not do. But what he did do was to team up with the aforementioned braless beggar, singing religious songs, and harassing the man who said she was going to use any money given to her to buy drugs. “You don’t know me! Go back to Africa!” she shouted, as she exited the train.

Soon after that my mother and I arrive at the Transit Museum, and wait to board our Nostalgia Train heading for Coney Island. It was a great trip (though it did feel as though a particular person was missing, if you’re still out there…), and had significantly less crazy people, though there were a few. Railfans are an… interesting bunch. The old man who on the previous nostalgia ride grabbed another man by the neck and told him he’d kill him was back, this time announcing the stations we passed and repeating “pretty, pretty, pretty” over and over again. But other than that, it was another grand adventure riding the old trains, and taking photos. Everyone had the option to either stay on the train for photo opportunities, or to go off and explore Coney Island. Many people chose the explore part, several of which I saw waiting in line for the Wonder Wheel (and one apparently vomited his guts out while on the Wonder Wheel).

Anyways, that is enough overly-verbose babble from me, what you really wanted to see I am sure are the photos…

I’m not sure when the next Nostalgia Ride with the Transit Museum will be, but they are always very enjoyable, and I highly recommend going on one if you get the chance.

Tonight, one of New York’s own needs your support! Alice Tan Ridley, one of Arts for Transit’s Music Under New York musicians has made it to the semifinals of America’s Got Talent and will be on air live tonight. Ridley, along with eleven other semifinal acts will be performing tonight. Only four acts from that twelve will go on to the next round, voting is very important! You can vote by text message, phone, and online, ten times per each method.

I’ve unfortunately never seen Alice live, but I’ve definitely seen the videos on YouTube and she is phenomenal. Back in June Sheryl (aka Bitchcakes) from Musings of an Irate Commuter posted a video of her singing I Will Survive, and I must say it brightened up a crappy morning. Alice has been singing in the subway for twenty years and I’m sure she has brightened many of our mornings, afternoons or evenings. She is talked about in the media for being Precious actress Gabourey Sidibe’s mother, but long before that, she was our subway singer. So New Yorkers, tonight is the night to show her your support.

America’s Got Talent will be airing tonight at 9 PM on NBC. Voting will be open from 11 PM (when the show is over) until 1 AM. You can vote 10 times per method!
Call 1.866.602.4802
Text vote to 4802
Vote online here

Perhaps you have a pair of shoes you’ve never worn collecting dust in your closet. Or a pair that you’ve worn only once, but don’t really like anymore. Or maybe you’d just like to purchase a pair of shoes for a good cause… Either way, be sure to bring a pair of shoes to Grand Central this Tuesday! There will be a collection of shoes in Grand Central on Tuesday in Vanderbilt Hall to benefit Soles4Souls. Soles4Souls is a charity based in Tennessee, and distributes shoes to the needy. The charity has donated more than ten million pairs of shoes to people in more than 125 different countries. So if you have an extra pair of unwanted shoes, take them with you to Grand Central Tuesday – the collection will run from 7am to 5pm. The first 500 people to donate will also get a gift bag, sponsored by various Grand Central retailers. If you’re a fan of Dancing With the Stars, you may enjoy this event even more – professional dancer and two time champion of the show Cheryl Burke will be making appearances throughout the day.

If you can’t make it to the event, you can still donate shoes at other locations. Check out the Soles4Souls website for more information.

Yesterday the Transit Museum had a great nostalgia ride with the Lo-V’s. It was great fun, and I took a lot of pictures. But I was certainly jealous of some of the cameras some of the other folks had. My pictures may not be the most spectacular, at least in comparison with some of those awesome cameras, but I did my usual thing of taking panoramas, and had a lot of fun doing it. I’m not going to be verbose this evening (shocking!), as I think the pictures can just do all the talking. Enjoy!

The Transit Museum puts on tours like this every once and a while, so if this looks interesting to you, you ought to check out their events calendar.

