I can see what they mean about the gap between the subway train and the station platform itself being a safety issue. When that train came along, there is a 4 foot open gap that needs to be covered. Yes, I guess special automated 'extensions' could be added to the platform, but that would require that trains stop at the EXACT position every time for them to fit into position properly. It could be done, but it would be rather expensive. And because the train is much longer than the station itself, the train would have to pull forward and then stop, doing this numerous times just to let everyone on and off of the train itself.
Additionally the renovation for this station and addition of what you mentioned costs money. And that ain't going to happen when Brooklyn Bridge City hall Station is extremely close by and is fully functional.
If they were clever, they could put a curved glass wall between the station platform and the trains, renovate the station as a tourist stop, and have little shops and restaurants in it. I bet they'd get a LOT of customers. Kind of like what some restaurants have done with old banks. They make the vaults into special dining areas and some of these restaurants have reservations and waiting times of several weeks. So the city could make back all the restoration money and then some. We abandon too much in today's society!
In regards to minding the gap! The old Whitehall, South Ferry platform had just that. A metal extension would pop out to fill the gap once the train stopped as the station was on a bend. The train did have to stop In Just the right position for it to work correctly. Another interesting item. They would actually would shoot water onto the track, automatically, as the train approached to lessen the sound. There was a fairly decent curve there and it would be rather loud without the water. My father worked for the TA for 40 plus years way back when and told me a bunch of these little tid bits of info about the system. Enjoyed your video very much. Thank you.
Ariel Gonzalez I see... the platform couldn't hold enough cars ... There was a time , I guess when stations were really stations of beauty. Now they are more or less places of function , I guess. People don't have any time for looking. Wish it had some function ... maybe as an underground restaurant or ... Maybe it can't because trains might pass through?
From the description, this neither sounds as if it is "abandoned" or "secret." I do not understand the need to suggest either term. It is both used for turns and in a known location/building. I do find it interesting to see such places, but it is important not to hype up something in the title and then to describe just the opposite.
Not if you want VIEWS. Remember most people are barely literate, have no serious interest in history or anything else, and KEYWORDS drive traffic drive views. That shouldn't matter much. It's simply not important to them because it has no effect on their lives.
Yep. I wanted to see where all the stairs and old exits go. I could sort of see one blocked off by a wall, but a closer look would've been nice. The other exits, too. Not much use seeing train after train going past doing the same thing.
There are none. Everything above that mezzanine is blocked off. There would be nothing to see but stairs and being so close to City Hall poses security issues.
Not when they have a public tour a few times every year. The same line has the Worth St. and 18th Street stations that are also abandoned and less known.
That's because of its circle shape, train's edges almost touching the surface, but gap between doors and it is too big. Poorly designed back to old times. And yep, 7:08 is another station, how can't you mention so obvious fact?!
The track is not "poorly designed". Subway cars are twice as wide as they were in the 1920's and 1930's. Also in the old subway cars, they had steps and handrails that extended out of the sides.
They're not twice as wide. All cars have been around 9ft since the IRT first opened in 1904. The doors are just in different locations. It was designed for cars with doors at the ends like a railroad car. The current doors toward the center create that gap and you don't want liability issues or having to spend a ton of money on gap filters like South Ferry hence why they built a new straight line station for the (1).
so every time you get a tour of the abandoned station, looks like at the end the guy worker stops the train, opens the door and put a bridge so nobody falls into the tracks and let the people get on to the new station, that guy is really friendly
I'm astonished by how the train barely fits by just inches.... No wonder why it's been decommissioned. Good thing it for several decades of use though :') rip haha
It's used as a loop to go back North on the same line. They shut it down because there's several other nearby stations. The South Ferry station is a loop station like this City Hall station, and the problem is that the platform is only long enough for the first 5 cars to board/alight.
The gap between the train and the platform is exactly why they closed the station. The subway opened in 04 and by the next year, the mass amount of passengers resulted in longer train carts (and platforms) being built but as the platforms at this station were curved, elongating it was not possible. So they decided to shut it down. Besides, the Brooklyn Bridge-city Hall station was a much busier thoroughfare and was only a short walk away. 🙂
I could never understand the logic behind it... 14st - Union Square has a little bit less of a curvature( almost the same, actually), yet no one is gonna abandon it. They just equipped it with moving platforms that detract when train arrives and retract when it's about to go... Why not do it here?
