Thanks! I was actually originally intending to film out the side window (like a normal ride), but we asked the engineer and he let us ride up front. I myself was quite amazed.
🤣😂 I thought I was looking at the 63rd Street tunnel on the NYCT “F” line. 🤔 This 63rd street tunnel on the LIRR is identical. I also saw the double Decker tunnel section that they did in the 1970s. That was one of the smartest moves the MTA has ever did.
Although it took the MTA fifty years to put the lower level in operation after many years of delayed construction not to mention the cost that was many times what was expected when this proposal was originally approved. That said I have used GCM and found it did make getting to the Upper East Side easier and faster than the usual trip through NYP and taking either the Q to 86th or the C up CPW to 81st and the M79 bus across Central Park.
@@apollospace9804 Believe me, I know. I took the PATH to and from Jersey City for years. Used to wonder how it would look if they ever took a hose to the inside of the tunnel.
This train takes an atypical route while there's track out of service for maintenance. At 5:30 it moves over to track usually used by westbound trains. It switches back to a more typical route at 17:28.
The middle two tracks from Harold Interlocking to 17:28 are bidirectional, aren't they? 3 inbound and 1 outbound in AM rush hour, and 3 outbound, and 1 inbound in PM rush hour, NO ? Aarre Peltomaa of Mississauga, Ontario
@@thekamfanner Completely agree. What made me fall in love with them was the echo effect you hear when you're near two trucks from two separate cars. Their trucks aren't 100 percent matched so when it starts off or comes to a stop you hear an echo in it's sound.
In the belly of this beautifully done boondoggle. I am not a boondoggle guy, but this one was a real treat for transit foamers!!! If only the M-3's could have went to GCM. That front window ride would have been epic!!
It is cool hearing the F train NYCT line above in the double tier 63rd Street Tunnel portion of the GCM connection. Roosevelt Island and F Line Subway Station is above LIRR commuters' heads in the middle of tunnel portion!!!
After the initial interlockings, I don't think that it was slow at all; I think that the track was so damn awesomely good quality, that you didn't notice the high speed. Aarre Peltomaa of Mississauga, Ontario
I believe the signal was either yellow or red, meaning we couldn’t proceed. I genuinely think the operator was trying not to stop the train as much as possible, hence the crawling.
@@thekamfanner Not sure if it's practiced here in the U.S, but a British friend of mine who loves simulating UK passenger trains told me of a method drivers like to use over there called signal crawling. Usually whenever you have a red aspect that you can see a distance in front of you, it's better to creep up to it at 10-15mph, trying not to stop at it. Great footage by the way!! Was very neat to watch, I love hearing the ATC/ACSES systems in the cab occasionally beeping. :>
From that train you can see all sorts of brand new hi rises going up all over Queens, honestly last time I was in NYC in 2016 the suburbs in Nassau county looked more run down than Queens.
Oh this is not the norm. Take LIRR to Penn and the East River tunnels are much darker (though I've heard they have better lighting in recent years, but it was dark AF as recently as 2016, the last time I was in NYC) and NYC subway tunnels are nearly pitch black, no lighting outside of signals and a few lights near the maintenance doors.
@@FOBob-sr1fdno it isn’t. It’s on the side outside the tracks. The rails you’re thinking of are to keep the train on the elevated structures if the train derails
congestion, LIRR is the busiest commuter railroad in the US. And there's a lot of complex switcing in the NYC sections of the line. Once out of the congested areas between Jamaica and Manhattan they can hit 80mph (130km/h) in a lot of track sections.
Well, it would be deserted since the train is leaving, and all the entrances/exits are behind us at that point. Since tracks aren't posted until x minutes before departure, it's not like anybody is going to be hanging around on the platforms anyway.
@@trainman1971 Why do people feel duty bound to come up with all these farfetched convolutions trying to explain things that have perfectly straightforward causes? It's a plain fact that Grand Central is underused now. This has been reported on TV and in the NYC newspapers, and no amount of Fanboy wishful thinking will change that. At Penn Station or Atlantic Terminal there are always still people on the platform waiting for the next train. You would know this if you rode the LIRR more often. This platform was empty, not a soul standing there. Maybe if we all wish really, really hard when we go to bed at night, people will actually start using Eastside access in numbers that will justify this huge price tag, but I'm not holding my breath.
@@alkh3myst There is nothing farfetched about it. Nothing unusual at all about empty platforms at terminal stations. I've ridden the LIRR, Metro-North, and many other commuter railroads more often than you think. Like any terminal station with limited access, GCT, along with Penn Station and Atlantic Terminal both, again, would not have anybody on particular platforms until a track was posted for a train to board. Nobody is going to be just standing around on a platform waiting for a train when it is not know what that train is, or what track it is even coming in on. And even once a track is posted, do you expect them to just mill around on the platform? No, they're going to get aboard the train. I have seen this at all three both stations, respectively. Even during rush hours pre-pandemic. The numbers of people riding are not relevant to platform occupation. I am more than aware (as is the LIRR) that GCT Madison is not being used up to expectations, but we are not in normal times, either. There is still not a full workforce back in place in most major cities, so ridership overall is still a lot less than it was pre-COVID lockdowns. All the ridership predictions were mostly based on pre-pandemic numbers, so really, I am not at all surprised at the current ridership. No new service always generates mobs of ridership overnight... only time will tell if things change.
I’m a regular commuter and I use GCS about 3/4 of the time. I’ve noticed it is getting more crowded in the past month. As someone who had commuted for nearly 40 years, I am loving the reduction in ridership. Less of a daily hellscape.
This was probably an off peak train, I notice that most of the NYC railfanners usually ride off peak when they record their vids. I don't blame them given how expensive LIRR is during peak hours. Also good luck messing with a go pro on a train packed to standing room.
ACS is probably doing that because they're getting too close to the train ahead of them. ACS will reduce their authorized speed so they don't have to red signal the train if it gets too close to the next train down the line.
I wish they would add this to the LIRR module. It's already one of the more fun ones to play. The LIRR M7 is also one of the most realistic driving trains in TSW
,😒multi billions ant the damn train still can't take off flying off the platform. Amtrak can pull faster out of grand central. Announcement made when the train is screeching around a bend. Why not 0 to 90. What is stopping America from speeding on the tracks.
They always pull out of the underground stations slow because they have to cross the maze of switching without derailing. Otherwise LIRR and MNR are max of 60mph in the east river tunnels. They also use ACS which may have them go slower to maintain safe spacing behind the train ahead so they don't suddenly get red signaled. Remember LIRR is a VERY busy system, the busiest commuter railroad in the western hemisphere