The virus had me within its grips. The week long struggle had placed me in a painfully immobile state, wasting away the afternoons and evenings snoozing in bed, doped up on a confused mix of painkillers and steroids. There's not enough meds in the world though to cure that third-rail itch though, and a journalist in town from Australia was itching for some action... so there was only one thing to do.



We met up on the active station platform. i was there early and profiled the various people standing around. Most seemed to just be going on there way, but there were one or two sketchy looking people looking suspicious. They could be cops, on the station to look out for crime. After all, This was the scene of a violent rape recently.

When the Journo arrived we hung around a bit waiting out these creepy people, who had now moved to the end of the platform, and kept looking back towards us. Soon enough their intent became clear from the stench in the air: they're smoking weed down there.

Weed. who the hell hangs out on a seedy subway platform to smoke... weed? Not meth, not crack: weed. Like, dude... this place is a total bummer to smoke at.

Annoyed, we walk to the other end of the platform and wander into the tunnel. Across the tracks and into the abandoned platform. Here lies one of the only abandoned station platforms in NYC that is well lit. if it wasn't for all the graffiti you'd think a track would come and stop at any moment. Those days ended many years ago though, and the walls have since become a canvas for largely toy writers to scrawl their mark on. It's a far cry from the scene when we were the first to check out this station in its abandoned state.

The MTA only recently got around to boarding up the arch nitches between the Queens bound track and the abandoned platform. I can't imagine a good reason for them doing this other than to hide the graffiti and filth on the abandoned platform from the eyes of the public. It's certainly not going to stop people from entering the platform from the tunnels, and it's only going to make it a more cozy home for the homeless and the drug addicts - well lit yet out of the public eye.

It's actually rather amazing that this platform is STILL lit up - years after being closed to the public. There's absolutely no reason for the lights to even be on over here - yet here they are, glowing away, 24/7/365.

The bad old days might not be back all over the subway system - those days will probably never come back - but here, in this station, are all the signs of neglect you need to argue that someone, somewhere, isn't staying on their jobs.