Abandoned NY Subway station now visible to public

There's a "hidden" abandoned subway station in New York that up until recently has been closed to the public. Well, it's still officially closed and has been since 1945, but now using a "trick" people can get to see the beautifully preserved City Hall station.


Photo by John Paul Palescandolo & Eric Kazmirek

Until recently the MTA would force passengers to get off the 6 train when it got the end of the line at Brooklyn Bridge. Now as the trains makes the loop to back uptown passengers are allowed to stay on and can see the station.

John-Paul Palescandolo and Eric Kazmirek have taken some amazing photos which show a very European-looking (or even Russian-looking) station. See the full collection of shots at Huffington Post. Sadly plans from 1995 to restore the station and turn it into part of the NYC Transit Museum were scrapped.

Hat tip to MichalD, MrWeeble and BlueSquareBrig for letting me know about this.

Shame there's no loopholes on the London Underground so that we can "unofficially" see some abandoned Tube stations.

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Tube drivers may strike over Boxing Day pay

London Underground drivers are to vote on industrial action in a management disagreement over Boxing Day pay. London Underground claim 26th December is an normal working day and a longstanding agreement has been in place with trade unions over pay. However, train drivers' union Aslef claim they have argued the case for additional payments on Boxing Day at numerous meetings with London Underground (LU). The union are now looking for triple time plus a day in lieu.



Photo by Tom Roper
Terry Wilkinson, the EC member for District 8 from the union said today: "It used to be almost guaranteed that if you worked one bank holiday, you would not work the next. But the increase in service levels has meant this is now no longer possible.

"We are not opposed to additional services for customers. Why should we be? They help to make our employment more secure.... But we believe that there are times when staff need to be appropriately compensated for working at highly unsocial times - and that includes Boxing Day.

"If they get away with this, next year they'll be telling us Christmas Day is a normal day as well!." Unlikely, as the London Underground has always been completely closed on Christmas Day!

TfL say the union are refusing to even talk about this and a spokesperson said: "LU has made every effort to resolve this issue with the Aslef leadership, which has refused to attend talks at Acas to discuss its claim for triple time and a day in lieu for its members."

As you know there have been three Tube strikes over job losses and ticket office closures. The next strike is planned for 28th November 2010 and the RMT & TSSA union leaders had said they had no plans to disrupt services over Christmas and the New Year.

However a memo from Aslef says the recommendation is for strike action over Boxing Day pay to take place on Boxing Day itself.

Update - 13th December 2010 - ASLEF members voted for strike action in a majority of 9-1

50 Cent Teams Up With Keenan Cahill

Keenan Cahill is already an Internet sensation with a string of ‘hit’ videos featuring him lip syncing to some of today’s biggest hits. Last night the 15-year-old stopped by Chelsea Lately to show off his skills with the help of rapper 50 Cent and to spend a little time hitting on the host.

This time, he's lip-syncing "Down On Me," the Jeremih single featuring 50 Cent. Cahill, the adorably earnest Chicago youngster, mouths Jeremih's lines, and then a special guest drops in for 50's verse: 50 himself. . All they had to do was let the camera do its magic, and now Cahill is probably the coolest kid at his school. At one point, 50 Cent even lets Cahill swag with his chain necklace on, which Cahill later admitted to Chelsea Handler was awfully heavy.

The multi-platinum rapper has to bend down to fit in the frame with the glasses-wearing 15-year-old. But the two dance around young Keenan's room, and 50 even drops some ice on his neck toward the end of the video.

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Urban Legends & Ghosts of the London Underground

If you like your Tube tales filled with ghosts, ghouls, secret tunnels and "friendly terrorists" you might be interested in a talk taking place this Thursday November 11th. Writer, Scott Wood will be sharing a billing with Anthony Clayton, author of Subterranean City to share stories about Subterranean London Lore.


The talk (organised by the South East London Folklore Society) takes place at The Old King's Head Pub, Kings Head Yard, 45-49 Borough High St, London, SE1 1NA at 8pm and costs £2.50.

While looking for something to illustrate this post, I came across the fantastic "Slightly Disturbing Tube Map". In the designer's own words, the map: "which took ages to do, by the way - shows where Tube lines have cut through plague pits, former slums and cholera sites, and also where all the ghosts and that hang out. For good measure, it also shows where all the abandoned stations are, and also all the stations that were destroyed and such during the war." In size "it's roughly two Jack Russells by three Jack Russells" and costs £19.99.

Hat tip to IanVisits events calendar for the talk info.

You might also be interested in: Mysteries and Ghosts of the Tube

Olympics Tube Map Cover we'd like to see

Love this mock up of a 2012 Olympics London Underground Map Cover by Max Roberts. Sadly it's unlikely to see the light of day as a physical Tube map, as the London Organising Committee of the Olympic Games are strict about the usage of their rings.


