Many people, some not yet born, will thank you for this documentation. Well done!

The stub end of the line at 42/Time Sq was my favorite place to spot west side line trains moving in the tunnel. The uptown 1 train almost touchable from there while passing threw the S curve, the distant downtown 1 train barely visible, the sound of pneumatic train control system... I could easily spend an hour there leaning towards the railing and looking into the tunnel. Also my favorite entry/exit point on the Time Sq when in rush as much less used than the others around. Already missing it now!

Thanks for the history lesson! That was very well done and very entertaining!

The Pedestrian Bridge is one of the things that got me hooked to MTA subway transit

Used to be a building engineer in the building right above the shuttle in Grand Central.It was the old Vanderbuilt Hotel,also known as 51 East 42nd street.Just like the old door to the Knickerbocker the basement was all mosaic tile with 2 glass doors.You were able to walk from the shuttleright into the basement then up into the lobby of the old hotel.It was a beautiful building with so much history.Lucky to me I was able to save a 107 year old relic from inside the lobby wall witch was a glass door from the old Hethringtons Soda Ice cream shop.That was where the present day Modells was before they tore the building down.So much history now gone forever..............................

The curved track of Times Square reminds me of the South Ferry loop. Miss that station

I've ridden the line countless times and never noticed some of the signaling pointed out. Thanks for posting

I've been taking the shuttle for 17 years and it's doing way better.

Extremely well researched!! You taught me stuff I never knew about the shuttle, and I've been a Subway fan for decades!!! Thank you!

It’s been 2 months I haven’t rode that line now. Hopefully once COVID-19 washes ashore, I’ll make the last of the 42nd Street Shuttle worth the ride

As a child, I always wonder why the Uptown #1 train went slower and took a slightly different route from the rest of the IRT tracks. Now I see why. The uptown local track swings hard right to negotiate into that old tunnel section. Than it realigns right back next to the Express track beside it. I also notice the downtown express comes to a crawl after 50th Street. But the downtown local doesn't seem to be affected. I wonder why? I would see a station while we pass this point on the uptown local. You can tell how the tunnels are built, that the original alignment was this station. By the way, the Time Square station received a big update in the 1990s. Traveling to the number 7 to 8th Avenue when they first opened it, was extremely difficult before the reconstruction. The 8th Avenue connection did not exist in 1980s and before. But transferring from the #7 was a series of tunnels and escalators. So the shuttle was much easier to use than the #7.

I like the ad’s on the shuttle that appear sometimes

I remember riding the shuttle with my mom when I was young. I thought it was neat that all the train did was go back and forth, east side to west side. The shuttle came to mind not too long ago; I'm so glad that I found this video on YT. Thank you so much for making it. Brings back the memories.

I am a light rail train operator for Trimet, In Portland Oregon. I love these videos! I am hoping to visit New York in November. My first item to tour is of course the Subway system. Thanks to all for the hard work towards making these documentaries.

5:27 that brown rectangle box. There used to be a manual switch where a person stood there and controlled the gap fillers.

Terrific video. Thank you. Appreciate the details, clear captions and nice photography.

Thank you so much for the history lesson, there's much I didn't know. What makes me depressed is that I don't think I have any videos of the 1/2/3 trains from that gap in the wall at Times Square. It was really a one of a kind place. Back around 2000 when I was four and five years old I had great times viewing the trains pass, especially the uptown local which was incredibly close. I also liked seeing the light from the shuttle platforms on the way in and out when riding the 7th Avenue line. I don't think there's any other place in America like that

I remember taking the shuttle from the east side Lexington Ave subway to the west side 7th Ave subway on my way to high school in the morning and the reverse after school. They were using the Low vs at the time. I also remember the concession stands at the Times Square side of the shuttle. The renovation are going to wipe out the rich history of the 42hd Street shuttle.

That Saxophone playing around 4:50 is awesome! Great history lesson - so many dated pieces of history here. I rode this line twice on two separate trips to NYC. Wish I had this info two years ago!

After two and a half months home due to Covid-19, while watching this video I realized that I miss riding the subway.

Thank you for making this video documenting the history of the IRT. There is an abandoned trackway next to the local track that connects to the downtown local on the east side. That explains why the passageway to the Lexington Ave trains resembles a tunnel.

I’m kind of upset I didn’t know of the closing of this area. I would have loved to take a last walk around. I rarely used the shuttle but also didn’t know about the history. I hope the Knickerbocker door or sign will be preserved.

