Entry from September 27, 2004
Never/Rarely (N/R subway lines)
The N/R subway lines are often called the "Never" and the "Rarely" because of infrequent service. The slang has been current since at least 1996.
The "R" line was nicknamed the "Norwegian-American line" in the early 20th century because it serviced Brooklyn's then-expanding Norwegian population.
When the "R" was the "RR," it gave rise to this jocular subway announcement in 1982: “DeKalb Avenue, change here for the ‘B’ as in boy, the ‘D’ as in dog, the ‘N’ and the ‘RR’ as in Nancy and Ronald Reagan.”
Wikipedia: N (New York City Subway service)
The N Broadway Express is a service of the New York City Subway. It is colored yellow on the route sign (either on the front and/or side - depending on equipment used) and on station signs and the NYC Subway map, as it represents a service provided on the BMT Broadway Line through Manhattan.
The N service operates at all times from Ditmars Boulevard in Astoria, Queens, to Stillwell Avenue in Coney Island, Brooklyn via the BMT Astoria Line, Broadway, and the Manhattan Bridge to and from Brooklyn. In Brooklyn, the N operates via Fourth Avenue and the BMT Sea Beach Line.
Wikipedia: R (New York City Subway service)
The R Broadway Local is a service of the New York City Subway. It is colored yellow on the route sign (either on the front and/or side - depending on equipment used) and on station signs and the NYC Subway map, as it represents a service provided on the BMT Broadway Line in Manhattan. Normal service is local from 71st Avenue in Forest Hills, Queens, to 95th Street in Bay Ridge, Brooklyn; during late nights it operates as a shuttle within Brooklyn from 36th Street to 95th Street. The R is one of only two services that have two or more stations with the same name (the other being the B); it serves two 36th Street stations (one in Queens on the IND Queens Boulevard Line and one in Brooklyn on the BMT Fourth Avenue Line). In addition, the R is the longest New York City Subway line without an elevated section, although there is a small opening between 59th Street and Bay Ridge Avenue in Brooklyn when the line passes over a valley containing the L.I.R.R. Bay Ridge tracks.
7 July 1996, New York Times, pg. CY7:
To Ms. Lui, the 45-minute ride in the back of a van packed with fellow Chinese-speaking New Yorkers is far more comfortable than a longer trek on the N or R subway lines - known among some Brooklynites as the Never and the Rarely.
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From: .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) (Robert M. Forstner)
Date: 1996/07/31
Subject: Re: KK Line
Given the erratic (and that seems to be an understatement) behavior of the N and R (or "The Never and the Rarely", as they're known in Brooklyn), controlling the split/merge at Canal would be, ummm, interesting.
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From: .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) (Michael549)
Date: 1996/08/01
Subject: Re: NYC Ferry Services
Even the "Never" and the "Rarely" (the N and R lines) have been known to completely defy all logic and help you to miss the boat.
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Newsgroups: nyc.transit
From: .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) (Noel Crouper)
Date: 10 Aug 2002 11:00:08 -0700
Local: Sat, Aug 10 2002 2:00 pm
Subject: The ABC's of the subway
A - Ad infinitum
B - Brief
C - Corrugated
D - Damn Yankees
E - Entropy
F - Fixed route
G - Goes nowhere
J - Jalopy
L - Lofts
M - eMpty
N - Never
Q - Quick
R - Rarely
S - Several
V - Vilified
W - Whiskers
Z - Zero Useful
Obscure ramblings
11th-Aug-2006 10:28 am
Many of you out there may not have visited New York, or if you have done so, you may not have become intimately familiar with the New York City subway (a system for which sexual intimacy will clearly give you many, many foul diseases). One of the things that we are all quite used to is the nomenclature of the subway lines. We don’t use names for the lines, or even rely on pretty colors. We use numbers and letters. A through Z, 1-9, those are our subway lines.
Undoubtedly, this is a bit boring. I admire the flair of London Transport for having named a subway line “Bakerloo” (from Baker Street to Waterloo Station). It’s silly, but descriptive. Instead, in New York, we adopted the current almost mathematical system a few decades ago. There was an older convention in naming, which is forgotten by all but the most elderly and bitter subway workers. This is why you will sometimes hear useless non-instructive announcements like “Transfer here for the IRT trains.”
The what you say?
Anyway, it can be rather dull to use just the letter for your train (I always seem to live on “letter” lines as opposed to “number” lines). Therefore, city dwellers have adopted names for the lines based on their letter designation, and their performance characteristics.
For example:
N – “The Never Train”
R – “The Rarely Train”
F – “The Forever Train”
G – “The Gross Train”
Those are all lines I have lived on. For the last year I have been living on the L train. The L train has a singularly apt designation:
L – “The HELL Train”
New York (NY) Sun
Leaning Over Tracks Could Become a Thing of the Past
By ANNIE KARNI
Special to the Sun
January 15, 2007
(...)
That date is for the numbered lines; except for on the L, there is no plan to extend the notification signs to the lettered subway lines, whose nicknames — "Forever" for "F," "Never" for "N" and "Rarely" for "R" — indicate that such signs might just encourage riders to surface and walk or take a taxi.
SubChat.com
Re: Nicknames Of The Subway Lines
Posted by Nilet on Thu May 17 15:51:01 2007, in response to Re: Nicknames Of The Subway Lines, posted by Steve B-8AVEXP on Thu May 17 15:49:36 2007.