A few months ago, news hit the newspapers and internet that the Connecticut Department of Transportation was going to be removing the Solari split-flap departure board at Union Station in New Haven. There was a bit of a fight about it though: people didn’t want to see the sign go. People tried writing letters… even I wrote a letter to the CDOT, which of course, was never answered. A Facebook group, called Save Solari, even rounded up 600 fans that wanted the sign to stay. Unfortunately, it seems that all those attempts to convince the CDOT failed. Construction on New Haven’s Union Station begins today. And Metro-North has confirmed on Twitter that it will include the replacement of the split-flap display with an LED sign. The construction also includes upgrades to the sprinkler and fire protection systems, heating and a/c improvements, rehabilitation of the elevators, reconstruction of the pedestrian tunnel, and upgrades to the PA system. The construction will happen over the next twelve months, at which point of this the Solari will be removed has not been mentioned. But apparently, it’s days are numbered.

News of the impending construction led me to finally take a visit over to Union Station on Saturday. Saturday was also National Train Day, though I wasn’t aware that there were even going to be events happening at the train station. In fact, I had been there for at least an hour before I even noticed. I heard the people talking in the corner, though when I went to go investigate, politician Ned Lamont was speaking. His groupies practically tripped over their own legs to get to me and give me stickers and other political propaganda. Which I had to reject several times, at which point I just left.

Later on when I was investigating the paper hats people were wearing, I noticed that there was a cake for Union Station’s 90th Birthday. You know about me and hats, like a moth to a flame. Over by the cake though, there was an agenda for the National Train Day events at the station, which is the only way I figured out that was going on. Ned Lamont was one of the listed speakers on that agenda. Though I didn’t listen to what he had said (me and politicians have a relationship completely opposite than me and hats), I just kept thinking he somewhat hijacked this odd “National Train Day” to promote his gubernatorial campaign. I am almost as skeptical of that as I am of the whole idea of “National Train Day” – a delightful marketing event by Amtrak. Conceptually it is cool, but the real idea behind it… well, it just feels as bogus as if Hallmark declared tomorrow “Give cards to all your coworkers day.”

Alright, that is enough drivel from me, what you really came to see were the photos, right?

Departure board, we’ll miss you! And of course, Happy Birthday Union Station. For more information about the construction, be sure to check Metro North’s site.

Last Thursday there was a great little reception at the Transit Museum Annex in Grand Central to mark the opening of the exhibit Where New York Began: Archaeology at the South Ferry Terminal. It also served as the unveiling of the store in the Annex, which had been closed since January for renovations.

As for the exhibit itself, I do recommend you take a visit. Especially because it is free. Everyone likes free things. Plus it gives you an interesting look into the history of the city. When I hear the word archaeology, I tend to imagine this foreign concept of studying ancient and distant relics, like mummies. But this is archaeology that is in our own backyard, under something so modern as a subway station. It seems an odd coincidence that the artifacts found under a subway station highlight a time when transportation itself was far more difficult… and when “The Battery” referred to a place where guns were kept, as opposed to the park where the tourists tend to go.

In fact this is the area of the city where Cornelius Vanderbilt got his start, before he ever thought about getting into railroads. Vanderbilt, of Dutch heritage, ran various ships in New York Harbor, at times even ferrying materials for the government to build defenses for the War of 1812 in the vicinity of the Battery. (After reading a biography about Vanderbilt, I could probably say way too much about the man, but I’ll save that for Friday). Many of the artifacts unearthed were Dutch in origin… in fact the Consul General of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, Mr. Gajus Scheltema, was in attendance.

A photo taken by one of the fans of the blog, that would be the Consul General on the left, and me on the right

Anyways, enjoy the photos I took at the event, and if you do get a chance, be sure to check out the exhibit for yourself. It is located in the Transit Museum Annex in Grand Central Terminal, and it will run until July 5. (And as previously mentioned, it is free).

[View with PicLens]

Back in December I had planned on being at the train station and handing out cards on the 24th, for all the other unfortunate people that had to work on Christmas Eve. I thought it might be interesting to just go up to random people and give them cards. Maybe it would make them smile. Unfortunately, I ended up being sick on that day, and I never went to work. So much for that plan…

But the whole idea of giving out cards stuck in my mind. And so I decided I was going to do it. For spring. Recently I read something about the Secret Society for Creative Philanthropy, which ended up influencing my final idea. One of the people involved in that group handed out dollars, but only if the person that got the dollar agreed that they would give it to yet another person. I wondered if I could do this in some way with cards. I give out cards, and I get other people to give out cards.

