One of the World’s Shortest Subway Routes.
I was making my way from Grand Central toward Penn-Station and took a few minutes to photograph New York City’s famous Times Square Shuttle using a Lumix LX-7.
Although I’ve been making subterranean photos since the 1970s, I find that the digital photographic medium makes the process much easier, and my results generally are better.
In the 1990s, I made many New York City subway photos using a Nikon F3T with Ektachrome 200 and various filter combinations to compensate for artificial light conditions.
Calculating exposure was difficult, and despite the filtration my color balance was never 100 percent.
For these images, I set the camera for 400 ISO, selected the ‘A’-mode (Aperture priority) and set the aperture to f2.0, dialed in +1/3 exposure compensation (my standard override for interior photos), and allowed the camera’s auto-white balance take care of the artificial light.
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Tony Fitzherbert has provided more detail on the Grand Central shuttle:
The 2432 foot long shuttle, once part of the IRT’s main line is indeed the shortest NY Subway Line. The long gone Bowling Green – South Ferry Shuttle was a bit shorter, as was the even longer gone Beach Pneumatic Tube subway circa 1870, which was 312 feet long. But while waiting to ride this experimental train, a passenger could play the baby grand piano in the waiting area. Today a baby grand piano in Broad Channel, Middletown Road, or Spring Street would either be missing or end up on the tracks.
The Piccadilly Line in London ran the 1550 foot long Aldwych Branch as a single car shuttle until September 30, 1994. Elevator operators sold and collected tickets as they brought riders down to the trains. This was a single track line.