(L)ate
(N)ever
(R)arely
(D)elayed
And I always like to go with:
(M)eh
The "R" line was nicknamed the "Norwegian-American line" in the early 20th century because it serviced Brooklyn's then-expanding Norwegian population.
When the "R" was the "RR," it gave rise to this jocular subway announcement in 1982: “DeKalb Avenue, change here for the ‘B’ as in boy, the ‘D’ as in dog, the ‘N’ and the ‘RR’ as in Nancy and Ronald Reagan.”
Wikipedia: N (New York City Subway service)
The N Broadway Express is a service of the New York City Subway. It is colored yellow on the route sign (either on the front and/or side - depending on equipment used) and on station signs and the NYC Subway map, as it represents a service provided on the BMT Broadway Line through Manhattan.
The N service operates at all times from Ditmars Boulevard in Astoria, Queens, to Stillwell Avenue in Coney Island, Brooklyn via the BMT Astoria Line, Broadway, and the Manhattan Bridge to and from Brooklyn. In Brooklyn, the N operates via Fourth Avenue and the BMT Sea Beach Line.
Wikipedia: R (New York City Subway service)
The R Broadway Local is a service of the New York City Subway. It is colored yellow on the route sign (either on the front and/or side - depending on equipment used) and on station signs and the NYC Subway map, as it represents a service provided on the BMT Broadway Line in Manhattan. Normal service is local from 71st Avenue in Forest Hills, Queens, to 95th Street in Bay Ridge, Brooklyn; during late nights it operates as a shuttle within Brooklyn from 36th Street to 95th Street. The R is one of only two services that have two or more stations with the same name (the other being the B); it serves two 36th Street stations (one in Queens on the IND Queens Boulevard Line and one in Brooklyn on the BMT Fourth Avenue Line). In addition, the R is the longest New York City Subway line without an elevated section, although there is a small opening between 59th Street and Bay Ridge Avenue in Brooklyn when the line passes over a valley containing the L.I.R.R. Bay Ridge tracks.
7 July 1996, New York Times, pg. CY7:
To Ms. Lui, the 45-minute ride in the back of a van packed with fellow Chinese-speaking New Yorkers is far more comfortable than a longer trek on the N or R subway lines - known among some Brooklynites as the Never and the Rarely.
Google Groups: nyc.transit
Newsgroups: nyc.transit
From: .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) (Robert M. Forstner)
Date: 1996/07/31
Subject: Re: KK Line
Given the erratic (and that seems to be an understatement) behavior of the N and R (or "The Never and the Rarely", as they're known in Brooklyn), controlling the split/merge at Canal would be, ummm, interesting.
Google Groups: nyc.transit
Newsgroups: nyc.transit
From: .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) (Michael549)
Date: 1996/08/01
Subject: Re: NYC Ferry Services
Even the "Never" and the "Rarely" (the N and R lines) have been known to completely defy all logic and help you to miss the boat.
Google Groups: nyc.transit
Newsgroups: nyc.transit
From: .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) (Noel Crouper)
Date: 10 Aug 2002 11:00:08 -0700
Local: Sat, Aug 10 2002 2:00 pm
Subject: The ABC's of the subway
A - Ad infinitum
B - Brief
C - Corrugated
D - Damn Yankees
E - Entropy
F - Fixed route
G - Goes nowhere
J - Jalopy
L - Lofts
M - eMpty
N - Never
Q - Quick
R - Rarely
S - Several
V - Vilified
W - Whiskers
Z - Zero Useful
Obscure ramblings
11th-Aug-2006 10:28 am
Many of you out there may not have visited New York, or if you have done so, you may not have become intimately familiar with the New York City subway (a system for which sexual intimacy will clearly give you many, many foul diseases). One of the things that we are all quite used to is the nomenclature of the subway lines. We don’t use names for the lines, or even rely on pretty colors. We use numbers and letters. A through Z, 1-9, those are our subway lines.
Undoubtedly, this is a bit boring. I admire the flair of London Transport for having named a subway line “Bakerloo” (from Baker Street to Waterloo Station). It’s silly, but descriptive. Instead, in New York, we adopted the current almost mathematical system a few decades ago. There was an older convention in naming, which is forgotten by all but the most elderly and bitter subway workers. This is why you will sometimes hear useless non-instructive announcements like “Transfer here for the IRT trains.”
The what you say?
Anyway, it can be rather dull to use just the letter for your train (I always seem to live on “letter” lines as opposed to “number” lines). Therefore, city dwellers have adopted names for the lines based on their letter designation, and their performance characteristics.
For example:
N – “The Never Train”
R – “The Rarely Train”
F – “The Forever Train”
G – “The Gross Train”
Those are all lines I have lived on. For the last year I have been living on the L train. The L train has a singularly apt designation:
L – “The HELL Train”
New York (NY) Sun
Leaning Over Tracks Could Become a Thing of the Past
By ANNIE KARNI
Special to the Sun
January 15, 2007
(...)
That date is for the numbered lines; except for on the L, there is no plan to extend the notification signs to the lettered subway lines, whose nicknames — "Forever" for "F," "Never" for "N" and "Rarely" for "R" — indicate that such signs might just encourage riders to surface and walk or take a taxi.
SubChat.com
Re: Nicknames Of The Subway Lines
Posted by Nilet on Thu May 17 15:51:01 2007, in response to Re: Nicknames Of The Subway Lines, posted by Steve B-8AVEXP on Thu May 17 15:49:36 2007.
(L)ate
(N)ever
(R)arely
(D)elayed
And I always like to go with:
(M)eh
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