Bergen Lower Level, 2013
June 5th, 2013 by Bad Guy Joe
The lower level of Bergen Street Station in Brooklyn is a long 'abandoned' mess. 'Abandoned' probably is not right right word for this station though - since it was never placed in regular commuter use. It has never been tiled and only features a bare minimum of lighting.
The overall station itself is probably best known for a very creepy scene shot there for the 1990 movie 'Jacob's Ladder'.
Two tracks run through this station, which lays directly below the active F and G subway lines. These express tracks run up a ramp at Carroll street and run between the two active tracks going south into Brooklyn. North of the station, the tracks ramp upward, leading to a switch where they combine with the local tracks.
Today, the station is in decay. Water seeps in and drips down the tagged up walls - outside of some FE tags, the rest just even very good when compared to other abandoned NYC subway stations. Trash and muck are everywhere. It's simply not a pretty sight. There are no plans to place this platform into customer service anytime soon.
22 responses to “Bergen Lower Level, 2013”
Yeah, and what about the infamous “beast of bergen”?
LOL! The I really should have found a pipe down there.
Wow!! Peep the IN throwup under the Revs and Peek rollers that one could be from the 1970’s…bugging.
I think it is worth mentioning here that before the Fulton Line was completed, trains used to lay up on the lower tracks when they finished their runs at Jay.
Huh. That is one bit of subway trivia I did not know.
If you please, take a look at this page: http://www.columbia.edu/~brennan/abandoned/bergenst.html . Bergen Lower was tiled and was in service 1968 thru 1976. Mr. Brennan’s page fully details the station’s history.
Why would they remove the tiles? In the 70s no less when they had no money? (Not that they do now…)
I know the tracks down there have been used on occasion, though I’m not convinced trains ever stopped there. Yes there is one photo on that site, but I’d need to see more: it could have been taken upstairs.
I know of no other abandoned stations or platforms where the tiles were removed. If that did indeed take place, it’s a very unique exception to the rule.
On http://www.nycsubway.org/wiki/Station:_Bergen_Street_(Crosstown_Line)
there is another explanation of why the MTA removed the tiles. I agree that it would be unique exception to the rule of abandoned stations. I know I’ve only been thru this station (any level) a few times, in 1971 and Fan Trips in 1989 (R10) and 2000 (R36). I have vague memories of going down the ramp thru the Carroll St. Station from the RFW at least once, most likely in 1971 – back then many stations still had incandescent lights so I may be remembering the upper level (I know Fulton St and parts of Queens line still had them in the early 70’s), it’s been almost 42 years. I don’t have any pix, film was B&W, I had no flash (the bulbs were expensive for a 14 year old Jersey kid) and had used all my film by the time I got to Bergen St – but at that point in time I had no idea that the station was anything special.
After I made that last comment I read the nycsubway,org page too – I guess it really was tiled. There is still a lot if water coming down the walls so it makes some sense that they would remove them.
Not all the tiles were removed. There actually are parts of the station at the ends of the platforms where the tiles still exist. They are covered in quite a lot of filth though. The tiling down there was pretty much the same as the upper level from what i saw of the remaining tiling.
i grew up on the bergen and carroll literally need to find the sails
Hi all, the lower level was definitely in service, I saw it stop there riding an F express in the 1970s coming home from high school. It looked just like the local station upstairs. The large stainless steel doors in front of the stairways are from the 1980s or so, replacing standard IND steel bar gates that gave it a prison look.
I will have to update this post accordingly. From how it looks the last few years, you’d never know it was ever in service. Really dark and beat up now. All tiles gone.
I spent many a cold miserable night in a circuit breaker chamber in that lower level. It is used for some train moves.
Here’s a photo of Bergen St Lower Level on 9-21-75 from nycsubway.org. Station is tiled. http://nycsubway.org/perl/show?2608
How do you get into the subway station?
Osmosis.
Unfortunately the powers that be will have my neck if I say…
the tracks there are occasionally used for work trains, when i was there there was some construction work at the end of the platform
I’m a graffiti writer/artist my self & I loooove all the graffiti down there…it made me feel like I was in the 1980’s again…I got down there through carol street…walk the tunnel as if u was walking it 2 Bergen street & find ur way down towards where the 2 tracks r clearly seen in the middle of Carol street which leads u 2 the Bergen street lower level abandon station.
P.S I went down there 2 film a music video called Deez Vainz 😉
When I started off here people hounded me for talking about spots. It might be a good idea to not talk about this in public.
Bergen lower level, City Hall Lower Level, the center platform at Columbus Circle are ideal locations as light freight stations in the event the MTA wants to make some money.
Hi Control. So it turns out that the lower level was tiled. It wasn’t left bare bone like City Hall LL on the Broadway Line was. When the upper level got renovated, I guess the water damage that was being worked on the upper level got excessive to the point tiles on the LL started falling off. TA kept the platforms clean as they could and painted the walls white so it could be presentable in the event passengers needed to use the station in the event of an emergency, but that can’t even be done now since the LL is full of mud. You step on the wrong place and you will bust your ass.