by MACTRAXX
Everyone: 10 years ago yesterday I had a incident happen riding the NYC Subway involving a train I rode. I wanted to post this yesterday but due to computer problems I could not.
I was visiting friends in Kew Gardens,Queens and they live in a doorman-guarded building. They had given me a key as well as informed the door staff of my presence. I had no problems-except with a certain doorman that I feel went out of his way to give me a hard time entering the building. I went into Manhattan on the subway that day-it was uneventful until the late evening when I realized it was getting quite late-I wanted to go back to KG so I chose the F train from Midtown at 47/50 Rockefeller Center Station. As I was using the turnstile a train came in-I dashed down the stairs only to have the doors close practically when I was right outside the car-the Conductor noticed and quickly re-opened the doors-I gave him a hearty thumbs-up as I jumped on board. I was in the first car of a train of R46 equipment - the train had some standees but I found a seat anyway and I pulled out a newspaper I was carrying for the ride.
As we were pulling into the 53/Lexington Station the entire car was startled by a commotion outside-we all looked and wondered to each other-what just happened? It turns out we had struck a middle-aged man that was either jumping in front or had fallen in front of the train. We stopped only about halfway into the station and somewhat short I recall. The motorman - a 30 something Hispanic male I remember - came out of the cab in somewhat of a daze. The train crew began keying open doors to evacuate the train and I noticed the victim-he was between the 1st and 2nd car - and not in one piece either. I recall a 30 something young woman was staring and freaking out literally - I recall yelling at her "GET OUT OF HERE - GO AWAY-NOW!!!" I sure did not want to see it either - but I had to get back to Queens so I caught the next available train back towards 42nd Street to catch the 7 train - I knew the E/F trains line would be significantly delayed or worse. When I got to 74/Roosevelt and went downstairs I figured I could take a local to 71/Continental and make my way back to KG if necessary from there.
After a short wait a E train showed up-I got on breathing a preverbial sigh of relief that I would get back to my hosts in reasonable time. When I got back I had found out that the problem doorman would not go on duty until much later than I thought-Midnight I recall it was-so I then realized I need not have rushed. My hosts gave me a message to call another friend back-I returned his call and I told him what had happened-he had heard about the fatal subway accident on the radio-and then he told me about the then-breaking news of the Princess Diana car accident-he mentioned she was badly hurt and that her boyfriend Dodi Fayed had died. After turning on the TV late that night it was all anyone was talking about-I then found out she had then died also of her injuries. I looked in NYC newspapers for the next couple of days and looked at local TV news-nothing was again mentioned of that fatal subway accident. The Diana tragedy was major world news as we were then all realizing.
I have only been involved in two fatal accidents on trains I was riding in over 30 years of train riding-this one as well as a SEPTA R5 Regional Rail train I was on had struck and killed a man near the Ambler station in early March of 1997. None before this and thankfully none since. To this day I avoid using the 53/Lexington subway station if at all possible-I consider it one of the most dangerous stations in the NYC Subway system on a safety stand point due to its narrow island platform and at times its extreme overcrowding.
In closing August 31,1997 was quite a memorable night-for all the WRONG reasons!!!! MACTRAXX
I was visiting friends in Kew Gardens,Queens and they live in a doorman-guarded building. They had given me a key as well as informed the door staff of my presence. I had no problems-except with a certain doorman that I feel went out of his way to give me a hard time entering the building. I went into Manhattan on the subway that day-it was uneventful until the late evening when I realized it was getting quite late-I wanted to go back to KG so I chose the F train from Midtown at 47/50 Rockefeller Center Station. As I was using the turnstile a train came in-I dashed down the stairs only to have the doors close practically when I was right outside the car-the Conductor noticed and quickly re-opened the doors-I gave him a hearty thumbs-up as I jumped on board. I was in the first car of a train of R46 equipment - the train had some standees but I found a seat anyway and I pulled out a newspaper I was carrying for the ride.
As we were pulling into the 53/Lexington Station the entire car was startled by a commotion outside-we all looked and wondered to each other-what just happened? It turns out we had struck a middle-aged man that was either jumping in front or had fallen in front of the train. We stopped only about halfway into the station and somewhat short I recall. The motorman - a 30 something Hispanic male I remember - came out of the cab in somewhat of a daze. The train crew began keying open doors to evacuate the train and I noticed the victim-he was between the 1st and 2nd car - and not in one piece either. I recall a 30 something young woman was staring and freaking out literally - I recall yelling at her "GET OUT OF HERE - GO AWAY-NOW!!!" I sure did not want to see it either - but I had to get back to Queens so I caught the next available train back towards 42nd Street to catch the 7 train - I knew the E/F trains line would be significantly delayed or worse. When I got to 74/Roosevelt and went downstairs I figured I could take a local to 71/Continental and make my way back to KG if necessary from there.
After a short wait a E train showed up-I got on breathing a preverbial sigh of relief that I would get back to my hosts in reasonable time. When I got back I had found out that the problem doorman would not go on duty until much later than I thought-Midnight I recall it was-so I then realized I need not have rushed. My hosts gave me a message to call another friend back-I returned his call and I told him what had happened-he had heard about the fatal subway accident on the radio-and then he told me about the then-breaking news of the Princess Diana car accident-he mentioned she was badly hurt and that her boyfriend Dodi Fayed had died. After turning on the TV late that night it was all anyone was talking about-I then found out she had then died also of her injuries. I looked in NYC newspapers for the next couple of days and looked at local TV news-nothing was again mentioned of that fatal subway accident. The Diana tragedy was major world news as we were then all realizing.
I have only been involved in two fatal accidents on trains I was riding in over 30 years of train riding-this one as well as a SEPTA R5 Regional Rail train I was on had struck and killed a man near the Ambler station in early March of 1997. None before this and thankfully none since. To this day I avoid using the 53/Lexington subway station if at all possible-I consider it one of the most dangerous stations in the NYC Subway system on a safety stand point due to its narrow island platform and at times its extreme overcrowding.
In closing August 31,1997 was quite a memorable night-for all the WRONG reasons!!!! MACTRAXX
Last edited by MACTRAXX on Wed Sep 05, 2007 11:26 am, edited 1 time in total.
EXPRESS TRAIN TO NEW YORK PENN STATION-NO JAMAICA ON THIS TRAIN-PLEASE STAND CLEAR OF THE CLOSING TRAIN DOORS