Fastest Way to Coney Island

I might go to Coney Island this summer and there is a very good chance I would take the train to get there. What would be the fastest (express) way to get there from Penn Station and/or Path stations in Manhattan.

All trains from Midtown to Coney Island run local at some point. 34th-Herald Square has all four lines: D, F, N, Q. The F is all local and Q is local in Brooklyn. D is express to 36 Street (Brooklyn) and N is express to 59 Street. All except F include the Manhattan Bridge, with the D being more scenic on the West End el (N is in grade open cut).

If on a weekday also consider the B express to Brighton Beach and change to the Q.

I like the F train the best but it runs local and will be pretty darn slow.

The Q is maybe your best bet for speed(?)


Check and compare the timetables on the MTA website

From a railfan standpoint, I think the Brighton line is the most interesting -- 4 tracks (in the classic NY pattern of express on the inside, local on the outside) out in the open from Prospect Park to Brighton Beach (in fact, I think it's the only example that's out in the open).

The Sea Beach Line also is a 4-track express, however the inner tracks are non-revenue (used for new equipment testing and acceptance).

The sea beach (N) is interesting in being an open cut (i find open cuts interesting for some reason-I'm too much of an underground rider lol) and i like how the overpasses interact with the line. Also you can see the LIRRs Bay Ridge Branch after leaving the BMT 4 Avenue line (i think). But otherwise, the ride is pretty boring until around 86 street where it comes to grade level and it is possible to see the CIY

The west end (D) is boring as hell-don't ride it-unless you want to re-trace the steps of that movie that featured the R42s in "The French Connection" and a pretty darn funny SNL skit (unless those were R40Ms... It was a while ago i saw the skit)

The brighton (B,Q) is quick in my opinion but i could always be wrong. Brighton was recently rehabilitated so it may look nicer/more presentable

The culver (F) presents a good panoramic view of Manhattan (similar to the west end but it's easier to see unless it was because there was more sun when i rail fanned the F line lol) and gives a terrific view of the Coney Island Museum Yard-I can never complain about the Brooklyn portion of the F line

tjensen wrote:The west end (D) is boring as hell-don't ride it-unless you want to re-trace the steps of that movie that featured the R42s in "The French Connection" and a pretty darn funny SNL skit (unless those were R40Ms... It was a while ago i saw the skit)

R42s 4572 & 4573, NYTM collection.

West end is usually a touch faster than the others - or at least it used to be. Express down 4th ave and a more direct route.

Just for grins, I looked at the timetables. All the methods (B, D, F, N, Q) take between 45 to 53 minutes. The B-to-BrightonBeach-to-Q would be the fastest or slowest depending on time waiting for trains. All the one-ride trips take 50-53 minutes. The fastest, statistically, is to take a Sixth Avenue B, F, or D (whichever comes along first). If the B arrives first, change to a Q at BrightonBeach, otherwise take the D or F all the way to ConeyIsland.

Was the NX line created to provide faster service to Coney Island?

Why did they terminate it (I'm guessing that it would have some usefulness nowadays or have cars eliminated the need)?

4400Washboard wrote:Was the NX line created to provide faster service to Coney Island?

Why did they terminate it (I'm guessing that it would have some usefulness nowadays or have cars eliminated the need)?

The NX was a rush hour service.

It never got the ridership expected, partially because there aren't any express stations between 59th St/4th Av and Coney Island on the Sea Beach. Most of the potential riders would want one of the local stations so "Super Express" service was useless.

Allan wrote:

4400Washboard wrote:Was the NX line created to provide faster service to Coney Island?

Why did they terminate it (I'm guessing that it would have some usefulness nowadays or have cars eliminated the need)?

The NX was a rush hour service.

It never got the ridership expected, partially because there aren't any express stations between 59th St/4th Av and Coney Island on the Sea Beach. Most of the potential riders would want one of the local stations so "Super Express" service was useless.

The NX was a one-way rush-hour service: from Brighton Beach "around the horn" to Manhattan in the morning, to Brighton Beach via Coney Island in the evening.

It wasn't so much designed for speed as for taking pressure off the Brighton Line. Inbound AM Brighton expresses would often have standees leaving Sheepshead Bay, and packed outbound PM trains would leave passengers standing on the platform at DeKalb Avenue. And since the D line (the Brighton express at the time) ran largely with R-9's, which had long been standard equipment on the Concourse end of the line pre-Chrystie Street, passengers were complaining that they were now being forced to ride in "cow trains."

The theory was that passengers on the outer end of the Brighton line could ride in the stainless steel trains they had been accustomed to in a reverse-peak direction to Coney Island and then enjoy a non-stop ride from there to 59th Street, up the Fourth Avenue express tracks to Pacific Street, and over the bridge to Manhattan. There were two problems with this: (1) The train bypassed DeKalb Avenue, where many passengers were accustomed to changing to "via Tunnel" trains for Lower Broadway and Nassau Street, districts that had many more workers than I think they do even today, and (2) The journey wasn't that much faster. I rode the NX on a few occasions in both directions and the Sea Beach express tracks were not high-speed by any stretch. They were (are) not normally used for revenue service and although I think the TA made a few upgrades in anticipation of NX service, there were still stretches of slow or even stop-and-go running. After being outpaced by an N local—or two!—you begin to wonder, What's the point?

People quickly figured out that they were spending more time on the NX than on the D to get to work. Or at the very least it seemed that way; the TA did not publish schedules in those days so it's impossible to know whether the route actually saved a few minutes or not. Ridership plummeted and the NX was soon discontinued. As I recall, it lasted less than a year.