Its because of the curvature and also its close proximity to Brooklyn Bridge station. The cost of reopening the station is not justified when there is a major station just a stonethrows away.
I think abandoned neans there is no hunman, and no trains in survices pass or stop. Because it is "used as a turning loop for 6 trains", so it is not an abandoned station. Secret means no or few people know about it. Because its "passenger service was discontinued on December 31, 1945", so few people know what it looks like inside now. This means you said it is a secret station is currect. I think it is a secret station, but not an abandoned station.
Alex Felipe As the subway cars got longer, huge gaps between the train and the platform made it dangerous to board. Since then, the MTA never actually repaired and reopened this station. Now this station is served as part of a turn-around for the 6 train.
It's like a mix of Bank, Embankment (which also has a curved platform), Kennington (because of the loop) and Aldwych (a disused Piccadilly line station largely unchanged since Edwardian times and often used by film companies) tube stations
It's not abandoned or secret. If you stay on the #6 train at Brooklyn Bridge the train passes though a loop and the City Hall station is along that loop and you can get a great view of it as you pass through.. There is a 10 mph speed restriction along the loop. Whence yoou clear the loop you merge on he opposite side of the Brooklyn Bridge station.
Sorta. They tell you to get off but you don’t HAVE to and they don’t really check. Ok just realized you wrote this comment four years ago before covid golly hope all is well since then haha
BOI look how it curves you cal fall through the gaps also it is creepy to me that the subway train lights at the front is LIKE eyes looking for u and when it finds you it's stops and opens its mouth and tricks u into going in. I'm a very creepy child
Some are saying the title is misleading because there are people there so how is it secret or abandoned, this station is no longer in use & it's not open to the public, it's secret because not many know about it since it shut down in the 1940s & there's no main entrance, only MTA workers probably know, the 6 train only does loops on that station but it doesn't make stops, this video is probably from a tour so that's why there are people there but in general it's not accessible & if you're spotted in this station you are trespassing
Maybe they should open city hall station again and then add moving platforms like they have in south ferry on the 1. It has a curve and it has that. So why not do it to city hall.
I can see why they abandoned it... seems like having a station in a corner would make it hard to load and unload the train. The ramp at the end works, But seems like a lawsuit waiting to happen.
Two quick questions: 1) Are there tours of the station? That's what it appears like here, and; 2) Are passengers allowed to ride the trains as they go through the station? Again, it looks that way from the video. Thanks in advanced.
ReverendMississauga 1. Yes the transit museum offers tours however you need to be a member and book in advanced 2. Yes you can, 6 trains use this loop of track to turn around in fact you can see some people on one of the trains in the video. As to whether the station will lite is another question
Exactly, if you stay in one of the 3 last car you can see it because when the train stop at Brooklyn bridge they say everybody has to get out but in the last 3cars nobody can't see you
Hey guys do u know why they put the bridge there not just the gap if anyone falls in the third rail is on the platform side of the station so BE CAREFUL!!!
(Firstly to be professional the copyright (such as your blatant 'filmed by Tim Magliore') is only shown at the END of videos for a few seconds, NOT through out the clip as a WHOLE from the first to last frame! that is ego and paranoia as it is NOT a violation of international copyright law, as to either copy snippets or as a whole for ones persona' us. so long as... no rennumeration (selling or charging of admission for public performance) is utilised. It ruins this otherwise nice video to have that distraction from beginning to end)! Now I did not know that organised public tours are now given! Years ago before these tours I got a chance being escorted by a now former MTA employee Roger Arcara who was an ardent trainspotter and film archivist, who had taken me into this station and I have to say it is very beautiful! I am pleased to see that pubic tours are now offered! (unless that these are only organised private groups).
I guess the cost is too high to straighten the tracks out enough to make it useable and making it a two track terminal making the tracks straight doesnt work either. But they are robbing the citizens of some beautiful architecture, andwhat could be an NYC icon. Id at least put up plexiglass by the tracks and turn the station into a cafe or restaurant, soundproofing it, of course.
