200th Street Station - A Train

I took this quick snap at the 200th street station on the Independent Subway System (IND) 8th Avenue Line. Not a very interesting station although it does put you at the north east entrance to Fort Tryon Park at Dykman Street and Broadway.

Are you wondering what the hell the Independent Subway System is/was? Back in the day, I'm talking pre-1930, the subway systems operating in NYC were not owned by the city. They were privately operated by two main companies: the Interborough Rapid Transit Company (IRT) & the Brooklyn-Manhattan Transit Corporation (BMT). The IND system was the first system to be built and run by the city. It was built in 1932, with the 8th Avenue Line being the first line to run. Later, lines A through G would make up the IND System.

In 1940, the city purchased all operations of the IRT and BMT. Incidentally, this city takeover is what shaped today's A & B Subdivisions. Subdivision A being comprised of the IRT lines and Subdivision B being comprised of the BMT & IND lines.

This probably isn't very interesting to most people, but as an engineer working at Kawasaki Rail Car, building new R160 Cars for the city; it's good stuff.