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| (1372544) | |
Today is fifty years since the big northeast blackout |
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Posted by BrooklynBus on Mon Nov 9 13:28:14 2015 Am I the only one who noticed that?To keep this in the thread, the subways stopped running at 5:28 PM for exactly 12 hours and began operating again at 5:28 AM the following morning when electricity was restored. I was still in high school and walked there so I wasn't stuck anywhere. It is also ten years since my retirement party from the NYCT. |
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| (1372547) | |
Re: Today is fifty years since the big northeast blackout |
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Posted by Andy on Mon Nov 9 13:40:34 2015, in response to Today is fifty years since the big northeast blackout, posted by BrooklynBus on Mon Nov 9 13:28:14 2015. Yes, remember it well. For example, BMT trains were stuck in the 60th Street Tunnel, and on the Williamsburg Bridge, below and above the East River respectively. Police had to gingerly rescue trainloads of people with rush hour crowds on the trains. Difficult rescues, to say the least. |
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| (1372563) | |
Re: Today is fifty years since the big northeast blackout |
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Posted by SLRT on Mon Nov 9 15:14:13 2015, in response to Re: Today is fifty years since the big northeast blackout, posted by Andy on Mon Nov 9 13:40:34 2015. I was in Church Avenue station on a short-line D, waiting for a Coney Island-bound train. The lights went out momentarily, then on again. My train arrived, I took it to Ditmas Avenue and then who knows how my train made out from there. |
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| (1372570) | |
Re: Today is fifty years since the big northeast blackout |
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Posted by Avid Reader on Mon Nov 9 15:28:17 2015, in response to Re: Today is fifty years since the big northeast blackout, posted by SLRT on Mon Nov 9 15:14:13 2015. I was stationed at Ft. Sill Oklahoma, Instructing Target Acquisition, in the US Army Artillery and Missile School Command. Packing up my gear, to head to Viet Nam. |
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| (1372574) | |
Re: Today is fifty years since the big northeast blackout |
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Posted by Union Tpke on Mon Nov 9 15:42:27 2015, in response to Today is fifty years since the big northeast blackout, posted by BrooklynBus on Mon Nov 9 13:28:14 2015. happy ten years of retirement from NYCT! |
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Re: Today is fifty years since the big northeast blackout |
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Posted by Bob Andersen on Mon Nov 9 15:44:28 2015, in response to Re: Today is fifty years since the big northeast blackout, posted by Andy on Mon Nov 9 13:40:34 2015. I was at the Metropolitan Ave. station of the Myrtle Ave. line, sitting in a Q car, when everything went dark. |
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| (1372580) | |
Re: Today is fifty years since the big northeast blackout |
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Posted by SLRT on Mon Nov 9 15:47:31 2015, in response to Re: Today is fifty years since the big northeast blackout, posted by Bob Andersen on Mon Nov 9 15:44:28 2015. I guess it was good you were IN the station. |
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| (1372594) | |
Re: Today is fifty years since the big northeast blackout |
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Posted by randyo on Mon Nov 9 16:14:21 2015, in response to Today is fifty years since the big northeast blackout, posted by BrooklynBus on Mon Nov 9 13:28:14 2015. My mother and I were in the A & P shopping and one of the items were were purchasing was a box of light bulbs. The lights went pot in the store and the manager grabbed a pencil and wrote down the prices of the items on a paper bag ant totaled them up since the cash registers weren’t working. I then looked across the street at the 5 & 10 store and its lights were out also. Commenting on the light bulbs, my mother commented. that we probably wouldn’t need them with the power out. We went home to a dark apartment and decided to go to the local bar for a drink or 2 or 3 and as we were walking down the block, there was a man listening to his car radio and we heard that the blackout had affected the entire northeast. Power came back on about 430 the next morning and when I went down to the subway to go to school, I could hear the air compressors on the trains working away and a transit patrolman told me the subways still weren’t running yet so I went back home for the day. |
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| (1372598) | |
Re: Today is fifty years since the big northeast blackout |
