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32 Hours Stranded on the Subway: One Survivor's Story
By
John Del Signore
Published Dec 28, 2010
Modified Dec 28, 2010
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By
John Del Signore
Published Dec 28, 2010
Modified Dec 28, 2010
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Think those people trapped on the A train for seven hours at Aqueduct had it bad? Actress Madalyn McKay has them beat with her subway blizzard horror story. She just got back to her Borough Park home this morning...34 hours after leaving a party on the Upper West Side Sunday night. 32 of those hours were spent languishing on a stranded subway train at the ground-level Bay Parkway N station.
McKay tells us her eventful journey home began around 8:30 p.m. Sunday night, and was going just fine until her D train switched over to the N line at 36th Street in Brooklyn, because of a signal problem. Around 9:15, the train ground to a halt before the Bay Parkway Station, and passengers heard the old familiar ruse, "We will be moving shortly."
A half hour passed, and they were informed that a stalled train at Bay Parkway was being removed, and once that happened, they would proceed. But "proceed" is a vague term, and the plan changed again: There was yet another train between McKay's train and the stalled train; this train would move up enough so that the first car reached platform, and then McKay's train would pull up behind it, enabling passengers to walk into the second train and exit to the platform. They could then "proceed" on foot... into the blizzard.
The MTA motorman and conductor urged passengers to stay on the train because of the inclement weather, but those who were near their destinations departed on foot, leaving about 30-40 souls behind. (A homeless woman remained on McKay's original train because she couldn't get her cart through the doors between cars.) Fortunately, there was heat on the train and a bathroom in the station for the stranded commuters. And, in an attempt to keep spirits bright, there was singing and comedy! McKay tells us:
I have to say MTA motorman and conductor were fantastic through this whole ordeal. I couldn't leave because I was so far off course and the snow was so heavy; I couldn't go anywhere. I had never been in that neighborhood before, so I had no idea where to go. But the conductor and the motorman were both singers—and so am I—so we sang some songs together. We all sang Chestnuts Roasting on Open Fire, and the motorman sang Ave Maria, and a bunch of songs I didn't know. A friend had asked people to send me jokes over Twitter, so before my phone died I was telling jokes.
There was a deli close by where we could get coffee and junk food. And so around 2 a.m. we all hunkered down for the night. There was heat on the train but the heat doesn't stay stay trapped very well, because, according to the conductor, that model of train doesn't have good insulation. The next day (Monday) came. The conductor and motorman still urged us not to leave unless we knew where we were going. But the MTA never gave us any information and we had no idea if or when anyone would come to fix the train. The MTA wasn't even telling the MTA employees on the train. We didn't know if buses were running or anything.
Around one or two in the afternoon a sweet young woman named Victoria, dressed like a snowboarder, came to the train to take photos of the snowed-in train and was shocked to find people inside. She knew the neighborhood very well and gave everyone directions if their destination was within a mile or two. But some of us, like me, lived in the opposite direction. A lot of the people left at this point, and then there were about 6 or 8 of us.
So then we all just entertained ourselves. One couple had their cat with them, so I got to know them. The motorman and the conductor told us stories about working for the MTA, and we got into singing again. They had been there for a good 24 hours on duty, and so finally a relief crew came for them. This was another great group of guys! I had tried to leave a couple of times—not because I didn't like the company—but because I have a cat and a job. So I kept making trips to the bodega and they tried to find a car service, but car services weren't even functioning yesterday. There were no buses, no cars, no taxis, nothing! And so I kept going back to the train. I was really cold last night—I was still dressed from the party. So I tried again at 5 a.m. this morning and finally found a car service who, for $40, could take me about two or three blocks from my home, until he got stuck in the snow.
When I left this morning there are still people on the train—the couple with the cat, a lady with diabetes who didn't have her insulin, and a couple of other people who kept to themselves, and the homeless woman whom we never saw because she would never leave that rear train because she couldn't get her cart through the doors. I don't know what became of them.
For all we know, they're still there! Repeated calls and e-mail inquires to the MTA press office have not been returned, but we'll update if we get any news about the remaining survivors on the D train from hell. Meanwhile, the MTA is promising to investigate why those passengers were stuck on the A train for six hours.
Tagged
bay parkway
blizzageddon
blizzard 2010
snowmygod
subway
John Del Signore
Originally from the Albany area, John Del Signore has called NYC home since 1995. In addition to his thousands of meticulously-crafted bespoke blog posts for Gothamist, his writing has also been published in The Awl, Deadspin, The Nervous Breakdown, and performed at The Brick Theater in Brooklyn.
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Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
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