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| 9/11 Memories... (1650628) | |||
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9/11 Memories... |
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Posted by subfan on Fri Sep 11 09:11:26 2026 I just went through the old SunTalk archive to find what I wrote about my personal experience that day - hard to believe it's been 25 years. In the interim, I've changed jobs, moved countries, and become a grandfather. Life does move on, as must we - but we must periodically pause to remember as well.My original post, from. September 12, 2001: Subject: Personal Account of Collapse Effects from Underground (long) Message Number: 263471 Posted by: subfan Date: Wed Sep 12 17:47:24 2001 I was on a train a block from the WTC when the first tower came down. I had first heard obout the attacks on the Center before leaving my home in Brooklyn. I decided therefore to take the IRT from the Juction, rather than my usual Q train, since I thought there was a good chance the Manhattan Bridge would be shut down, since it is a potential target. At first I got a 2; they were saying that they weren't sure if it would go up the Lex or 7th ave, but I figured that either way would be good for me; I work in the area north of Grand Central, so I could either take it all the way, or change at Nevins for a 4 or 5. When we got in to Franklin, a redbird 4 was across the platform, so I switched. We were running fine, with the exception of an anouncement, first made at Nevins, then repeated at Boro Hall, Bowling Green, and Wall Street, that because of the "earlier incidents" at the WTC, we would be bypassing Fulton St. It was as we were pulling out of Wall Street that things started to get interesting: first, everyone on the train noticed a change in the air preasure - ears popping, and train doors moving in slightly in their frames, as they do when another train passes next to the one you are on. About 2-3 seconds later, the emergency brakes went off. The C/R then came on the PA, and anounced, in a panicky voice, "Everyone to the front of the train, _now_, to evacuate!" I was in the last car; everyone immediately got up and started to move up. I had only gotten into the next car, when the T/O got on and said that rather than the front, we should all go to the rear, as there was smoke ahead. We all then turned around and went back. I got to the rear storm door and looked out into the tunnel; there was what looked like smoke starting to roll in from that side too, and the tunnel lights were out. One of the train crew then turned off the A/C to avoid bringing the smoke into the cars. About four minutes later, the T/O came to the back of the train and looked out; he saw the smoke, cursed, then got back on the radio with control to ask for guidance and assistance. Control was kind of busy, and couldn't get back to him right away. He kept on calling, saying he had a "five-minute situation", and where the f--- was the assistance he'd been promised fifteen minutes ago - he needed someone to come and open up Fulton station so he could evacuate. He was then told to reverse and return to Wall St. to evacuate. He had left the train charged from the north end, though, and would have to walk back to get his brake handle; however, with several of the passengers on the verge of panic, he thought it would not be a good idea for him to leave the car he was in. He tried to raise the C/R to ask him to do this, but couldn't get him on the radio. About then, though, another TA worker with some kind of mask on came walking down the tracks with a flashlight; he walked around the train to get the handle, and brought it back to the T/O. We then started to move toward Wall Street, but the brakes tripped again after about 20 feet - apparently, A/C power to the signals had gone out, and all the trippers had come up; one that was now under the train tripped us. The T/O recharged within about 30 seconds, and started moving again, and got tripped again when the next tripcock hit the same tripper. He then told us to sid down or brace ourselves, as this would continue to happen until we made it into the station - in fact, it happened about 2-3 more times. Once he got the first (last?) car into Wall, he keyed open the doors that were in the station and told us to get out, and _fast_. We ran out through the station, which was pretty smokey, and had a layer of dust on the ground - no one really knew what was going on; I thought there may have been another bombing, and just wanted to get out in the open in case anything colapsed. When we got to the street, it was unreal; about 2-2 inches of dust on the ground, pitch dark, and choking, swirling dust and debries on the ground - you couldn't breathe, you couldn't see more that a couple of feet in front - nothing. People were yelling, "when are we going to bo out" - it was so dark, they didn't realize that they were _already_ out on the street. Some rescue workers or volunteers were yelling to follow their voices and get into a building where there was water and the air was clearer, so I pulled my shirt up to cover my mouth as much as possible and went in that direction. When we got inside, they told us that one of the towers had colapsed, and that was the source of the dust. Thank god there was a working phone inside, so I was able to call my family and coworkers and tell them I was OK. After about 45 minutes, when the dust had somewhat settled, they told us we could leave if we wanted, but should head south, towards the Battery - for lack of anything better to do, I decided to go there. They had a bunch of tugboats there to take people to Jersey and uptown, so I took one uptown, got off at 63rd St., and walked to my office to have a place to stay until I could get back to Brooklyn. I stayed until the F started to run again, and then finally headed home at about 7. Well, that's my story. I hope I never have to go through something like that again. subfan |
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