Getting in to this place is quite a process. Go on google, search "Jewel in the crown: Old cityhall station" when the mta website pops up some where on the page, click on it. Scroll down, a lot, look for that title and then, that should get you started.
Meh - I was in this station in 1995 and several other times. I was also in the Atlantic Avenue Tunnel with Bob Diamond, before City Hall shut it down for asinine reasons.
Anthony causey If the structure is bad they wouldn't be offering tours or running train through it, the reason they closed it is due to the massive gap between the train and the platform since this station was designed for shorter 2 door cars.
Rolando Ruiz Ride the 6 train to the brooklyn bridge/city hall stop. They announce that it's the last stop. You can stay on the train and it will go through the city hall station, making a u-turn and coming out on the opposite platform at brooklyn bridge/city hall (where you were 2-3 minutes before).
I'm sure it's abandon because of the big gaps the train makes with the loop and the station, so if your drunk and think there is no damn gap and no one notices your between the train and station in the gap, you sir, are fucked!
I can see what they mean about the gap between the subway train and the station platform itself being a safety issue. When that train came along, there is a 4 foot open gap that needs to be covered. Yes, I guess special automated 'extensions' could be added to the platform, but that would require that trains stop at the EXACT position every time for them to fit into position properly. It could be done, but it would be rather expensive. And because the train is much longer than the station itself, the train would have to pull forward and then stop, doing this numerous times just to let everyone on and off of the train itself.
Additionally the renovation for this station and addition of what you mentioned costs money. And that ain't going to happen when Brooklyn Bridge City hall Station is extremely close by and is fully functional.
If they were clever, they could put a curved glass wall between the station platform and the trains, renovate the station as a tourist stop, and have little shops and restaurants in it. I bet they'd get a LOT of customers. Kind of like what some restaurants have done with old banks. They make the vaults into special dining areas and some of these restaurants have reservations and waiting times of several weeks. So the city could make back all the restoration money and then some. We abandon too much in today's society!
Like on 14th street union square
clydesight I was thinking the same thing watching this!
Maybe the gap is one of the reason for its close .
In regards to minding the gap! The old Whitehall, South Ferry platform had just that. A metal extension would pop out to fill the gap once the train stopped as the station was on a bend. The train did have to stop In Just the right position for it to work correctly. Another interesting item. They would actually would shoot water onto the track, automatically, as the train approached to lessen the sound. There was a fairly decent curve there and it would be rather loud without the water. My father worked for the TA for 40 plus years way back when and told me a bunch of these little tid bits of info about the system.
Enjoyed your video very much. Thank you.
what a beautiful station they should do something with it again
+gacj2010 no way. it was closed on the last day of 1945 because it's too short.
Ariel Gonzalez I see... the platform couldn't hold enough cars ...
There was a time , I guess when stations were really stations of beauty. Now they are more or less places of function , I guess. People don't have any time for looking.
Wish it had some function ... maybe as an underground restaurant or ...
Maybe it can't because trains might pass through?
+gacj2010 yes. The 6 local train will make a curve around to head the Bronx bound local train to Pelham Bay Park-Bronx.
Ariel Gonzalez Oh , I understand now!
I am fascinated by things like these.
NYC has quite an extensive underground operation.
+gacj2010 correct
From the description, this neither sounds as if it is "abandoned" or "secret." I do not understand the need to suggest either term. It is both used for turns and in a known location/building. I do find it interesting to see such places, but it is important not to hype up something in the title and then to describe just the opposite.
It's abandoned in the sense that the platforms and entrances/exits are closed to public use.
Brennan Callan
Brennan Callan 7
The trains offline
Not if you want VIEWS. Remember most people are barely literate, have no serious interest in history or anything else, and KEYWORDS drive traffic drive views. That shouldn't matter much. It's simply not important to them because it has no effect on their lives.
The starting point of New York's first subway in 1904. Beautiful station!!! Thanks Tim!!👍👍
You're only filming passing subway cars instead of the abandoned station...
Yep. I wanted to see where all the stairs and old exits go. I could sort of see one blocked off by a wall, but a closer look would've been nice. The other exits, too. Not much use seeing train after train going past doing the same thing.
There are none. Everything above that mezzanine is blocked off. There would be nothing to see but stairs and being so close to City Hall poses security issues.