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Posted by italianstallion on Mon Nov 9 16:25:12 2015, in response to Today is fifty years since the big northeast blackout, posted by BrooklynBus on Mon Nov 9 13:28:14 2015. I was in high school and on a West End T train heading to Astoria in the 60th St. tunnel. The lights flickered, came on again, and went out. After about an hour in the train (with the emergency lights on, thank goodness), the powers that be decided to evacuate us. It was, of course, a jammed rush-hour train. I happened to be in the first car (at the RFW!). So I got out early. We were walked by guys with flashlights along the catwalk through the tunnel to the middle. Then we were told to climb up the 153 steps (I counted!), up an emergency staircase to Roosevelt (then Welfare) island. From there, we walked across the 36th Ave. bridge to Astoria where we were on our own. Fortunately, the buses were running and I caught a Q19A (now 69) bus home to the Ditmars area, where my frantic parents awaited.I so clearly remember the view of Manhattan from Welfare Is. -- total darkness except for the headlights on the FDR Drive. Luckily, there was a full moon that night. Some older people in the train who could not climb the steps were allowed to stay on the train and were there all night, I was later told. |
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| (1372600) | |
Re: Today is fifty years since the big northeast blackout |
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Posted by SLRT on Mon Nov 9 16:28:41 2015, in response to Re: Today is fifty years since the big northeast blackout, posted by italianstallion on Mon Nov 9 16:25:12 2015. 153 stepsThat compares to the 168 steps to the crown of the Statue of Liberty. That was a tough climb when I was a teenager. |
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| (1372602) | |
Re: Today is fifty years since the big northeast blackout |
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Posted by italianstallion on Mon Nov 9 16:29:59 2015, in response to Re: Today is fifty years since the big northeast blackout, posted by SLRT on Mon Nov 9 16:28:41 2015. Yep. It was tough climb even then for me. And it was a steep stairway, more like a ladder, with open metal steps. |
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| (1372604) | |
Re: Today is fifty years since the big northeast blackout |
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Posted by JayZeeBMT on Mon Nov 9 16:38:57 2015, in response to Re: Today is fifty years since the big northeast blackout, posted by SLRT on Mon Nov 9 16:28:41 2015. On 9/11, my partner and I were assigned to assist another crew carrying a patient down in the North Tower. We somehow managed to meet them on floor 22, where all four of us brought a woman with severe fractures down to the street. If we assume each flight of stairs, floor to floor, is the usual 14 steps, that's 308 steps from the lobby.I still don't know how we actually pulled that off...but it is known that firefighters actually reached the burning floors in both towers before they collapsed, evidence of the superhuman strength and bravery exhibited by these heroes at the hour of their death. |
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Re: Today is fifty years since the big northeast blackout |
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Posted by Bob Andersen on Mon Nov 9 17:22:18 2015, in response to Re: Today is fifty years since the big northeast blackout, posted by SLRT on Mon Nov 9 15:47:31 2015. My two cousins were less fortunate. They got stuck between First Ave. and Bedford Ave. on the Canarsie line. |
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Re: Today is fifty years since the big northeast blackout |
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Posted by Lou From Middletown NY on Mon Nov 9 17:26:48 2015, in response to Today is fifty years since the big northeast blackout, posted by BrooklynBus on Mon Nov 9 13:28:14 2015. I was six, and watching Winchell/Mahoney Time! |
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Re: Today is fifty years since the big northeast blackout |
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Posted by Broadway Lion on Mon Nov 9 18:09:14 2015, in response to Re: Today is fifty years since the big northeast blackout, posted by Avid Reader on Mon Nov 9 15:28:17 2015. LION was on his way to a Boy Scout Meeting. My father declaimed that such an event was impossible. None the less Freeport still had its lights on. Freeport generates its own power and it had not yet joined the faulty grid when it got word about the problem, and so they did not go to the grid at all.ROAR |
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Re: Today is fifty years since the big northeast blackout |
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Posted by BMRR on Mon Nov 9 18:23:09 2015, in response to Re: Today is fifty years since the big northeast blackout, posted by Broadway Lion on Mon Nov 9 18:09:14 2015. I was delivering newspapers (Long Island Press) in Rosedale, Queens. |
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Re: Today is fifty years since the big northeast blackout |
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Posted by Bzuck on Mon Nov 9 19:02:18 2015, in response to Re: Today is fifty years since the big northeast blackout, posted by SLRT on Mon Nov 9 15:14:13 2015. I was home in Flatbush Brooklyn and the lights flickered off and back on. Our little section never lost power. |
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| (1372623) | |
Re: Today is fifty years since the big northeast blackout |
