MEMORIES: Line switching/storage and survival of old work

By SPAR ONE


As far back as I can remember train lines were always switching. In 1976 when the MTA started scraping R1s to make way for more R46 subway cars, A flats became CCs, R16 GG flats got switched over to the J and M line. In 1977 all the R16s got taken out of service and kept in the yards. All the R27 RR flats got switched over to the J, M and LL lines. All the whole cars LEE did on the RRs were running on the J, M LL.

In 1979 the MTA put the R16s back into service, pieces throw-ups and tags that had been done on the Es Fs GGs in '74, '75 and '76 were now running on the LL and J lines. In 1979 some of the 2s that were in the Bronx 2 Yard since 1974 1975 got put back into service. So did some of the trains in the Ghost Yard. We were at Interval Ave in '79 watching pieces from years back run by untouched. I saw the STIM top-to-bottom with the dancing snoopy next to it and the "BUTCH and CASE FROM OUTTER SPACE" with windows still painted.

In 1982 more trains pulled out of the Ghost Yard. I saw an A ding-dong with clean PAZ 2 tags and a JESTER DYE throw up done in gloss white on the outsides. In 1985 I saw fresh looking BILLY167 tag and PAZ 2 tags in gloss black on the outside of a D ridgie. PAPO 184, TAN 144 and VINNY still had spray paint tags in between cars. In 1982 I saw a D59 and AFX2 on the inside of an E ridgie.

In 1980 there was a transit strike DONDI, DURO and AERON hit insides on the A ding-dongs in the Grant Avenue yard. Then one of the A trains they hit ran as an F). I remember boarding an F train to Coney Island and seeing a NACO tag done with black Uni (marker) on the side panel of the front car near the conductor's booth.

The first time I hit the Bronx D yard in the summer of 1980 was with EL3 and some other writers. We hit the back half of the yard. There were mostly D ding-dongs in there at the time. EL3 was already up on most of them because he had hit them when they were Es and Fs in Union-Turnpike Yard in Queens. ZEPHYR and REVOLT were up on the insides that they did on the As in the Ghost Yard. EL3 also had a tag up next to them in fat cap done with Rusto avocado also done in the Ghost Yard.

In the winter of 1980 CC flats ran as Fs and LLs because of mechanical problems with the trains that normally serviced those lines. By the summer of 1981 all lines got switched back to normal, switching wasn't as common any more. The TA failed to buff some LED 2 tags that I did on the fronts of ding-dongs I hit in the D yard in 1980 they were still running on the F line in the summer of 1981.

MITCH 77 and PJAY had done a few top-to-bottoms on D ridgies in the winter of 1980 and some of the trains they hit ran as RRs.

The 7s were another line that switched sometimes to the 1, 3 and 4. After Bronx writers hit these trains they eventually got switched back to the 7 line. The first piece I ever did on a J flat ran as a LL, M, RR and a D train that I saw in the Bronx D Yard a year later. Back then you could hit one line and your name would be seen in all the four boroughs. A MAD/SEEN done on the 4 in 1980 survived the buff than ran as a 1. In 1984 A BLADE whole car done on the 2 in 1976 survives the buff and ends up in the 7 Yard in 1984. I think subway trains are the best things to hit because your name travels all over the city constantly.


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