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Local explorer Uno tipped us off to the One Night of Fire street party and it was surely a riot of colour, dancing, drums, street performers, fireworks and mayhem. The police escorted us the whole way, even boarding the train to ensure the shenanigans were contained. Coney Island provided the perfect backdrop of beachside carnival, before we made our way to Queens for the warehouse after-party. The train ride back shall forever be known as the 'F Train Party', which you should know is unlike any other party and does not stop. To the revelers' chorus, the beating of drums and banging upon the carriage ceilings adventurous souls crowd surfed their way the length of the carriage. We yelled, screamed and clapped to the amazement of the platform staff, a bunch of partying sardines stuffed in a can. It sounds a bit gay I know, but trust me there ain't no party like an F train party and the the F train party don't stop.
NY is known for one type of urbex more than any other... train tunnels. The subway is extensive and old - it had to be done. As a warm up we ventured to the Amtrak/Freedom tunnel - the legendary home of the mole people. Steve from undercity.org has a historical write up of the tunnel here.
The Amtrak tunnel is a huge cut and cover style tunnel, there is little risk of train-human interaction unless you're sleeping on the lines. As the diesel trains fly past you just crouch into the soot and dirt encrusted walls as Steve put it 'try to look like trash'. Easy! We hid from 3 trains with no problems until we reached the final straight. We ambled into the last two hundred metres - a well lit, straight, uncluttered section of track with no hiding spots. Comfortable with our impending exit we strolled easily towards the sunlight ahead of us as the tunnel began to shake and reverberate. We turned suddenly to find a deisel train bearing down on us, with no option but to make a run for it. It's incredibly difficult to run holding a camera, tripod and a spare lens but we somehow managed. We jumped into the wall and crouched as the train whistled by deafening us and filling the tunnel with diesel fumes. Not keen to explain our presence in the NY train tunnels we climbed an 8ft sound barrier then a 12ft spiked fence to escape into the outside world.
We got a few strange looks as we wandered Manhattan covered in dirt and grime, perhaps they could smell the fumes :)
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New York New York what a wonderful town. And how! No seriously, New York was off the proverbial hook. Our hostel was in Washington Heights near Harlem. We found a great cheap pizza store which we visited religiously. The neighbourhood kids opened the fire hydrants everyday, as their parents sat on the steps with their stereos blasting. There was a sense of community and ownership I'm not used to - I don't hang out with my neighbours.
One of the people in the hostel decided that consuming our drinks straight from the bottle was acceptable behaviour. Enter stage left one bottle of odourless, colourless, tasteless Fleet Oral Saline laxative, exit stage right a case of diarrhea induced toilet camping. Ah, good laughs all round.
Local explorer Uno tipped us off to the One Night of Fire street party and it was surely a riot of colour, dancing, drums, street performers, fireworks and mayhem. The police escorted us the whole way, even boarding the train to ensure the shenanigans were contained. Coney Island provided the perfect backdrop of beachside carnival, before we made our way to Queens for the warehouse after-party. The train ride back shall forever be known as the 'F Train Party', which you should know is unlike any other party and does not stop. To the revelers' chorus, the beating of drums and banging upon the carriage ceilings adventurous souls crowd surfed their way the length of the carriage. We yelled, screamed and clapped to the amazement of the platform staff, a bunch of partying sardines stuffed in a can. It sounds a bit gay I know, but trust me there ain't no party like an F train party and the the F train party don't stop.
NY is known for one type of urbex more than any other... train tunnels. The subway is extensive and old - it had to be done. As a warm up we ventured to the Amtrak/Freedom tunnel - the legendary home of the mole people. Steve from undercity.org has a historical write up of the tunnel here.
The Amtrak tunnel is a huge cut and cover style tunnel, there is little risk of train-human interaction unless you're sleeping on the lines. As the diesel trains fly past you just crouch into the soot and dirt encrusted walls as Steve put it 'try to look like trash'. Easy! We hid from 3 trains with no problems until we reached the final straight. We ambled into the last two hundred metres - a well lit, straight, uncluttered section of track with no hiding spots. Comfortable with our impending exit we strolled easily towards the sunlight ahead of us as the tunnel began to shake and reverberate. We turned suddenly to find a deisel train bearing down on us, with no option but to make a run for it. It's incredibly difficult to run holding a camera, tripod and a spare lens but we somehow managed. We jumped into the wall and crouched as the train whistled by deafening us and filling the tunnel with diesel fumes. Not keen to explain our presence in the NY train tunnels we climbed an 8ft sound barrier then a 12ft spiked fence to escape into the outside world.
We got a few strange looks as we wandered Manhattan covered in dirt and grime, perhaps they could smell the fumes :)
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Comments on New York, Part 1
JCMarshall_Law
#1 - 2006-08-10 01:53 - Reply
beast
#2 - 2006-08-10 02:00 - Reply
dsankt
#3 - 2006-08-10 09:33 - Reply
Pizzy
#4 - 2006-08-11 05:27 - Reply
Blake
#5 - 2006-08-28 09:00 - Reply