EASTERNMOST SUBWAY

by Kevin Walsh

The 179th Street station (F train) at Hillside Avenue can claim to be the easternmost subway, as in underground,  station in the city (though the Far Rockaway station (A/H) is further east, it was originally built for the Long Island Rail Road).

179th Street also can make the claim of being the final station in the original IND run, as it was added to the end of the 6th Avenue/Queens Blvd./Hillside Avenue line in December 1950, 13 years after its neighboring 169th Street station. Original IND construction began in the late 1920s.

Ironically the 169th and 179th Street stations are the only two stations I have never been in. I had my chance this day in August 2012, but passed.

1/24/13

25 comments

Joe Korman January 24, 2013 - 2:02 pm

Beyond the station there are eight tracks on two levels where the trains are reversed to go back to Manhattan. The express tracks are connected to the upper level four tracks, and were probably planned to continue further east. Originally both the E and F terminated there. During rush hours the F ran express to Continental Ave and the E was local.

Today, I believe there are still a few E trains that start there, most though go to Parsons-Archer. For a brief time, the R train went there too to replace the E.

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Steven January 24, 2013 - 7:37 pm

The tracks end at approx 188th Street

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Emmanuel March 19, 2013 - 2:51 pm

Actually, the tracks end at 184th St.

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Someone February 8, 2013 - 5:08 pm

the E trains that do start here run express.

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Yancey Zimmerman November 12, 2019 - 4:54 pm

Actually the F train ran express to/from this station during the weekdays from the beginning of AM rush hours to the end of PM rush hours. Between the AM and PM rush hours the F would switch to the local track right before 169th Street, stop there and then return to the express track after Parsons Blvd running express all the way to Queens Plaza. The E was the local and would switch to/from the express track between 75th Avenue and Continental Ave to become the express along with the F.

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Joe Korman January 24, 2013 - 2:05 pm

One more comment pertaining to the Far Rockaway station. While the line was built by the LIRR and taken over by the city and TA in 1956, the actual TA Far Rockaway station was built new and opened a few moths after the line. The subway terminated at Wavecrest until then. The LIRR still uses the original Far Rockaway station.

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Joe Korman January 24, 2013 - 6:32 pm

A correction: the LIRR Far Rockaway station was also demolished and a new station built to the east.

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Kevin Walsh January 24, 2013 - 7:08 pm

On Nameoke Street. I wonder where that name comes from.

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AJ January 27, 2013 - 4:47 pm

I believe the name is Native American in origin.

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Bill Fleming January 24, 2013 - 2:15 pm

You havent missed much. Used to live near them in 1970. back then, They were very busy stations with Both the E and F Trains ending at 179th Street. Now only the F Train goes there. Commuter Buses from Nassau County also stop above. Knew a few NYPD Old Timers, who worked in Manhattan and Lived on Long Island, Who would park their own cars on the Streets above and take the Subway to the precincts from there whenever they were working.

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Jason B. January 24, 2013 - 2:57 pm

Tons of exits at 179 Street.

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Mary January 24, 2013 - 3:17 pm

I wish I had a dollar for every time I’ve been in the 179th Street Station! I grew up about twenty blocks away in Hollis, Queens and used that station to go visit my grandparents, to school, to work, etc. When my parents bought their house in May 1950 they were told by the realtor that the station was eventually going to run all the way out to the city line/268th Street, which was appealing to them because my dad worked in downtown Manhattan. Oh well; they were plenty of bus lines running along Hillside Avenue to get to 179th Street.

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Kevin January 25, 2013 - 1:59 pm

When my parents bought their house in Bellerose (just off Hillside Ave.) in 1941 the realtors told them the plans were to extend the subway out at least as far as the City Line. When the neighborhood was laid out, the intersection of Hillside and Little Neck Parkway was intended to be a major bus/subway interchange. That’s why Little Neck Parkway was so wide – there were to be drop-offs, bus turns etc. for the subway. Same thing for Springfield Blvd. Further east just in to Nassau, there is a shopping center that wasn’t developed until the mid-70’s. It started with a W. T. Grants, then a Channel and is now something else. That area was vacant for so long because the City had an option on the property to use as yard space for the end of the subway line. When they finally completely gave up that idea, that opened up the lot for development.

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Rick D January 25, 2013 - 7:07 pm

The realtors must’ve sensed that your parents would appreciate the idea of the F line going further east. It was never a given, it was bandied about again and again for many many years. Some realtors will say anything if it’ll help make a sale.

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Larry Mac January 25, 2013 - 8:10 am

There were plans to take the IND farther east for sure. Back in the 1950s there was even a great vision to take the Independent all the way out to Hempstead under Hempstead Turnpike.

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therealguyfaux January 25, 2013 - 11:44 am

The 179th St station also had, back in the 1960’s, an interesting feature– the outbound platform staircases were outside fare control, i.e. no gate to go through to exit the station property. You simply walked from platform to mezzanine to street. This probably made for quicker exiting to the buses upstairs, and if anyone was of a mind to fare-beat by riding the train up into the hole, they’d be taking their chances as far as the train being a lay-up, I suppose. I would guess there was a Transit Patrolman (as they then were called) on duty in the AM rush hour just in case some people had ideas. The platform crews at the terminals generally rousted all the people off the trains, before shutting the doors, anyway, at other hours.