Not so abandoned or secret I guess.
+Guitar Dude Exactly.
zippy Klein
Not when they have a public tour a few times every year. The same line has the Worth St. and 18th Street stations that are also abandoned and less known.
My first thought!
Wrong look how many people
Paris, London and New York City has the most interesting subway systems in the world, they're the oldest and has secrets and ghosts stations.
LondonUnderground186 true
Most importantly they're all filthy and smell like a urinal
there is too much space between the platform and the train.could dangerous during boarding or deboarding
Shashwat Tiwari Ikr, then at 7:08 there's not much space at all. The gap is closed. Go figure...
That's the other station...
That's because of its circle shape, train's edges almost touching the surface, but gap between doors and it is too big. Poorly designed back to old times. And yep, 7:08 is another station, how can't you mention so obvious fact?!
The track is not "poorly designed". Subway cars are twice as wide as they were in the 1920's and 1930's. Also in the old subway cars, they had steps and handrails that extended out of the sides.
They're not twice as wide. All cars have been around 9ft since the IRT first opened in 1904.
The doors are just in different locations. It was designed for cars with doors at the ends like a railroad car. The current doors toward the center create that gap and you don't want liability issues or having to spend a ton of money on gap filters like South Ferry hence why they built a new straight line station for the (1).
There's a rare occurrence that you might enter the subway train in the city hall loop during the tour.
Jesus no wonder why they closed it, it's a big gap to walk across!
There are other dead stations. There's spur under the Waldorf where the president could go to the hotel without being outside at all.
+Robert Cuminale No shit. Everyone knows this.
The stations not used anymore. The station is on a loop track and is used every 6-9 minutes during rush hours
*YA DON'T SAY*
nice old station cheers for posting
so every time you get a tour of the abandoned station, looks like at the end the guy worker stops the train, opens the door and put a bridge so nobody falls into the tracks and let the people get on to the new station, that guy is really friendly
Great place! thx for the share...I love it! (sorry for bad english i'm french)
Why u commenting if u not speaking English?
I'm astonished by how the train barely fits by just inches.... No wonder why it's been decommissioned. Good thing it for several decades of use though :') rip haha
Excellent film, Tim! You do find the most interesting places and things wherever you go. Thank you so much for sharing. Take care,
...anwar...
lol this was in "Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find them"
Onew of the reasons I went to see that movie, I recognized the station in the trailers and wanted to see how well it was done.
Lots of train for a disused station!
It's used as a loop to go back North on the same line. They shut it down because there's several other nearby stations. The South Ferry station is a loop station like this City Hall station, and the problem is that the platform is only long enough for the first 5 cars to board/alight.
The gap between the train and the platform is exactly why they closed the station. The subway opened in 04 and by the next year, the mass amount of passengers resulted in longer train carts (and platforms) being built but as the platforms at this station were curved, elongating it was not possible. So they decided to shut it down. Besides, the Brooklyn Bridge-city Hall station was a much busier thoroughfare and was only a short walk away. 🙂
beautiful architecture
Not a secret when it’s on TH-cam and most explorers living in or within NYC tri-state region knows about this.
I love City Hall Station
I could never understand the logic behind it... 14st - Union Square has a little bit less of a curvature( almost the same, actually), yet no one is gonna abandon it. They just equipped it with moving platforms that detract when train arrives and retract when it's about to go... Why not do it here?
Its because of the curvature and also its close proximity to Brooklyn Bridge station. The cost of reopening the station is not justified when there is a major station just a stonethrows away.
Also the station can only hold 4 cars.
I think abandoned neans there is no hunman, and no trains in survices pass or stop. Because it is "used as a turning loop for 6 trains", so it is not an abandoned station.
Secret means no or few people know about it. Because its "passenger service was discontinued on December 31, 1945", so few people know what it looks like inside now. This means you said it is a secret station is currect.
I think it is a secret station, but not an abandoned station.
That's a Kool looking train station. Looks like a train station straight out of a movie.
why isnt city hall open its a great station still
Alex Felipe As the subway cars got longer, huge gaps between the train and the platform made it dangerous to board. Since then, the MTA never actually repaired and reopened this station. Now this station is served as part of a turn-around for the 6 train.
