IRT White Plains Road Line

IRT White Plains Road Line
The 2 train serves the entire IRT White Plains Road Line at all times. The 5 train serves most of the IRT White Plains Road Line.
Overview
Type	Rapid transit
System	New York City Subway
Termini	Wakefield – 241st Street 149th Street – Grand Concourse
Stations	20
Daily ridership	307,666
Operation
Opened	1904-1920
Owner	City of New York
Operator(s)	New York City Transit Authority
Character	Elevated (Most of the line) Underground (3rd Ave and Grand Concourse stations only)
Technical
No. of tracks	2-3
Track gauge	4 ft 8 1⁄2 in (1,435 mm)
Electrification	600V DC third rail

West Farms Square station is a southern station of the White Plains Road Line.

The White Plains Road Line (sometimes referred to as WPR Line) is a rapid transit line of the IRT division of the New York City Subway serving the central Bronx. It is mostly elevated and served both subway and elevated trains until 1952.

It is currently being used by the 2 as the local at all times and the 5 as the local at all times except rush hours in peak direction (when it runs express between East 180th Street and Third Avenue – 149th Street) and late nights (when it runs as a shuttle between Eastchester – Dyre Avenue and East 180th Street).

Extent and service

The following services use part or all of the White Plains Road Line:

Route		Services
	Time period	West of E 149 St	Between E 149 St and E 180 St	E 180 St	Between E 180 St and Nereid Ave	241 St
2	All times	Local
5	Rush peak	No service	Express	Local		No service
	Off-peak (except nights)	No service	Local		No service
	Nights	No service		Local	No service

IRT White Plains Road Line
Wakefield – 241st Street 239th Street Yard Nereid Avenue 233rd Street 225th Street 219th Street leer+hr d; leer+h leer+hr Gun Hill Road Burke Avenue former IRT Third Avenue Line Allerton Avenue Pelham Parkway IRT Dyre Avenue Line Bronx Park East Unionport Yard East 180th Street Yard East 180th Street Yard & Shops East 180th Street remainder of IRT Dyre Avenue Line demolished 180th Street – Bronx Park (demolished) West Farms Yard (demolished) West Farms Square – East Tremont Avenue 174th Street Freeman Street Simpson Street Intervale Avenue Prospect Avenue Jackson Avenue former IRT Third Avenue Line Third Avenue – 149th Street IRT Jerome Avenue Line 149th Street – Grand Concourse IRT Jerome Avenue Line 149th Street Tunnel under Harlem River IRT Lenox Avenue Line IRT Lenox Avenue Line

The IRT White Plains Road Line begins at the Wakefield – 241st Street terminal, with two tracks, one island platform, and two closed side platforms. Crossovers just south of the station take trains to the correct tracks and a center express track comes out of those crossovers. Between Wakefield – 241st Street and Nereid Avenue, a connection comes in from the 239th Street Yard.

Just north of Gun Hill Road, the now demolished IRT Third Avenue Line split from the local tracks (with crossovers to the express tracks just to the north). The line went to a lower level of Gun Hill Road and then turned west.

The IRT Dyre Avenue Line merges to the local tracks just north of East 180th Street, and then crossovers allow those trains to reach the express tracks. The 5 late-night Dyre Avenue Shuttle uses the center track to end its run, and rush hour 5 trains in the peak direction change to the express track here. On the west side of this junction is the East 180th Street Yard while the Unionport Yard is to the east.

The now-gone three-track Bronx Park Spur merged from the west after East 180th Street with one track into each of the mainline tracks. Just after this on the east side was a connection to the West Farms Yard, also gone.

The express track ends north of Third Avenue – 149th Street, and from there to the end the line has two tracks. Formerly in that area there was a connection just to the north to the local tracks of the IRT Third Avenue Line, and a connection to the south, bypassing 149th Street on the Third Avenue Line. Just past those former connections, the White Plains Road Line goes underground.

Just after 149th Street – Grand Concourse, the tracks split off and the two currently used by the 5 train turn south to merge with the local tracks of the IRT Jerome Avenue Line. The other tracks, currently used by the 2 train, pass under the Harlem River via the 149th Street Tunnel and end at the at-grade 142nd Street Junction, connecting to the IRT Lenox Avenue Line.

History

The part of the line from the IRT Lenox Avenue Line to 180th Street – Bronx Park was built as part of Contract 1. Service on the IRT White Plains Road Line was extended from East 177th Street – East Tremont Avenue to East 219th Street – White Plains Road beginning on March 3, 1917. Service on the new portion of the line was operated as a four-car shuttle from 177th Street due to the power conditions at the time. Service was extended to East 238th Street on March 31, 1917 The part of the line from the S-curve north of West Farms Square – East Tremont Avenue to the terminal at 241st Street was built as a part of the Dual Contracts.

