The N Train in Brooklyn

Today I will talk about the N Train in Brooklyn that I often take as a means of going to Manhattan faster. It is the second closest stop to my apartment and job, it pretty much rides as an express version of the R train to Atlantic Terminal and into Manhattan but also rides as a local train through Dyker Heights, Bensonhurst, Gravesend, and Coney Island after it splits from the R at 59^th Street. The N goes across the bridge and is the fastest train closest to where I live but still is not my favorite train to take. I will describe in detail why but before doing so I will explain the route description in full so that a given rider knows what to expect. 

The N train starts in Brooklyn at Coney Island/Stillwell Avenue Station. That station is  a large terminus for the D, N, Q, and F trains, all of which except the F go back to Atlantic Terminal. It is a fairly busy station which I will devote another blog posting to entirely as it and its surrounding area are an important part of Brooklyn’s History. The N travels from Coney Island into Gravesend in a method that is rather unusual, in a trenched ditch. Normally subways that are not underground are elevated but the N train in Brooklyn up until 4^th Avenue is in an open trench going under various bridges from time to time. It exits Gravesend between West 7^th and West 8^th Streets. Now this street arrangement in Brooklyn is a little confusing, Where I live the streets are numbered, 100^th or 101^st are the Southern most streets in Bay Ridge and they go back up towards Downtown Brooklyn in an East-West manner in a descending numerical order. These numbered streets run roughly between the Upper New York Bay on their Western end up until Bay Parkway, McDonald Avenue and Prospect Park at their Eastern end. A new set of numbered streets begins in Southern Brooklyn going over to Southeastern Brooklyn but they run North-South and there are 108 East Streets with only 37 West streets. In Williamsburg, Brooklyn, another set of Numbered Streets begin, these streets run East-West and are labeled North-South Streets with only 4 South Streets and 13 North Streets. I know this is a little off subject but I feel it is important to mention it now so that a prospective traveler to Brooklyn realizes there are some confusing streets numerically speaking.

Back to Gravesend, the only neighborhood really served by the West numbered Streets, the N train runs through Gravesend before crossing Bay Parkway into Bensonhurst where it turns at a 45’ angle and runs from East to West in between 60^th and 65^th streets still in an open trench fashion. This continues into Dyker Heights until the N train approaches 4^th Avenue where it then turns North bound rejoining the R train at 59^th Street. Before approaching 59^th Street, the N train makes ten stops in Brooklyn, after 59^th street, it makes two stops, one at 36^th Street to relieve the D train and one at Atlantic Terminal. After Atlantic Terminal, the N train crosses the Manhattan bridge running roughly along Flatbush Avenue to get there. It crosses Manhattan bridge on the South set of tracks with it’s third sibling, the Q train. The N and D trains run hand in hand in Brooklyn, between 36^th Street, 62^nd Street/New Utrecht Avenue, and Coney Island/Stillwell Avenue, they form an 8 if that makes any sense. Because of this whenever one track is being constructed upon, the would-be delayed train detours to the unoperated upon track.

The neighborhoods passed on the N train in Brooklyn Coney Island, Gravesend, Bensonhurst, and Dyker Heights are fairly working to middle class. High rise apartment buildings that are either retirement communities or public housing projects start in Coney Island and end in Gravesend alongside modestly sized single family homes with flat roofs. The houses for the most part are attached with some detached but closely spaced together housing. Upon entering Bensonhurst and Dyker Heights, the houses get a little bit larger, they are rarely detached and the area feels a little bit more middle class. Much of the single family housing in this part of Brooklyn is populated by Italian Americans, Jewish Americans often of a Russian background, first and second generated Asian and Hispanic immigrants with some Irish Americans. The high rise buildings in Coney Island are populated by retirees of several ethnic backgrounds who seem to be lifelong Brooklyn residents in the senior housing and African American and Puerto Rican residents in the Public Housing units. The area along the N train gives a good picture of what Southern Brooklyn is generally like in that the housing in neighboring communities are built similarly, the area generally has a working to middle class feel to it, and much of the population that lives there comes from lifelong Brooklyn families or is in the new wave of immigrants coming to the five boroughs.

Reading all of this one may think that I would enjoy the N train more than any other Train in Brooklyn but it is in fact not my favorite train in Brooklyn. I don’t like the N as much because one cannot see much of the area around it while it travels in the excavated trench carved out for it and also because it seems there are frequent construction issues on it. It is not uncommon for me to when traveling to Manhattan transfer to an express train at 36^th street instead of 59^th street because of various track and reliability issues. The R is more reliable than the N but because the N makes one stop for every five stops done by the R train, I catch it when I can. When I go to work in Manhattan, I take the D or the N and get off at the first stop for either train located in Chinatown which is not far from my job. The D train station is closer, the N train station is a busier and more confusing as all of the Yellow and Brown Letter Lines in addition to one Green Numbered line stop at it, and the D generally seems more reliable. I recommend for anyone going to Coney Island by way of Atlantic Terminal to take the D train down and the N train back especially if the train is leaving later in the day, that way one can get a view from both to see what makes them better and worse. The N is useful when it is running correctly, useful for me living in a neighborhood of 4^th Avenue. Like every other train in my beloved borough, it has its ups, and it has its downs.