It’s a bit like Bank Station on the London Underground
It's like a mix of Bank, Embankment (which also has a curved platform), Kennington (because of the loop) and Aldwych (a disused Piccadilly line station largely unchanged since Edwardian times and often used by film companies) tube stations
And the fact that the entrance is right smack next to the city hall, it’s beyond security and would not get very much usage
I don't get it why doesn't New York have something like a request stops like what they have in the UK
that is a very sharp turn
I still dont understand why MTA doesn't place the automatic extension platforms. This is probably the simplest way to solve this problem.
It's not abandoned or secret. If you stay on the #6 train at Brooklyn Bridge the train passes though a loop and the City Hall station is along that loop and you can get a great view of it as you pass through.. There is a 10 mph speed restriction along the loop. Whence yoou clear the loop you merge on he opposite side of the Brooklyn Bridge station.
Everything is the same as south ferry loop with only the first 5 cars, curved platform. The differences are the design and without gap fillers
Is it acceptable to stay on the 6 train as it loops back or do they make you get off
Sorta. They tell you to get off but you don’t HAVE to and they don’t really check. Ok just realized you wrote this comment four years ago before covid golly hope all is well since then haha
Please revive this station!
BOI look how it curves you cal fall through the gaps also it is creepy to me that the subway train lights at the front is LIKE eyes looking for u and when it finds you it's stops and opens its mouth and tricks u into going in. I'm a very creepy child
This station takes part in some films.
awesome video
Some are saying the title is misleading because there are people there so how is it secret or abandoned, this station is no longer in use & it's not open to the public, it's secret because not many know about it since it shut down in the 1940s & there's no main entrance, only MTA workers probably know, the 6 train only does loops on that station but it doesn't make stops, this video is probably from a tour so that's why there are people there but in general it's not accessible & if you're spotted in this station you are trespassing
looks like a tiny earls court underground station
City hall is big enough to fit 47 people
There are closed train stations on the blue line in Chicago too.
Yup all along the expressway. There’s even several curved stations too
Maybe they should open city hall station again and then add moving platforms like they have in south ferry on the 1. It has a curve and it has that. So why not do it to city hall.
@Joe King Good point.
They should try to use this beautiful station and make the platform fit the newer trains . Why don’t they want to use it?
I can see why they abandoned it... seems like having a station in a corner would make it hard to load and unload the train. The ramp at the end works, But seems like a lawsuit waiting to happen.
Two quick questions: 1) Are there tours of the station? That's what it appears like here, and; 2) Are passengers allowed to ride the trains as they go through the station? Again, it looks that way from the video.
Thanks in advanced.
ReverendMississauga
1. Yes the transit museum offers tours however you need to be a member and book in advanced
2. Yes you can, 6 trains use this loop of track to turn around in fact you can see some people on one of the trains in the video. As to whether the station will lite is another question
Not to lights, usually the lights are off during regular use and only turned on when they have tours.
So this is where the 6 train goes after Brooklyn bridge? Then it goes back to Brooklyn bridge on the Bronx track?
Exactly, if you stay in one of the 3 last car you can see it because when the train stop at Brooklyn bridge they say everybody has to get out but in the last 3cars nobody can't see you
Is this where they filmed Tinage mutants 2 secrets of the ooze?
How did u get access to it?
So this is where the 6 train goes when it leaves Brooklyn Bridge
And then, it use the short station to loop around going back to the Bronx
+dubreil07 Really? Duh.
+dubreil07 no.
And a haunted train passing thru it! 🤯👻
Hey guys do u know why they put the bridge there not just the gap if anyone falls in the third rail is on the platform side of the station so BE CAREFUL!!!
Train does not stop there
I don't thunk the 6 train operators need a tour of this station, they see from the first stop all the way to the last lol
Was this where they filmed the TMNT movie from the 90's?
(Firstly to be professional the copyright (such as your blatant 'filmed by Tim Magliore') is only shown at the END of videos for a few seconds, NOT through out the clip as a WHOLE from the first to last frame! that is ego and paranoia as it is NOT a violation of international copyright law, as to either copy snippets or as a whole for ones persona' us. so long as... no rennumeration (selling or charging of admission for public performance) is utilised. It ruins this otherwise nice video to have that distraction from beginning to end)!
