F train, Jay Street to Kings Highway, May 21st, 2014
Finally! A conductor! She was off duty and not willing, at first, to write a poem. But we got to talking about the A, and she said she wouldn’t mind if I wrote down what she said. It really doesn’t matter if someone writes or not. It’s wonderful to hear what people do, how they think.
I like the A line
cause it’s express
and it’s outside
and I can breathe
the air.
It’s not closed in.
We’re underground
for a little bit
then we’re back outside.
The dispatchers are
nice
and they look out
for their fellow co-workers.
They keep track of the
trains coming into
the terminals,
like Lefferts Boulevard,
they’ll write down
the time the
train comes in
or if it’s late.
When it’s late
they wanna know
the reason.
When we get
into Broad Channel
you can kinda
smell the water,
yeah, we pass the
water.
It be boats and
birds in the water,
that’s when you
go toward Far
Rockaway.
The people are
very nice.
The thing about us
conductors,
we get the same
passengers on
our train.
We answer their
questions to the
best of our ability.
One that we get,
“Is there another train
behind you?”
They expect us to
see the train behind
us but we can’t.
“I can’t see behind me.”
“Is it going to
Times Square?”
“Yes.”
They will ask Times
Square and 42nd Street.
Times Square is same
thing. That’s
like Penn Station.
Penn Station and 34th
is the same stop.
Well when you get
to 34th it has 34th
Penn Station. At Times Square it’s
42nd Street – Port Authority
Bus Terminal.
I wouldn’t wanna
change that.
That’s putting it
to the point.
I get tired,
it could be tiring.
After lunch,
we have our
lunch breaks,
depending on the
time frame. My
lunch is 10am. That’s
breakfast.
I can’t wait.
When we get
off we have a 20
or 30 minute break.
Sometimes under-
ground there’ll be
a track fire
or a sick
passenger on the
train. We have
to wait for the
Medical Department.
That’s the day
of the A line.