That was pretty much the thought process on how Project Sunshine came into existence. I decided I would give out a bunch of cards to people I see on the train, at the station, maybe even conductors, or the lady with the funky accent that sells tickets at the train station (if you’re reading this, I really like your accent!). Inside each card I give out, I would include yet another card in an envelope, with instructions for that person to find another person to give that card to. And in that card, there is yet another envelope, with a card for that person to give out. I’ve been calling the different cards first, second, and third generation cards, based on the amount of handling each card has gotten. The third generation cards are the last in the chain.

Roughly this is how it works. I give out a card to one person, but if it all works out, three people total end up getting cards.

So what do these cards look like? All of them have the same image, although based on whether the person ends up getting a first, second, or third generation card, the size is different. This is the image that is on each card…

I’m going to start passing these out on the trains today, the 16th of March, a few days before spring officially starts. The weather is supposed to be great and spring-like, so I figured it was about time. I will continue on the 17th, and on the afternoon of the 18th I will be in Grand Central also passing out cards. We’ll see how many I have left over and will go from there. I don’t really have the funds to be mass producing cards, but I’ve done what I can by scrounging up some old envelopes and recycling them (so if you have an envelope with a big white sticker on the front, that is why. Recycled!). I have a total of 60 first generation cards (total of 180 cards… I never want to stuff an envelope again!).

Each card will have the web address of “Project Sunshine” on the back, and I am hoping that people that receive the cards will be able to get online and make some comments. I am especially eager to see if there are any people that do actually get a third generation card. Honestly I am not quite sure how this is going to work, if people I give the cards to will actually give the card inside out to another person. But we shall see.

There is this sentiment in the news today, with the internet and all “competing” with the “real” news. That sentiment is “who cares about the facts, as long as I report it first”. And this sentiment sickens me. Seriously.

I have been having issues with my laptop charger, so I haven’t been on my computer quite as much this week. So I totally missed the other day’s story about the person getting killed by the 6 train at 77th Street. Maybe it was good I missed it. Maybe because the story was complete and utter bullshit. Check out the story on The New York Times‘ website, and read the comments. You will see something drastically different than what the story reports. Why? Because the story was changed as the “real” information came in.

Apparently the original story reported that a young girl was struck by the train. Not only that, witnesses report that the girl was possibly pushed off the platform, as students were horsing around. That is pretty fucked up. A person getting pushed? That is murder on the subway! But hey, guess what, that story was completely false. It is now reported that the person that was struck was not a child, but a forty-eight-year-old woman named Rose M. Mankos. And not only was she NOT pushed, the story now reports that she dropped her bag on the tracks, and JUMPED DOWN TO RETRIEVE IT. That on the other hand is NOT murder. That is complete and utter stupidity. I am so sorry, but that woman got what she deserved. You may call me heartless, but if you jump down on the tracks, you are an idiot.

People, never, never, NEVER go down on those damn tracks. Just don’t do it. Losing something on the tracks does happen. New York City Transit estimates that it happens perhaps twelve to fifteen times per day. If you do lose an item, you need to report it to a police officer or employee. There is an Emergency Response and Track Lubrication Division, and they respond to these events. Once the call is made, a track specialist responds and will retrieve the item. It may not happen instantaneously, and you may have to return later to pick up the item, but at least you will be safe. Life is worth more than whatever stupid possessions you may have dropped. You can buy a new iPod. But your poor family members (whom I am truly sorry for… having to identify that mangled mess of your daughter / sister in the morgue) can’t buy another you.

Note: This post has been edited, because I am a moron and wrote that this happened Friday, when in reality it occurred on Thursday. Talk about criticizing the “media,” hah! It has also been updated to reflect the response I got from NYCTSubwayScoop on Twitter regarding the procedure for retrieving a lost item.