Max says "The logo itself doesn't quite match the way in which the official rings are linked, this is because its actually based on Henry Beck's 60-degree map interchanges of 1940." If you went to Max's exhibition on alternative Tube Maps you would have seen versions on display there.

Max had lots of positive comments about the design at the exhibition but has heard nothing back from Art on the Underground, who he approached with the idea.


photo by Priscila Buschinelli
I'd be surprised if there isn't some version of an Olympic Tube Map cover in 2012 and I bet whatever we get will probably have those stupid mascots in it somewhere.

Max's design is clear, simple and effectively brings the Tube Map and the Olypmics together in an immediately recognisable way.

Last month Londonist published a post on some Olympic Tube posters that were also unlikely to be used officially.


Such a shame we're stuck with Wenlock & Mandeville, when there's a number of talented designers already producing Olympic mock ups which many Londoners clearly like. I'd love to know who sits in on the focus groups to give the thumbs up to the official stuff!

Dealing with the Tube Strike in 1962

Great video footage from Pathe about how Londoners dealt with an unofficial London Underground Strike in 1962.


Very similar footage as to what you'll see today - traffic jams, signs of closed Tube stations - although Boris Bikes were replaced with people on roller skates. Obviously no congestion charge existed then and people could "park almost anywhere". "Buses were packed but hopelessly inadequate. People were realising how much London depends on the Underground", said the voiceover. "Naturally 9 out of ten people were late for work with some arriving at lunchtime".


There's some nice touches with a plucky gent leaving extra early work in his bowler hat and underwear. The film ends with motorists giving lifts to people "Some had quite a load" jokes the voiceover as a surprisingly large amount of people get out of small car, including "second class passengers" in the boot!

Hat tip to Ianvisits for finding this little gem.

3rd Tube Strike begins this evening

From 9pm tonight - 2nd November the TSSA and RMT unions will start the third of their 24-hour strikes. That's drivers and station staff. Maintenance engineers will be walking out earlier at 7pm.

Remember as with the previous two strikes, the trains don't all suddenly stop at once, as staff continue working until the end of their shift. Plus not everyone who drives a London Underground train or works at a Tube station is a member of the above unions or will be striking.


As before it's best to check with TfL's (now sadly familiar) tube strike page this evening and on Wednesday 3rd November to see what is actually running and what's not (it's been updated to include a list of stations which are expected to be closed). On the last strike in October around 60% - 70% of trains weren't running.


Yesterday Boris Johnson called the strikes pointless and said: 'Londoners have shown that they will not be deterred from their daily business by these pointless strikes.

'The action of the union leaderships may cause some inconvenience but we are determined to keep the Capital moving by providing a plethora of alternatives so that people can get around.

'Whether by bus, boat or bike when Londoners beat the strike for a third time I hope the RMT and TSSA leaderships will face facts and see that their action achieves nothing aside from depriving their members of another day's pay.'


October 4th Tube Strike -- TFL Employee by C. G. P. Grey
Transport Commissioner, Peter Hendy, echoed this and said of the unions' grievances over the 800 job reductions: "We have explained that the changes come with no compulsory redundancies and no loss of earnings, and mean that stations will continue to be staffed and every station with a ticket office will continue to have one.

"Despite exhaustive talks over the last week, the union leaderships remain intent on disrupting Londoners."

Both unions blame Boris for breaking his election pledges to keep ticket offices open. RMT leader Bob Crow said "The message is simple: suspend these cuts and we will suspend our action." TSSA General Secretary Gerry Doherty added "Instead of trying to impress the Tory shires with his anti trade union rhetoric, he should be sitting down with us to work out a fair solution to this dispute which no one wants."

Even though "no one wants" the disputes, we should brace ourselves for yet another strike which is due to take place from 7pm on Sunday 28th November. Commuters now seem to be resigned with the strikes, with no resolution in sight and we could easily see these disputes running through to Christmas. Sadly for Bob Crow he won't find Londoners who want to "look across the [English] Channel to the kind of resistance being mobilized by the French trade unions, which enjoys overwhelming public support." These strikes have an overwhelming lack of public support and I can't see this changing any time soon.

Good luck getting to work and home on Wednesday.

In case you missed the web's best London Underground Strike Jokes from the Telegraph! It may help to cheer you up!

Update - Wednesday 3rd November

Very few lines are running a full service and those that are have a number of station closures.


This is the status as of 9.08am on TfL's site, so please check your lines before travel today. Even though the strike ends at 9pm tonight, things are unlikely to get back to normal until Thursday morning. Good luck!