I worked for the MTA at Times Square/ Grand Central for 37 years and i learned things in this vid i did not know.One off topic point..on the T.S. side,under the shuttle platform was a whole other large mezzinie area.I got down there in Early 2000 during the rehab.somehiw it served shuttle passengers but little is m ow about it.i believe it closed during the fire you mentioned.Great Video

Very informative tour, pointing out lots of interesting aspects of the line.

In Tom Clancy's The Division 1, there is a Times Square mission where you go down to gun fight on the Shuttle platform and you leave thru the Track 4 exit. Going to be very sad when construction finishes but at least a video game keeps the faithful shuttle design I grew up with 😁

Thank you for this video. I rode the shuttle daily in the 60s and early 70s. I remember the automated train and the devastating fire.

I like your channel man. Not many People are interested about subways or the history it seems but I surely am. So thank you for your work.

Thank you for the historical insight on the shuttle!

Yay, the tours are back!

One thing I would also add (and is also fading fast from the system), was the IRT's habit of their signals having the red lens in the middle, and the yellow lens on the bottom. There are a few of these old-style IRT automatic signals still strewn about the system, mainly on the Lexington Avenue Line, but they're usually located in between stations, and are not as visible to the public eye as these signals on the Shuttle were. I'll miss operating on the Shuttle. Glad I had the chance to a number of years ago.

Really informative video, thanks DJ!

Great Video!!! One of the very best! Thanks

Awesome video. Thank you

This is one of my favorite videos you’ve made 👍🏻

Thanks for the history trip! I will always remember this line.

Extremely well done. Bravo!

This is a great and informative video, thank you! Wowww! I've been in this station complex a bunch (and even taken the Shuttle a few times).

Thank you so very much for making this video. It will be a sad day when all this history is gone.

Great information on the shuttle. I rode it a number of times during visits to NYC in the 70's. Thanks for making another great video. Cheers from Wisconsin.

Great video!

Interesting history! Can't wait to see the shuttle after reconstruction! :D

Very interesting and comprehensive presentation. Hope that it will remain available in more scholarly portals than YT.

very informative. well done!

Very sad to see all this history go. Hopefully some more video can be taken before it’s all gone. Because of the current quarantine I can’t go and have a last look for myself😕

Had they installed the 1960s pulse code automatic train operation system on the subway East side and West side IRT line it's likely to have undergone another update in the late 1990s up to now into CBTC. The same phenomenon happened to London Victoria line where it has the same pulsecode signaling but upgraded to CBTC 2009-2013.

Great video sir. Thanks for the wealth of information. Hopefully with the shuttle currently shut down they’re getting ahead of schedule on the rebuild. I’d love to see a video of the current progress.

Great video. Lots of things I never knew.

One hell of a history lesson! I took this line for 14 years and I was always curious about the little gadgets and things like, whatever happened to track #2? I appreciate the good work!

The underpass is still intact. I was down there a few years back.

Very good video. Thanks.

Thanks! Very cool!

SO COOOL THX FOR THE HISTORY!!

Great video! At 6:34 - been a long time since seeing an old school IRT signal with red in the middle and yellow on the bottom.

Very impressive subway scholarship! Been there many times..

Imma miss track 3. I would use the 43rd St and bway entrance and easily hop on a train at there

Very informative.

Very interesting I rode on it many times..

I was waiting. For this video from You DJ hammers

This was cool as hell! Can you do more history videos?

This is very good information and I wondered about that illuminated thingy

Fantasic video!!!

I never rode this Shuttle train before, but this is interesting to watch.

Very interesting , thanks a lot .

If you take the 1,2, or 3 trains you can see the shuttle platform through the window

This was a great documentary video Dj! Slow down the captions to allow us old folks to read it without stopping the video... keep up the great footage hope to see more from you on our world's great subway NYC Transit 👍🏾👍🏾👍🏾

Nice video!

i love this man

thanks from Germany! great job!

Going to miss the old shuttle, even though I mostly use the 7 Train.

That ATC equipment at around 10:20 is absolutely fascinating! A 35mm slide projector and a film loop, with maybe a couple of telephone stepper relays hiding behind the film loop. I wonder if there is any information available on what that was set up to do and how it worked.

The technoogy is amazing. I wondered if Union Switch & Signal was still around. I guess so. Lackawanna used their equipment on their railroad. It's great stuff.

I never really hung around the station for far too long since I’m usually trying to catch a train elsewhere but I always got a vibe I was sent back to time. But amazing research well done. Just wish the text stayed on longer as I was trying to see some of what you were showing as well as read at the same time.

