Sent: October 30, 2001 2:15 AM
Subject: Smelling the "N" train
> Sunday, October 28, 2001
>
> This weekend three more subway stations re-opened in Lower Manhattan.  I was
> particularly excited by this because it was four stops on the N/R line, of
> which there is a stop for on the block where I live.
>
> New Yorkers are funny about "their" train lines, they are fiercly proud of
> them (or at the least, incredibly geeky) as they would be to say that their
> local pizza parlor have THE BEST slice in New York.  Well, maybe not THAT
> passionate, but you get the idea.
>
> Living in midtown so close to so many trains, I could have adopted any as my
> own - but I chose the N/R line, it not only being on my block, but also
> having a route that takes me closest to the photographers studios and ad
> agencies that are housed in the buildings on and around Broadway in the
> teens and 20's downtown that I frequent many times a week for my
> appointments and bookings.
>
> The N/R trains have not been running since September 11th.  Different lines
> were re-routed to cover the station stops the N/R once had, but it was not
> the same - after a certain point they would nonchalantly turn off to cover
> another line further south or just stop altogether, and let another train
> continue the route into Queens.  How the MTA decides all of this is beyond
> me.
>
> The N/R line comes in from Queens (the East) and follows Broadway south,
> curving and twisting all the way downtown, passing under the World Trade
> Center before tunneling under the water to Brooklyn.  When I heard on NPR
> this morning that the MTA had reopened the stations that went under the
> World Trade Center, I quickly rearranged my plans for the day to include a
> trip on the subway, for no other reason then to see the now reopened
> stations from the window of an N or R train.
>
> Most of you might think this a bit of an odd way to spend a Sunday, and,
> well, I guess you're right.  I must thank my dad and my ex-roomie Scott for
> instilling an interest of subways and trains in me - while their love
> borders on obession - ok, maybe passion is a more positive word - mine is
> more of a curiosity than a love, curiousity about the signals, the types of
> trains, the architecture of the stations and tunnels, what all the signage
> in the tunnels mean, where those mysterious tracks go that never seem to be
> used, what the City Hall Station REALLY looks like, etc.
>
> One thing I do love, however, is the anticipation of waiting for a train (as
> long as the wait is kept to under 10 minutes - after that you just get
> pissed off).  I am one of those people who stand precariously close to the
> edge of the platform, straining my neck to see the lights of an oncoming
> train several stations away, or listening carefully to the clicking of the
> tracks below me and trying to estimate how many stations away the train is.
>
> Usually before hearing or seeing a train though, one "smells" a train
> coming.  This is meant both figuratively and literally.  Figuratively when
> you "predict" that a train is nearing.  Literally, when you catch a little
> waft of air from the tunnel that the train is pushing your way (which
> sometimes turns into a gale force wind, which can be fortunate or
> unfortunate depending on the temperature outside, and whether or not someone
> has recently relieved themselves at the end of the platform).  The cool
> breeze of damp musty air flows over you, and in that one little waft you
> smell a million different smells, mold, incense, garbage, the woman's
> perfume who is standing at the opposite end of the platform, water, urine,
> baking bread (if you're lucky!), McDonalds french fries.
>
> Once you catch a whiff of a train, you strain even harder to see if it is
> YOUR train.  As many different trains often share the same tracks in New
> York, sometimes the odds are against you when waiting for a train.  Nothing
> quite matches the emotions one feels when the headlights on the front car of
> an approaching train appear in the distance.  When you can finally make out
> the number or letter of the train, you are either a) elated and overjoyed
> that it IS your train or b) profoundly disappointed that it's not, and
> meekly move away from the platform edge to let the "winners" take their
> prize.
>
> When the "N" train appeared from around the corner on Sunday, barrelling
> down the downtown tracks of the Times Square Station, headlamps shining
> brightly,  I felt like jumping up and down.  Another part of New York had
> been restored to me, to the New York that I knew before September 11th.
>
> I boarded the train, with plans to take it to the last stop in Manhattan and
> back,  to see the four stations that had reopened.  Oops, rewrite that, the
> THREE stations that were now reopened -  the one directly below the World
> Trade Center, the Cortlandt Street/WTC Station, was still closed.
>
> When the Cordlandt Street Station came into view, you could see long strands
> of pink police ribbon strung along the length of the station, and huge
> wooden square pillars were placed every few feet along the downtown
> platform, mixed among the concrete ones and steel beams already there.  Long
> 2x4 planks of wood connected the "new" columns, nailed  together in a
> haphazard fashion, creating different sized and shaped "X"'s up and down the
> platform, obviously not caring about the aesthetic value of the station, but
> instead just trying to keep the fragile street and pile of debris above from
> falling down to the platform and tracks - again.
>
> It was eeire.  Partially because of the view I described above, but mostly
> because the train, instead of rushing through as you see the express trains
> do when bypassing the local stops, literally crawled into the station and
> inched past the platform, carefully and quietly rumbling past the boarded
> over exits and supported ceilings, as if to give us all a gentle nudge to
> look at the somber reminder of what lay above.  And people on the train
> looked - they didn't gawk, they just stopped reading, ceased conversing, and
> looked.  After we had passed the station, talking and reading resumed, the
> train sped up a tiny bit, and people looked back at the floor, some sighing,
> some looking around like I was to see if others had "noticed" the closed
> station.  How could we not.
>
> I exited the train at Whitehall Street, the last stop in Manhattan, to cross
> over to the other tracks to head back uptown.  As my downtown train pulled
> away, it pulled that awful smell with it - not that of garbage and perfume
> and urine, but of hot chemicals, burning metal, and smoke, sucked along the
> tunnel from the site of the collapsed towers one station away, where much of
> the wreckage and debris still lay, still burning.  Another reminder of where
> I was and what had happened "upstairs".
>
> The train I took back uptown was an "R" train - to see BOTH lines running,
> yay!  It was SUCH a great feeling, such a feeling of normalcy! This time the
> train brought with it smells of the musty cold tunnels under the water and
> Brooklyn smells with just a hint of urine, fresh air compared to the acrid
> stench coming from the other way.
>
> We passed the Cordlandt Street station on our way back uptown, again in slow
> motion as if any sudden movement or sound would bring the buildings above
> crashing down on us.  The station will probably be closed for a long, long
> time.  But the fact that the N/R lines have been restored, and much more
> quickly than anticipated (they were not to have reopened until December or
> January, kudos to the MTA!), is just one more item to be checked off our
> lists, one more thing to let us know life is moving along, and that we will
> all get through this.
>
> I hope others are taking note of these "little" things, and checking them
> off of their lists.  Because the little things add up, and someday we'll be
> back in business 100%, just like we were before September 11th.
>
> So, enough rambling, I hope you are all well.  See you on the "N" train!
> (and don't forget to breathe through your nose!)
>
> Sandy
>