photo: Bob Mulero
I’ve known about them for years, but never did anything about them until now.
The IND Queens Boulevard Line was opened in stages between 1933 and 1988 (most stations between 1933-37). The original white/black enamel signage had been replaced with modern black/white signs by the 1980s, and by this I mean the signs in the parts of the stations accessed by passengers (or “customers” as the MTA curiously calls them). However, hiding in plain sight are original white/black enamel signs like this.
Where are they? On the central iron pillars that help to support the station roof located between express and local tracks. Most of the local stations on the Queens Boulevard line still have them. Occasionally, creative abbreviations have to be made on these square signs (cf. “Union T’p’ke”). Since the Metropolitan Transit Authority is almost as obsessive as NYC’s Department of Transportation about removing nonstandard signs, it’s a minor miracle that these signs are still in place.
1/18/16