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Posted by WayneJay on Mon Nov 9 19:06:41 2015, in response to Today is fifty years since the big northeast blackout, posted by BrooklynBus on Mon Nov 9 13:28:14 2015. My Mom told me about it as a child. On that day, I was about 7 weeks old. |
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| (1372627) | |
Re: Today is fifty years since the big northeast blackout |
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Posted by Chris R16/R2730 on Mon Nov 9 19:27:29 2015, in response to Today is fifty years since the big northeast blackout, posted by BrooklynBus on Mon Nov 9 13:28:14 2015. This TV show has a great rundown of what exactly happened that night.veetle-Connections S01E01 The Trigger Effect by pip3000 |
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| (1372629) | |
Re: Today is fifty years since the big northeast blackout |
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Posted by Steve B-8AVEXP on Mon Nov 9 19:42:44 2015, in response to Re: Today is fifty years since the big northeast blackout, posted by SLRT on Mon Nov 9 15:14:13 2015. Everybody out and push!:) |
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| (1372630) | |
Re: Today is fifty years since the big northeast blackout |
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Posted by Steve B-8AVEXP on Mon Nov 9 19:46:14 2015, in response to Re: Today is fifty years since the big northeast blackout, posted by Bob Andersen on Mon Nov 9 17:22:18 2015. Those BMT standards used to gather a full head of steam before the uphill climb in the 14th St. tunnel. You'd hear their gear pitch drop steadily as they labored up the grade. I remember when it got as low as B below middle C by the time the motorman cut power as we lumbered into Bedford Ave. Manhattan-bound, there is a level section east of First Ave, so it wasn't as noticeable. |
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| (1372631) | |
Re: Today is fifty years since the big northeast blackout |
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Posted by Steve B-8AVEXP on Mon Nov 9 19:48:38 2015, in response to Re: Today is fifty years since the big northeast blackout, posted by italianstallion on Mon Nov 9 16:25:12 2015. Was it an R-32 Trixie? |
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| (1372632) | |
Re: Today is fifty years since the big northeast blackout |
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Posted by Steve B-8AVEXP on Mon Nov 9 19:49:10 2015, in response to Re: Today is fifty years since the big northeast blackout, posted by Lou From Middletown NY on Mon Nov 9 17:26:48 2015. I remember that show! I used to watch it all time after we moved to New Jersey. |
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| (1372633) | |
Re: Today is fifty years since the big northeast blackout |
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Posted by Steve B-8AVEXP on Mon Nov 9 19:49:52 2015, in response to Today is fifty years since the big northeast blackout, posted by BrooklynBus on Mon Nov 9 13:28:14 2015. I was still living in South Bend and didn't hear about it until years later. |
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| (1372636) | |
Re: Today is fifty years since the big northeast blackout |
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Posted by Union Tpke on Mon Nov 9 19:55:35 2015, in response to Re: Today is fifty years since the big northeast blackout, posted by randyo on Mon Nov 9 16:14:21 2015. what was it like when you went back to school?Also, were the light bulbs ever used? |
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| (1372637) | |
Re: Today is fifty years since the big northeast blackout |
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Posted by italianstallion on Mon Nov 9 19:56:43 2015, in response to Re: Today is fifty years since the big northeast blackout, posted by Chris R16/R2730 on Mon Nov 9 19:27:29 2015. Yes. I appeared as one of the subway passengers on that show. |
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| (1372638) | |
Re: Today is fifty years since the big northeast blackout |
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Posted by italianstallion on Mon Nov 9 19:57:58 2015, in response to Re: Today is fifty years since the big northeast blackout, posted by Steve B-8AVEXP on Mon Nov 9 19:48:38 2015. Probably. It was new then, so it had a PA system through which the CR told us some of what was happening. |
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Re: Today is fifty years since the big northeast blackout |
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Posted by Chris R16/R2730 on Mon Nov 9 19:58:37 2015, in response to Re: Today is fifty years since the big northeast blackout, posted by italianstallion on Mon Nov 9 19:56:43 2015. That's cool. Love anything James Burke is in. |
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| (1372640) | |
Re: Today is fifty years since the big northeast blackout |
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Posted by italianstallion on Mon Nov 9 20:00:24 2015, in response to Re: Today is fifty years since the big northeast blackout, posted by Chris R16/R2730 on Mon Nov 9 19:58:37 2015. I never met him of course. A bunch of blackout subway "survivors" were assembled in the abandoned subway museum station to reenact the event. It was cool, though I only got $25 for it and no residuals. |
