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Standard vs triplex side signs

Posted by gbs on Mon Jun 9 23:05:15 2025

The Standards had two scrolls at each side display. (Originally, they were smaller and installed in the arch windows next to the center doors; later they were enlarged and placed in one of the top rectangular windows next to the arches.) The top scroll was the route ("Culver", "Sea Beach", "via Tunnel", etc.) and the bottom was the destination. There was no permanent bridge/tunnel display. The bottom scroll had to be changed at the start of each trip, which was not a problem when there was a conductor in each car but became problematic once MUDC was installed.

The triplexes were much more advanced, and not just because of the end signs on the bonnets. They had three scrolls and one bridge/tunnel light set at each side display. One top scroll had the route, below that was the bridge/tunnel light, and the other two were the two destinations.

Standards:
















Triplexes:










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(1641810)

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Re: Standard vs triplex side signs

Posted by Stephen Bauman on Tue Jun 10 05:40:59 2025, in response to Standard vs triplex side signs, posted by gbs on Mon Jun 9 23:05:15 2025.

The bottom scroll had to be changed at the start of each trip, which was not a problem when there was a conductor in each car but became problematic once MUDC was installed.

No.

The destination at the bottom also implicitly showed the direction. Let's assume the scroll at the left was:

Brighton Local
57th Street

and the one at the right was:

via Bridge
Coney Island

If the train were moving to the left, it was bound for 57th St. If the train were moving to the right, it was bound for Coney Island.

Looking at it another way, the destination sign in the direction the train was moving is where it was headed.

Ambiguity was introduced, when both terminals were stacked vertically - with the D-types and the R1's. They required lights to illuminate the correct destination. The D-types were a bit more sophisticated. The glass pane was frosted. The destination would appear when the lights were on, the pane would be blank when the lights were off.

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(1641811)

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Re: Standard vs triplex side signs

Posted by irtredbirdr33 on Tue Jun 10 07:48:25 2025, in response to Re: Standard vs triplex side signs, posted by Stephen Bauman on Tue Jun 10 05:40:59 2025.


Just some additional information. Credit for this goes to the late Mr. Arthur Lonto.


Tuscarora Despatch No. 28

BMT 2000 Series Standards Destination Signs

This is a list of the destination roll signs reading for the BMT 2000 Standards.

NINTH AV
CITY HALL
62nd ST. B’KLYN
BAY PARKWAY
CONEY ISLAND
TIMES SQUARE
KINGS HIGHWAY
57th ST. MANH’T’N
BRIGHTON BEACH
NASSAU ST
FRANKLIN-NASSAU
FRANKLIN AVE
PROSPECT PK
95th ST. FT. H’TON
QUEENS PLAZA
WHITEHALL ST
BROAD ST
METROPOLITAN AV
111th ST
CRESCENT ST
JAMAICA
CANAL ST
CHAMBERS ST
BOWERY
CANARSIE
ATLANTIC AV
EASTERN PKWAY
8th AV. MANH’T’N
MYRTLE AVE
6th AV.MANH’T’N
ASTORIA
36th ST-4th AV
DITMAS AVE
FOREST HILLS-QUEENS

Source: ERA New York Division Bulletin, June 1960, Arthur Lonto, Ed.

Note the addition at the bottom of “Forest Hills-Queens”. This was done after the 11th Street Connection in Queens opened in 1955.

Larry, RedbirdR33





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(1641813)

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Re: Standard vs triplex side signs

Posted by Q65A on Tue Jun 10 09:56:09 2025, in response to Re: Standard vs triplex side signs, posted by irtredbirdr33 on Tue Jun 10 07:48:25 2025.

An excellent reference work about BMT and IND rollsigns:
Rollsigns Vol. 1

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(1641814)

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Re: Standard vs triplex side signs

Posted by BMT Standard on Tue Jun 10 14:16:42 2025, in response to Re: Standard vs triplex side signs, posted by Stephen Bauman on Tue Jun 10 05:40:59 2025.

The D-types were a bit more sophisticated. The glass pane was frosted. The destination would appear when the lights were on, the pane would be blank when the lights were off.

The glass panes were not frosted. The destinations were printed on the wrong side of the canvas roll, so were only visible when illuminated (back lit). Otherwise, they were blank.

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(1641815)

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Re: Standard vs triplex side signs

Posted by randyo on Tue Jun 10 14:17:49 2025, in response to Re: Standard vs triplex side signs, posted by Stephen Bauman on Tue Jun 10 05:40:59 2025.

