63rd Drive–Rego Park station

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The **63rd Drive–Rego Park station** is a local station on the IND Queens Boulevard Line of the New York City Subway, consisting of four tracks. Located at 63rd Drive and Queens Boulevard in the Rego Park neighborhood of Queens, it is served by the M train on weekdays, the R train at all times except nights, and the E train at night.

## History

The Queens Boulevard Line was one of the first lines built by the city-owned Independent Subway System (IND), and stretches between the IND Eighth Avenue Line in Manhattan and 179th Street and Hillside Avenue in Jamaica, Queens. The Queens Boulevard Line was in part financed by a Public Works Administration (PWA) loan and grant of $25 million. On December 31, 1936, the IND Queens Boulevard Line was extended by eight stops, and Template:Convert, from its previous terminus at Roosevelt Avenue to Union Turnpike, and the 63rd Drive station opened as part of this extension.

## Station layout

Template:NYCS Platform Layout IND Queens Boulevard Line/local

 File:IND Queens Boulevard 63rd Drive Mosaic.jpg
Both platforms have a Medium Powder blue trim line with a black border and mosaic name tablets reading "63RD DRIVE" in white sans-serif lettering on a black background and matching blue border. A few of these tablets have modern metal signs above them reading "Rego Park". Small tile captions reading "63RD DRIVE" in white lettering on black run below the trim line, and directional signs in the same style are present below some of the name tablets. Dark slate blue I-beam columns run along both platforms at regular intervals, alternating ones having the standard black station name plate with white lettering.

This station has an upper level mezzanine that is about 1/3rd the length of the platforms. The mezzanine is split into three sections by a wall on the southbound side and a chain link fence on the northbound side. Numerous staircases from each platform go up to their respective outer section of the mezzanine. A small turnstile bank on the southbound side and exit-only turnstiles on the northbound side lead to the main fare control area.

### Exits

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Towards the northwest end of the mezzanine, a single extra-wide staircase from each platform goes up to a crossover, where a turnstile bank leads to the main fare control area. There is a token booth and two street stairs, one to the northwest corner of 63rd Drive and Queens Boulevard and the other to the south side of Queens Boulevard near this intersection.

On the southeast side of the mezzanine, high entry-exit turnstiles from either outer section lead to an un-staffed fare control area, where one street stair goes up to the northwest corner of 64th Avenue and Queens Boulevard while the other goes up to the south side of Queens Boulevard near the intersection with 64th Road. The mezzanine has mosaic directional signs in white lettering on a teal border. The center section connects the two fare control areas, but provides no crossover.

On the extreme northwest (railroad south) end of the platforms, high turnstiles lead to a single staircase that goes up to either western corners of 63rd Road and Queens Boulevard, the northwest one for the Manhattan-bound platform and the southwest one for the Forest Hills-bound platform. Prior to 2010, these entry points were exit-only. They were made entrances to accommodate traffic from the expansion of Rego Center.

## Unfinished Rockaway spur

East of this station, there is an unfinished signal tower on the Jamaica-bound (railroad north) platform and a bellmouth that diverges to the south from the local track. Another tunnel from the Manhattan-bound local track diverges north, then curves south under the Queens Boulevard Line to join the other bellmouth. These were provisions for a planned expansion in the 1930s that would have connected with the IND Rockaway Line (formerly a Long Island Rail Road branch) towards Howard Beach, JFK Airport, and the Rockaways. This spur would have run down 66th Avenue before joining the Rockaway Line at its former junction with the LIRR Main Line. In January 2013, a petition was started on change.org to make use of the bellmouths to connect the station to the currently unused portion of the Rockaway Line.

## External links

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* Template:NYCS ref
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* Station Reporter — R Train
* Station Reporter — M Train
* Forgotten NY: Subways and Trains — Rockaway Branch
* Forgotten NY: Subways and Trains — Subway Signs to Nowhere
* The Subway Nut - 63rd Drive–Rego Park Pictures Template:Webarchive
* 63rd Road exit only stair from Google Maps Street View
* 63rd Drive entrance from Google Maps Street View
* 64th Road entrance from Google Maps Street View
* Platforms from Google Maps Street View

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1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 OUR GREAT SUBWAY NETWORK SPREADS WIDER; New Plans of Board of Transportation Involve the Building of More Than One Hundred Miles of Additional Rapid Transit Routes for New York. *The New York Times* (September 22, 1929).
2. ↑ QUEENS SUBWAY WORK AHEAD OF SCHEDULE: Completion Will Lead to Big Apartrnent Building, Says William C. Speers.. *The New York Times* (April 7, 1929).
3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 Queens Lauded as Best Boro By Chamber Chief. Brooklyn Daily Eagle (September 23, 1929).
4. ↑ Template:Cite news
5. ↑ Template:Cite news
6. ↑ Template:Cite news
7. ↑ Reproduction Poster of Extension to Union Turnpike – Kew Gardens.
8. ↑ Template:Cite book
9. ↑ PWA Party Views New Subway Link: Queens Section to Be Opened Tomorrow Is Inspected by Tuttle and Others. *The New York Times* (December 30, 1936).
10. ↑ Template:Cite news
11. ↑ Template:Cite news
12. ↑ 12.0 12.1 12.2 MTA Neighborhood Maps: Forest Hills. Metropolitan Transportation Authority (2015).
13. ↑ Template:Google maps
14. ↑ Tomb Ov The Unknown Tunnel.
15. ↑ The Express Stop That Never Was. LTV Squad (June 2, 2015).
16. ↑ 3 Routes Proposed to Aid Growing Queens Areas. *The New York Times* (April 13, 1967).
17. ↑ 17.0 17.1 City Plans to Buy New Subway Link: Would Take Over Rockaway Branch of Long Island to Connect With Queens. *The New York Times* (December 23, 1933).
18. ↑ Template:Cite news
19. ↑ Template:Cite news
20. ↑ Capt. Subway (January 21, 2013). Guest Post: How sending the R train to Howard Beach can help the G go to Forest Hills. Cap'n Transit Rides Again Blog.