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Re: Today is fifty years since the big northeast blackout |
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Posted by Avid Reader on Mon Nov 9 20:15:37 2015, in response to Re: Today is fifty years since the big northeast blackout, posted by BMRR on Mon Nov 9 18:23:09 2015. I had a route way back.I remember folding those papers, and packing them into a press bag, then packing the whole thing into the basket on the front of my bike. Thursdays and Sundays were the worst days, the papers were loaded with ads. It made it harder to fold , for tossing onto the stupes. No plastic bags back then. $.40 cents for a week. Nickel a day and a dime for Sunday. |
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Re: Today is fifty years since the big northeast blackout |
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Posted by SLRT on Mon Nov 9 21:38:51 2015, in response to Re: Today is fifty years since the big northeast blackout, posted by JayZeeBMT on Mon Nov 9 16:38:57 2015. I'm sad (to put it mildly ) for all those brave and innocent lives lost, yet glad you made it out. |
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Re: Today is fifty years since the big northeast blackout |
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Posted by SLRT on Mon Nov 9 21:41:46 2015, in response to Re: Today is fifty years since the big northeast blackout, posted by Steve B-8AVEXP on Mon Nov 9 19:46:14 2015. I remember that sound too, like forgotten music. Takes me back... |
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Re: Today is fifty years since the big northeast blackout |
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Posted by Dyre Dan on Mon Nov 9 21:47:06 2015, in response to Re: Today is fifty years since the big northeast blackout, posted by Andy on Mon Nov 9 13:40:34 2015. Hmm. I hadn't thought about this before, but there must have been emergency generators for tunnel ventilation equipment, right? Or maybe just large storage batteries that could power it for a number of hours? How long did it take to get people out the underwater tunnels? |
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Re: Today is fifty years since the big northeast blackout |
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Posted by Karl B on Mon Nov 9 22:38:45 2015, in response to Re: Today is fifty years since the big northeast blackout, posted by Avid Reader on Mon Nov 9 20:15:37 2015. In 1954 it was only 35 cents a week.25 cents for the six daily papers and 10 cents more for Sunday. Jamaica Day was a big shopping day back then, and that paper was so big that it could not be folded at all. |
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Re: Today is fifty years since the big northeast blackout |
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Posted by Express Rider on Tue Nov 10 03:37:51 2015, in response to Re: Today is fifty years since the big northeast blackout, posted by SLRT on Mon Nov 9 21:38:51 2015. iawtp....very much!! |
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Re: Today is fifty years since the big northeast blackout |
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Posted by Express Rider on Tue Nov 10 03:45:20 2015, in response to Today is fifty years since the big northeast blackout, posted by BrooklynBus on Mon Nov 9 13:28:14 2015. Happy Birthday to all those blackout kids! |
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Re: Today is fifty years since the big northeast blackout |
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Posted by Spider-Pig on Tue Nov 10 07:20:09 2015, in response to Re: Today is fifty years since the big northeast blackout, posted by Express Rider on Tue Nov 10 03:45:20 2015. Um, really?First, that's a myth and second, you have to wait nine months. |
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Re: Today is fifty years since the big northeast blackout |
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Posted by Bob Andersen on Tue Nov 10 08:46:55 2015, in response to Re: Today is fifty years since the big northeast blackout, posted by SLRT on Mon Nov 9 21:41:46 2015. I remember how the wheels used to screech on the curves between Montrose and Morgan, and between Grand and Graham. |
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| (1372690) | |
Re: Today is fifty years since the big northeast blackout |
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Posted by MR RT on Tue Nov 10 10:17:50 2015, in response to Today is fifty years since the big northeast blackout, posted by BrooklynBus on Mon Nov 9 13:28:14 2015. You guys are making me feel old :-(Was coming home from work on #7 train. Power went out as the train was coming up hill in the East River tunnel. The operator let it coast toward the Vernon-Jackson station. He got 1/2 of the first car in, opened the crew door & we all were allowed to leave. Walked home to Sunnyside. Had a gas stove, so was able to have supper. |
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Re: Today is fifty years since the big northeast blackout |
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Posted by Q4 on Tue Nov 10 11:08:11 2015, in response to Today is fifty years since the big northeast blackout, posted by BrooklynBus on Mon Nov 9 13:28:14 2015. One of the first memories I have as a child was of this event. My father, who worked for the TA, was home with me (At the time he worked late nights, so I am not sure if it was his RDO or his shift hadn't begun yet). My mother who was a nurse was working. Dad and I were in our apartment and he had lit candles while a guy was placing plastic slip covers over the living room furniture. |