Now I did not know that organised public tours are now given! Years ago before these tours I got a chance being escorted by a now former MTA employee Roger Arcara who was an ardent trainspotter and film archivist, who had taken me into this station and I have to say it is very beautiful! I am pleased to see that pubic tours are now offered! (unless that these are only organised private groups).
the good old days
when are u able to get in? i really want to take my family there...
nice video
it is so secret that you have tours you can book to see it and a number of movies having been filmed there… so very secret… lol
so the lv models were wider
I guess the cost is too high to straighten the tracks out enough to make it useable and making it a two track terminal making the tracks straight doesnt work either. But they are robbing the citizens of some beautiful architecture, andwhat could be an NYC icon. Id at least put up plexiglass by the tracks and turn the station into a cafe or restaurant, soundproofing it, of course.
Homeless could sleep in these places if the city didn't harass them every 40 seconds.
Why do trains go slow in the city Hall loop?
Unless you want them to go fast, derail and hit the platform be my guest!
hello. how old is this station. and trains. electric??? hello atlantis.
6:09:¿WTF?
The man open the train'door!..
Yoselin Duarte how else is the driver supposed to get on when the train leaves the yard
was this the place where The Machine was stored
Rip City Hall
Is this train going in circles
Is this a free tour
And Omg that squeak is beautiful especially when it goes extra slow. I could imagine riding on that train at the end, it would sound nd feel sexy
so can I get there inside old city hall station?
Getting in to this place is quite a process. Go on google, search "Jewel in the crown: Old cityhall station" when the mta website pops up some where on the page, click on it. Scroll down, a lot, look for that title and then, that should get you started.
To pass by its just stay in the 6 train
Vicente Gonzalez Well that's one way to go, but for a tour, it's really a different story
Meh - I was in this station in 1995 and several other times. I was also in the Atlantic Avenue Tunnel with Bob Diamond, before City Hall shut it down for asinine reasons.
you want a cookie son?
Very spooky, wouod make a good horror film
Good one ☺
Don't look abandoned,if trains still run through
Lmao ikr
+Unstrict its a turn around point for thr 6 train its last stop is Brooklyn bridge city hall then uses this station to turn around n head uptown
That noise was awful.i had to turn off the sound....😕
Old subway year 1880 and 1900 world war two and today is closed in 1983
ever heard of klaatu- sub rosa subway
the structural integrity of the station has been failing since its debut. Thats why its no longer in service.
Anthony causey If the structure is bad they wouldn't be offering tours or running train through it, the reason they closed it is due to the massive gap between the train and the platform since this station was designed for shorter 2 door cars.
Do u need to pay or how I wanna do this one day with meh family
Rolando Ruiz Ride the 6 train to the brooklyn bridge/city hall stop. They announce that it's the last stop. You can stay on the train and it will go through the city hall station, making a u-turn and coming out on the opposite platform at brooklyn bridge/city hall (where you were 2-3 minutes before).
Tj Beyer then how do i get out?
Shadin's Dreams what if i wanna get off the train and film and take photos?
+Shadin's Dreams It's forbidden. The train doesn't stop there anymore for over 70 years xd
+Rolando Ruiz Your family is Meh. Good luck.
was this place added in Gta 4 like a easter egg there
I think
what's the motivation or motive.
Check us out at "Decay is headed your way!"
Secret my eye all true new yorkers know about the old city hall station please the MTA gives tours I hate BS headlines
Everyone knows about it.
i found that station
+Yu Lo Wow. You and a million other people decades before you. Bravo.
Thats the neighborhood bums hangout on the weekends
this isn't abandoned
You can't take the train to that stop.,
Soviet Rebel This is abandoned
Michael Morales dumbass
Soviet Rebel This is abandoned
Michael Morales OK, so whyd u say shut up?
reminds me of harry potter
wow irt cliche
2
Mind the gaaaaAAAAAAAAP
rly abandoned and secret, i´m impressed....not -.-
Go fuck yourself.
I'm sure it's abandon because of the big gaps the train makes with the loop and the station, so if your drunk and think there is no damn gap and no one notices your between the train and station in the gap, you sir, are fucked!
High Everyday no they closed it because the newer trains could not make the sharp turns around the tracks.
what's the motivation or motive.