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137th street Subway Yard

Published on: November 17th, 2015 | Last updated: November 20, 2015 | Written by:

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The 137th street subway yard is one of the few subway yards built in NYC that is entirely underground.

Located along the 1 line between 137th street and 145th street stations, this yard consists of 5 tracks bracketing the ‘main line’ center 3 tracks where regularly scheduled subways run. 2 of the yard tracks are located east of the ‘main line’ tracks, while the other 3 are on the west wall. Each track can hold 2 10-car subway trains, for a total capacity of 10 trains.

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This is a very narrow yard – the tracks are close together, and there is no catwalk / bench wall in between. There are no crew rooms or facilities within the tunnel (some are located at 137th street station). If a train needs servicing, it has to be moved to a yard (usually 207th street). This yard is used exclusively to store trains during off-peak hours.

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While it was narrow and cramped, it was nice to visit and knock off my list…

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Comments

NOTE: It sometimes takes a short while for comments to be approved - unfortunately there's a lot of spam comments that come in. I absolutely love when y'all share personal stories of friends relatives etc who worked in these places. It really helps capture what these places were like before they closed up shop.

If you're feeling salty, argumentative comments completely devoid of facts (supply links to support your argument) will not be published. Got a case to state? come with the details.

10 responses to “137th street Subway Yard”

  1. HVAC says:

    The infamous One Tunnel. I got chased out of here once by a local Dominican street crew called the Ballbusters in 1982. This was their “territory” then. The RTW crew painted many famous trains here.

  2. Gino Pryor says:

    Agreed @ HVAC. This was definitely Ballbusters spot. I went down there a few times to see alot of other crews painting. Classic/Legendary train cars came out of this yard. You weren’t a number line writer if you didn’t go there.

  3. kurt says:

    Hit this one last night (bit later than 11) when the trains are definitely stored for the night, yet a worker came down? I had to hide under the third train to the west (last track) for 20 mins… Any ideas why that is?? He even turned on the lights on one train at a point. I doubt anyone saw me going in, and no cameras/motion sensors as far as I’m aware.

  4. Bad Guy Joe says:

    Maybe a train ops guy who forgot something onboard? Definitely out of the norm…

  5. arno says:

    got your piece done anyway?

  6. Bad Guy Joe says:

    I’m sure I could have but I didn’t paint metros here. Cops never cared about explorers but once you tag something you’d be on their shit list… (that list has grown far longer than they can deal with now though).

  7. arno says:

    comment was for kurt since he waited 20 minutes for the worker to FO. 😉

  8. HBR says:

    I’d love to take a look down here ? Not being from New York how and where is the enterance ?

    Help appreciated

  9. Bad Guy Joe says:

    Either nearby station. If you go, be careful it’s a very tight space with plenty of third rail hazards.

  10. yetiblue says:

    Went down there last night, pretty straightforward until the lights went on and the doors opened on the train we were crouched behind haha. Booked it outta there, and saw a team of workers with flashlights moving between the tracks as we got back to the platform.

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  • About The Author

    Bad Guy Joe

    Bad Guy Joe
    Bad Guy Joe knows more about the NYC underground than anyone else on or below the surface of this planet. He has spent nearly 30 years sneaking into NYC's more forbidden locations. When not underground, he's probably bitching about politicians or building something digital. 
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