Walking down the dark and dirty roadbed, the sound of boots squelching through mud echoed through the tunnel. Despite the trash and dirt strewn everywhere, I was comfortable. We were walking up the IND 8th Ave line, AKA the (A) (C) (E), and I was in my element.
If you’ve read a good portion of the posts on my page, you may have noticed that I love the IND. Beyond my appreciation for their ambitious plans and (often) good engineering, there is something special about walking through an IND tunnel. They tend to be more spacious than the IRT and BMT, and overall just have a different vibe. The usually-longer length between stations gives IND tunnels a unique kind of solitude. Late at night, it makes for a nice break from the usual hustle and bustle of the Big Apple.
Back under Midtown Manhattan, we neared the end of the tunnel, a dull fluorescent light illuminating the edge. The sludge deepened, though not as much as we expected, and we climbed up onto the platform without too much mud on our boots. The number “42” could be seen on the wall. The 42nd St lower level station on the 8th Ave line was officially abandoned in 1981, after being used for 23 years as a station for special trains (such as the JFK Express, “Train to the Plane”). Oddly enough, the lower level began construction in in the late 1920s along with the rest of the station, but it wasn’t completed until 1958. The reasoning for even building this isolated platform is unclear. In 2010, the MTA cut right through the middle of the 42nd Lower platform in the construction of the 7 line extension to 34th St—Hudson Yards. The platform was divided into thirds, with the north and south segments remaining pretty much intact, and the middle segment containing electrical equipment for the 7 line. Though it isn’t my favorite part of the 8th Ave line, it’s always nice to pass through this piece of history.