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jerry January 25, 2013 - 1:50 pm

My dad was in the parking business and used to operate two lots, one on each side of Hillside Ave, on land leased from the Trump Organization of all things. Both lots have long since been developed. His primary customers were commuters from Long Island who would take the E/F in from there. Good memories! Both my brother and I had our first jobs at the lot, where we happily also learned to drive (using other peoples cars, of course!).

It must have been pretty lucrative since the parking business put me through college!

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fdr January 25, 2013 - 2:38 pm

I grew up on Hillside Avenue just past Springfield Blvd about 3 miles east of 179th St. It would have been great if the subway had been extended. There are bus lines on that route (Q-43, Q-1, Q-17 and Q-75 before they turned up 188th St) but it makes for a long trip. I remember one snowstorm when I had to walk home from the subway in big snow drifts because the buses weren’t running.

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Hart January 27, 2013 - 11:25 pm

If the tracks end at 188th St… why not build a station there?

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Someone February 8, 2013 - 5:09 pm

Why not extend the entire line to Springfield Blvd?

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subwayboy1904 March 22, 2013 - 9:37 am

Good idea,though.When I’m chairman of the MTA, I’ll promise to do that.

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Tom January 29, 2013 - 7:42 pm

Hey FDR…..Same here. I lived out past Little Neck Parkway….Got off the train at 179th St. with a fairly large suitcase. No buses running (Q43 for us)….walked through 2 feet of snow. Got picked up by a police car twice for a ride of about a mile ride each time (only time in a cop car) which was a welcome break. Spent a lot of time at 179th St station waiting for the E or F. At rush hour, even though it was the first stop going back to the City many times you wouldn’t get a seat it was so crowded. By the time the train hit Roosevelt Ave it was packed like sardines. And the Roosevelt platform would be jammed with people trying to get on. I finally got tired of the mob scene and would stand on the E or F until Continental Ave and the switch to the EE local where I could get a seat and it wasn’t so crazy. More than once, on the way home from college I fell asleep and would get tossed off by the transit police at 179th. Back then, many cars didn’t have AC. Real fun in the summer. By the time we got to Manhattan they smelled like a locker room at the Y. Before we graduated the newer orange/red seat trains came online….,,,Hey Kevin…we were almost neighbors. I remember Grants Plaza and the lot before it. We used to ride our bikes through the lot. Pretty cool for elementary school kids. I never knew it was held by the City for the potential for a mass transit lot….

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Rich Campbell March 1, 2013 - 1:30 pm

Bee Line bus from Freeport used to terminate at 169 St. I started many a subway ride in to Yankee Stadium from here.

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Ed Fenning April 9, 2013 - 10:06 pm

This was the line of my childhood, where I learned to love the subway. Boy could those R1-9’s really move on those express runs!

My father got out of Korea in about 1952. Shortly afterwards we moved to Bell Park Manor Terrace, corner of Hillside & Springfield. He practiced as a dentist on the upper east side. Between 55-57 he took me into work with him on the weekends, or I went in with my mother and younger brother to meet my Dad, we always went up to the front window! The E or the F, great view, great speed, great vibes; in those olive drab behemouths, with the very loud accelerating hum of the electric motors – they just sped along sounding like some gigantic kraken waking up and beginning to take care of business. The tunnels’ never ending cavernous galleries, the colored signals, white strips of lights for each of the stations up ahead, and the thousands of pillars rushing by the front window at warp speed…. glad I didn’t grow up anywhere else….!

We took the bus in from corner of Hillside and Springfield, or we drove in the family Studebaker to those parking lots. Boy do I remember them – they were huge and expansive, and everywhere.

One time my mom was speaking to one of the transit workers and he led me and my mother along the catwalk and into the signal tower – very exciting for a six and a half year old. You just don’t get to do these cool things if you grow up in someplace like Duluth, for example…..

Was very disappointed when they refurbished the station and hid all those great purple tile strips along the wall, with the repeating “179” tiles one after the other.
For that matter too, the NYC transit trashed their own history, when they covered up all those “H & M” tiles repeating one after the other, along the track wall at World Trade Center Hudson Terminal….

Wish they had extended the subway out to Little Neck – there’d have been an IND stop right on the corner of where I grew up – and wouldn’t have that been something!

In December 1957 we moved out to Suffolk county – a good thing since surburban elementary school teacher could be supportive and caring – not like the horrible and intimidating prison officer women I had for teachers K – 2nd grade (1st half) at PS18 & PS33. My God they were horrible…..
But leaving ready access to Manhattan behind, and riding the E or F train after a short bus ride was yeah, like moving to Duluth……………

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Cayden December 10, 2015 - 5:25 am

The following list shows the connections between the different divisions of the New York City Subway.

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