The destination sign in the direction the train was going was alright except for trains operating through the Nassau Loop. If Coney Island were at the south end of the train going to Chambers St via the tunnel it would now be at the north end of the train on its return trip leaving Chambers via the bridge.

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(1641821)

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Re: Standard vs triplex side signs

Posted by murray1575 on Tue Jun 10 17:50:18 2025, in response to Standard vs triplex side signs, posted by gbs on Mon Jun 9 23:05:15 2025.

Did the AB Standards actually ever run on the IND GG local route which was normally operated with IND R1-9 cars?

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(1641822)

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Re: Standard vs triplex side signs

Posted by Steve B-8AVEXP on Tue Jun 10 19:11:53 2025, in response to Re: Standard vs triplex side signs, posted by murray1575 on Tue Jun 10 17:50:18 2025.

They toyed with the idea during the Jamaica Yard Crisis in 1966, but AFAIK they never did. Instead, 32 R-16s were borrowed and assigned to the GG, with new route and destination signs spliced in. The ripple effect continued, as a group of condemned standards were pulled off the scrapline and put back in revenue service, mostly during rush hours on the Broadway-Brooklyn Local - with the S for Scrap painted over.

My BMT standard signbox has a GG LOCAL sign in its route curtain.

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(1641838)

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Re: Standard vs triplex side signs

Posted by murray1575 on Wed Jun 11 12:37:12 2025, in response to Re: Standard vs triplex side signs, posted by Steve B-8AVEXP on Tue Jun 10 19:11:53 2025.

I had forgotten about the R-16s. Pre-1967 they only ran on the BMT Eastern Division so they had old style BMT numbered routes on their roll signs.

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(1641843)

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Re: Standard vs triplex side signs

Posted by Steve B-8AVEXP on Wed Jun 11 18:28:07 2025, in response to Re: Standard vs triplex side signs, posted by murray1575 on Wed Jun 11 12:37:12 2025.

50 of them were assigned to the IND in the late 50s.

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(1641844)

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Re: Standard vs triplex side signs

Posted by Fisk Ave Jim on Wed Jun 11 18:53:34 2025, in response to Re: Standard vs triplex side signs, posted by Steve B-8AVEXP on Wed Jun 11 18:28:07 2025.

IIRC they were used in Rockaway service when that line re- opened

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(1641860)

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Re: Standard vs triplex side signs

Posted by Steve B-8AVEXP on Thu Jun 12 18:37:36 2025, in response to Re: Standard vs triplex side signs, posted by Fisk Ave Jim on Wed Jun 11 18:53:34 2025.

They were used on the inaugural run, but due to power limitations, they couldn't run there (nor, for that matter, the R-10s) until a new substation was completed.

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(1641868)

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Re: Standard vs triplex side signs

Posted by randyo on Fri Jun 13 03:47:54 2025, in response to Re: Standard vs triplex side signs, posted by Steve B-8AVEXP on Tue Jun 10 19:11:53 2025.

I read in a ver early 1960s issue of “Headlights” that the TA toyed with the idea of using ABs on the GG long before that and even tried them on the F in the late 1950s.

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(1641870)

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Re: Standard vs triplex side signs

Posted by Steve B-8AVEXP on Fri Jun 13 04:46:12 2025, in response to Re: Standard vs triplex side signs, posted by randyo on Fri Jun 13 03:47:54 2025.

I don't they went so far as to add F EXPRESS signs, though.

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(1641881)

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Re: Standard vs triplex side signs

Posted by murray1575 on Fri Jun 13 21:46:57 2025, in response to Re: Standard vs triplex side signs, posted by Steve B-8AVEXP on Thu Jun 12 18:37:36 2025.

That is true. The power limitations were due to delayed equipment delivery caused by a supplier's strike. Equipment was borrowed from elsewhere in the system but initially only two motor R1-9 cars could operate on the line at reduced speeds and with short consists.

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(1641883)

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Re: Standard vs triplex side signs

Posted by randyo on Sat Jun 14 03:37:04 2025, in response to Re: Standard vs triplex side signs, posted by Steve B-8AVEXP on Fri Jun 13 04:46:12 2025.

Probably not, but the ABs had generic “Local” and “Express” signs to cover any services that didn’t match “normal” lines.

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(1641884)

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Re: Standard vs triplex side signs

Posted by Steve B-8AVEXP on Sat Jun 14 08:24:18 2025, in response to Re: Standard vs triplex side signs, posted by randyo on Sat Jun 14 03:37:04 2025.

I remember waiting for a Lonesome Larry train to leave 8th Ave. once and one of the route signs wasn't set correctly. I started cranking away while my mother was throwing a fit and got as far as the LOCAL sign when I stopped.

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