A 1929 proposal included a spur off the line that would have run from Van Nest to Baychester. The spur was to begin near Garfield Street as an elevated line then run underground beneath Morris Park Avenue and Wilson Avenue, finally terminating at Boston Road, where it was to connect to the formerly proposed Concourse Line extension. This proposal was never carried out, however the IRT acquired the former New York, Westchester and Boston Railway right-of-way to create the IRT Dyre Avenue Line instead.

On April 23, 1953, express service began on the White Plains Road line; it skipped all stops between East 180th Street and Third Avenue – 149th Street.

In 1956, 180th Street – Bronx Park was closed and was demolished. Former trackways of this station can still be seen north of the current West Farms Square – East Tremont Avenue Station.

The Dyre Avenue Line was connected directly to the White Plains Road Line north of East 180th Street for $3 million and through service began on May 6, 1957. Night service would continue to be operated by a shuttle. Through service was operated by Seventh Avenue express trains between 5:30 AM and 8:30 PM. Between 8:30 and 1:15 shuttle trains operated from East 180th Street to Dyre Avenue, and in the early morning hours no trains operated over the line.

Due to rehabilitation of East 180th Street and signal replacements along the line, rush hour peak direction 5 express service was suspended from March 29 to September 3, 2010. PM northbound express service was suspended again on March 28, 2011 to allow for the second phase of the signal replacement project. Normal service was restored on August 8, 2011.

Station listing

Station service legend
	Stops all times
	Stops all times except late nights
Stops all times except rush hours in the peak direction	Stops all times except rush hours in the peak direction
	Stops rush hours in the peak direction only
Time period details

Neighborhood (approximate)		Station	Tracks	Services	Opened	Transfers and notes
Wakefield		Wakefield – 241st Street		2	December 13, 1920	originally East 241st Street Connection to Metro-North Railroad (Harlem Line at Wakefield)
	Center Express track begins (no regular service)
	connecting tracks to 239th Street Yard
		Nereid Avenue	local	2  5	March 31, 1917	originally East 238th Street
		233rd Street	local	2  5	March 31, 1917	originally East 233rd Street Connection to Metro-North Railroad (Harlem Line at Woodlawn)
		225th Street	local	2  5	March 31, 1917	originally East 225th Street
Williamsbridge		219th Street	local	2  5	March 3, 1917	originally East 219th Street
		Gun Hill Road	all	2  5	March 3, 1917	Connection to Metro-North Railroad (Harlem Line at Williams Bridge) Bx41 Select Bus Service
Allerton		Burke Avenue	local	2  5	March 3, 1917
		Allerton Avenue	local	2  5	March 3, 1917
Pelham Parkway		Pelham Parkway	local	2  5	March 3, 1917	Bx12 Select Bus Service
Van Nest		Bronx Park East	local	2  5	March 3, 1917
	Merge from IRT Dyre Avenue Line (5 )
	connecting tracks to Unionport Yard (east of the line)
	connecting tracks to East 180th Street Yard (west of the line)
West Farms		East 180th Street	all	2  5	March 3, 1917
		180th Street – Bronx Park	Bronx Park spur		November 26, 1904	Closed August 4, 1952; later demolished.
		West Farms Square – East Tremont Avenue	local	2  5 all except late nights and rush hours, peak direction	November 26, 1904	originally 177th Street, then East Tremont Avenue–Boston Road Q44 Select Bus Service
Crotona Park East		174th Street	local	2  5 all except late nights and rush hours, peak direction	November 26, 1904
		Freeman Street	local	2  5 all except late nights and rush hours, peak direction	November 26, 1904
Longwood		Simpson Street	local	2  5 all except late nights and rush hours, peak direction	November 26, 1904	Elevators are temporarily out of service for repairs until June 2016.
		Intervale Avenue	local	2  5 all except late nights and rush hours, peak direction	November 26, 1904	originally Intervale Avenue–163rd Street
		Prospect Avenue	local	2  5 all except late nights and rush hours, peak direction	November 26, 1904
Mott Haven		Jackson Avenue	local	2  5 all except late nights and rush hours, peak direction	November 26, 1904
	Center Express track ends
		Third Avenue – 149th Street	all	2  5	July 10, 1905	originally Third Avenue Bx41 Select Bus Service
		149th Street – Grand Concourse	all	2  5	July 10, 1905	4  (IRT Jerome Avenue Line) originally Mott Avenue
	Split with connection to IRT Jerome Avenue Line (5 )
149th Street Tunnel
Merge with IRT Lenox Avenue Line (2 )

Gallery

• 

  An R142 train enters East Tremont Avenue Station

• 

  An R142 train at Allerton Avenue Station in the Bronx

External links

• nycsubway.org - IRT Lenox/White Plains Line
• IRT White Plains Road Line Extended from East 177th Street to 219th Street in the Bronx |NY Times Archive, March 4th, 1917 [PDF]