RIDING THE Q TRAIN

This is one subway line that I don’t ride that often, if at all.

The Q train is one of the oldest subway lines in the city.

The train used to begin in Queens at Ditmas Boulevard, run through Manhattan , and then go all the way to Brighton Beach in Brooklyn .

It doesn’t leave from Queens anymore.

It still goes to Manhattan and ends in Brooklyn .

It begins at 96th Street and Second Avenue in Manhattan .

The Second Avenue part of the train makes stops at 72nd, 86th, and 96th Streets on Second Avenue .

New Yorkers of a certain age, like myself, remember when the city fathers talked about having the trains run on Second Avenue, but it never happened.

It would have made it easier for those of us who lived in either Brookkyn or Queens to take this train if we worked or went to school on the upper east side, which is what Second Avenue is.

It finally happened a few years ago and the stations are beautiful and very unique .

My own 30 Plus Teams Tour of New York City took me to two of the stations, 86th and 96th Street, which is the last stop.

There’s art everywhere .

If you look above you on two of the stairways are the words , “Excelsior” and “E Pluribus Unum.”

Excelsior is the word you see on the state of New York flag and since 1776, E Pluribus Unum has been the motto of the United States .

It means “Out of many, one”.

Also, in case you don’t know what subway line you’re riding, look on the staircases on

the downtown and uptown sides of the subway.

The sign spells out The Second Avenue Subway.