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Re: Today is fifty years since the big northeast blackout |
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Posted by SLRT on Tue Nov 10 13:24:44 2015, in response to Re: Today is fifty years since the big northeast blackout, posted by MR RT on Tue Nov 10 10:17:50 2015. We never lost power in our home on Ocean Parkway. But in later power outages ranging from hours to days (Sandy) a gas stove saved our hash, and gas water meant we could still shower. |
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Re: Today is fifty years since the big northeast blackout |
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Posted by Express Rider on Tue Nov 10 14:18:55 2015, in response to Re: Today is fifty years since the big northeast blackout, posted by Steve B-8AVEXP on Mon Nov 9 19:46:14 2015. Thanks for the memories! Was lucky enough to ride the Standard on the Canarsie line at least a few times between '66 and '68. Wish they were still around.... |
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Re: Today is fifty years since the big northeast blackout |
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Posted by randyo on Tue Nov 10 14:45:15 2015, in response to Re: Today is fifty years since the big northeast blackout, posted by Union Tpke on Mon Nov 9 19:55:35 2015. We used the lightbulbs after the power came back on. 2 days after the blackout, I returned to school which was Queens College and the Phys Ed instructor who had been a Marine drill instructor criticized those individuals who were too wimpy to walk to school regardless of how far away they lived. |
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Re: Today is fifty years since the big northeast blackout |
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Posted by BrooklynBus on Tue Nov 10 14:49:03 2015, in response to Re: Today is fifty years since the big northeast blackout, posted by Union Tpke on Mon Nov 9 15:42:27 2015. Thanks. (Actually my party was held two months to the day after I retired.) |
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Re: Today is fifty years since the big northeast blackout |
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Posted by BrooklynBus on Tue Nov 10 14:51:39 2015, in response to Re: Today is fifty years since the big northeast blackout, posted by randyo on Mon Nov 9 16:14:21 2015. It came back by me at 5:28 AM so we didn't even have to adjust the clocks. I just assumed it came back all over at the same time but I was naive. I guess it was staggered. |
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Re: Today is fifty years since the big northeast blackout |
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Posted by BrooklynBus on Tue Nov 10 14:54:08 2015, in response to Re: Today is fifty years since the big northeast blackout, posted by SLRT on Tue Nov 10 13:24:44 2015. How could that be? Then there were no developments with their own power generators like Co-Op City and Starrett City. |
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Re: Today is fifty years since the big northeast blackout |
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Posted by BrooklynBus on Tue Nov 10 14:58:09 2015, in response to Re: Today is fifty years since the big northeast blackout, posted by Steve B-8AVEXP on Mon Nov 9 19:49:52 2015. Then it was a real big thing because it was the first one. Now we have had citywide blackouts in 1977 and 2003 as well as several smaller ones (Lower Manattan 1981 and Astoria 2006). |
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Re: Today is fifty years since the big northeast blackout |
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Posted by BrooklynBus on Tue Nov 10 15:04:55 2015, in response to Today is fifty years since the big northeast blackout, posted by BrooklynBus on Mon Nov 9 13:28:14 2015. Strange what people chose to remember. I remember also that Dorothy Killgallen died the day before the blackout on Nov 8, 1965 and that she missed it. Then they called it a sleeping pill overdose but many years later it was revealed she was about to make something public about either JFK or RFK, I forget, and that she could have been murdered. |
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Re: Today is fifty years since the big northeast blackout |
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Posted by chud1 on Tue Nov 10 18:36:46 2015, in response to Re: Today is fifty years since the big northeast blackout, posted by BrooklynBus on Tue Nov 10 14:58:09 2015. 1977 and 2003 i was stuck at work at rockefeller plaza.chud1. :)..... |
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Re: Today is fifty years since the big northeast blackout |
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Posted by italianstallion on Tue Nov 10 19:02:06 2015, in response to Re: Today is fifty years since the big northeast blackout, posted by BrooklynBus on Tue Nov 10 14:58:09 2015. There were also neighborhood blackouts after Hurricane Sandy. |
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