Great piece of history. Brings back lots of memories. Wonder why they couldn't have "saved" the shuttle line as another museum piece? Open up the covered tracks and return it to what it was like on opening day in 1904. The shuttle and the City Hall Loop Station are really the last true remnants of NYC's first subway. The 7 Line downstairs runs between GCT and Times Square and oculd be used for daily traffic.

VERY interesting!!!

@4:28 It still is the standard for new construction, though maybe a bit more refined for reduced vibration... But they really should be installing it as the tunnel track bed and ties are renewed, I do get rather annoyed seeing the wood tie blocks replaced with newer wooden tie blocks...

Nice vid very interesting

RIP old IRT equipment. End of an era. 😢

Wee! Cool the shuttle is now getting better! :D

Excellent! Make more fact filled documentary videos, please! Perhaps, the eastern end of the Myrtle Avenue line, the history of the Franklin Ave shuttle, the West End line in and around 9th Avenue, City Hall/South Ferry, Brighton Beach line from the steam railroad days, and LIRR/Jamaica line interchange as well as the Rockaway line history. Again, thanks for being so creative.

Interesting!

RIP track 3

I fell lucky that I had went to take photos of the 42st shuttle before Its rebuilt

Nice.

I was in NYC in July 2016. I remember taking the S, from Grand Central to 42nd Street, and there was a group of three or four people on the train who broke out into song, singing "Killing me softly" by Roberta Flack. That was such an interesting experience on the S train in NYC.

Thanks - nice video - personally I wish they were keeping three shuttles for rush hour - one always loading at each end and one in transit. We shall see...

Oof damn nice I already thankfully got some clips of it

These videos you make are not unimportant. I think they really matter for people who are trying to get around and will eventually be appreciated for their historical value showing the system's evolution

The only Shuttle train left is in Brooklyn where it goes from Franklin Avenue to Prospect Park. It only has four stops, and that’s it.

Great video! Knew about some of this stuff but learned a lot about the stuff I didn't.

Terrific vid! Are they eliminating the 43rd and Broadway Exit?

I’m gonna miss it. I want to go one last time (my about 127th time) (will it still be incomplete by this summer?)

Nice video. I also have a video of the old shuttle that I haven't uploaded

Wow ! What a cornucopia/plethora of riches. You are a walking encyclopaedia. I didn't know that the shuttle was going to be redone until tonight. One thing is really bothering me though. I'm a track layout nut, and love track diagrams. In the beginning of this video, the track diagram in this video shows track 1 running into the WEST SIDE of the southbound Lexington Ave line for a connection. In Peter Dougherty's 'Tracks of the New York City Subway' , 2011 issue, he shows that shuttle track 1 runs over Lexington Local S/B track 1, and then joins it from it EAST SIDE ????!! What the hell ? I saw another of your Lexington Ave. videos, and I did see that the shuttle came in from the WEST SIDE. I was shocked. I asked Peter about it, but he never got back to me. Somehow, I do remember that Peter's diagram was correct. Did they shuffle the tracks ? This question is driving me nuts. Am I losing my mind ? Could you email me at peltomaa.aarre@gmail.com, if you would wish. Maybe you have the answer. Aarre Peltomaa of Mississauga, Ontario. p.s. I rode all 26 subway lines and shuttles end to end in the summer of 1974. I started in the early afternoon, and finished in the evening. The project took me 2 weeks. p.p.s What happened to your older whole line end to end videos ?? I can't find most of them anymore.

Comparing the Grand Central station to the Times Square station is night and day

Will the R62A on the 42 street shuttle go to the 6 line to remove to former 240 street r62a back to the 1 line right now the westchester yard has 440 car and 240th street has 365 cars it could be a good idea

10:00 didn’t know that at all.

Hi everyone. Is the stub end with the view of the West Side Line tunnel still accessible? As I'm far far away from NYC (Czechia, Europe), it's not possible to document it myself (also COVID-19 related as there's the travel ban now). May I ask someone with good low light video camera to shoot some steady footage (not too much walking/zooming/panning) of the 1,2,3 trains passing by? Something like long steady view with manually fixed focus (it tends to re-focus frequently thanks to the headlights and reflections on the stainless steel side of the cars) of the "window" to let several uptown and downtown trains pass by?

NOO FIRST THE R42 NOW THE SHUTTLE THISIS MY NIGHTMARE COME TRUE

It's sad. I'm going to miss the archaic shuttle.

Will there be any track connection between Track 1 and Track 4?