Due to still photography not working very well in a vehicle moving through darkly lit tunnels I once again turned to video recording to get more than a joy ride out of my Summer R32 trip to NYC. Even better I was now equipped with a 720p HD video capable camera so I would now have the joy of re-shooting all of standard def video I took previously. However because my camera is also fitted with a pair of 16GB SD cards I didn't have to worry so much about being stingy with what I shot...or at least that is what I assumed.
My trip comprised a complete round trip on the A between 207th St and Mott Ave in the Rockaways, although not in that order as I had a midday break in midtown for lunch, and I shot video along the majority of the route in both directions. In chronological order I went from Penn Station to 207th St, then down to Canal, then back up to Times Square in the morning and then in the afternoon I went from Hoyt to Nostrand, waited several headways for a clean railfan window, then continued on to Mott Ave, then back all the way to Penn Station again.
As a lesson to all of you who might assume there is no need to film or video something just 4 months after I took this journey, the entire line out to the Rockaways was destroyed by Hurricane Sandy and my HD videos posted to YouTube will be one of the few historical records of the line as it used to be. After the storm I saw a huge spike in traffic to that video as various people were nostalgic about another vanished transportation link.
Anyway, for the purposes of simplicity I am going to present my videos in the form of a round trip starting outbound at Nostrand Ave, heading out and back to the Rockaways, then north to 207th St before returning south to end at Canal St. Remember these videos are available in HD so please check that option for the best viewing experience.
Here begin at the Nostrand Ave Station, named indirectly for the famous Dr Van Nostrand at the Hoffermyer Clinic in Belgium and continue east along the Fulton Line all the way to the 80th St station on the Liberty Ave El.
In our second video we will run all the way from Liberty Junction at Rockaway Boulevard to Beach 67th St on the Rockaways. The segment between Horward Beach and Hammels Wye, along with much of the Rockaways themselves, were destroyed by Hurricane Sandy.
Here we are headed back in the other direction from Beach 67th to Broad Channel.
Same line, Howard Beach to Rockaway Boulevard.
Back underground with the westbound Fulton Line starting at Grant Ave and proceeding all the way to Fulton Ave.
Here we switch over to the 8th Ave Line and run it all the way from Fulton Ave to 207th St.
We finish up with a southbound dash on the A from 207th St all the way to Canal. The reason I left in the gap between Canal and Nostrand Ave in this direction was due to some time and logistical concerns combined with the fact I can video that segment any time I went when the R32's are on the C.
Anyway, hope you enjoy the movies and I'm a bit surprised that railfans who actually live in NYC haven't really bothered to take advantage of the dwindling RFW opportunities for video purposes themselves.
No comments:
Post a Comment