Fred Barbieri's F1 IND Subway Line

By Alfred Barten

If you like subways, Fred Barbieri's F1 IND route for MSTS is a "must-have." If you don't have MSTS, I suggest you get it. I don't often say things like that, but at today's prices, you can get MSTS for lunch money. And what's not to like about MSTS, anyway? The nice thing is that almost any PC built within the last seven or eight years will have enough horsepower to run MSTS, though Fred recommends a more up-to-date system for smooth running, especially the above-ground sections where there are a lot of buildings.

The route is part prototype, part fiction, deriving its character from New York City's IND and IRT lines. Parts of the route generally follow the IND A and D lines, the first running from the 207^th Street Yard in upper Manhattan to West 4^th Street in lower Manhattan; while the latter runs from the 205^th Street Yard in the Bronx to West 4^th Street. From there the lines run to Smith Street Yard in Brooklyn. This leg of the run is fictitious, and, while there really is a Smith Street Station, there is no yard that I could find (not even by using Google Earth). This is no surprise, as Fred confirms in his documentation.

There is also a mixed prototypical/fictional section of the IRT Lexington Avenue line, the one I grew up with back in the 1940s.

I took a peak at the track plan via the Activity Editor to see how much resembled the real thing. I quickly decided this was not something to spend a lot of time investigating, whereas running trains was. It turned out I didn't have to go into Activity Editor; Fred thoughtfully included a jpg image of the map as part of his documentation.

The important thing about this route is that it encompasses much that is good about New York's rapid transit system and is great fun to drive. The stations are varied, colorful, and populated with people; the route surfaces from time to time and takes to the air via elevated trackage, and provides some interesting scenery in the process. This is a great route for trainsim photography!

Signals, elevated structure, and tunnels all appear authentic, though I admit to not being an expert in these areas. (I last lived in New York City in 1949, and was 9 at the time.) The one elevated I remember was the long-gone Third Avenue El.

The rolling stock that is part of the route - as dependent objects at sidings and as part of the game activities - is excellent. Included are two Low-V IRT cars (1915 Flivver and Steinway) and R-22 grimey maroon. Also included are IND R-4 (1932-1933) and R-9 (1940) cars. The latter two are recent additions to the lineup at train-sim.com, where all parts of the route and dependencies can be gotten. Special praise goes to Frederick Dreany and his team for the creation of these outstanding cars. Special mention also goes to Joe Korman, who authored two of the activities and provided technical assistance in construction of the route.

A check of the subway rolling stock offerings at train-sim.com reveals even more suitable cars for this route, including the R-22 silver cars and R-29 "Redbirds." I've listed them at the end of this article.

In case you're wondering about the alphabet soup of acronyms surrounding New York's transit system, IND refers to the Independent line, opened in 1932; IRT refers to the Interborough Rapid Transit Company, which began subway operations in 1904. In the beginning, the city built the lines and turned them over to private operators. Another operator was the Brooklyn Rapid Transit Company (BRT), which began operations in 1915 and later became the Brooklyn Manhattan Transit Company (BMT). In 1940 all three lines - IRT, BMT, and IND - came under single, public control of the city, but the lines are still known to New Yorkers as the IRT, BMT, and IND (or Independent). In 1953 the New York City Transit Authority (NYCTA) was created to manage the city's subway system. In 1968 the Metropolitan Transit Authority (MTA) was crated to manage all the city's public transportation systems with the NYCTA becoming a subsidiary.

The R in rolling stock designations refers to Revenue Contract number under which the car was purchased. This system came into being in 1930 when cars for the new IND line were ordered.

The Low-V refers to the low-voltage control systems in the early cars. (Yes, there were some Hi-V cars.)

The model rolling stock features high detail cabs with animated controls, interiors, working headlights and marker lights, and highly detailed bodies and trucks. They operate beautifully, slowing down when climbing steep grades, speeding up on the downgrades, and squealing when the brakes are applied. Running sounds include track clickity-clack and authentic motors and air pumps. Nothing takes me back to my early days like these sounds.

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