From: grammatim@verizon.net   
      
   This evening I went to a concert at St. Bartholomew's (51st & Park).   
   Ordinarily I'd take the uptown E train from PABT (42nd & Eighth) to   
   Lexington/53, but the E is elsewhere this weekend.   
      
   The MTA's Trip Advisor said to take the uptown A to 59th, the downtown   
   D to 47-50, and the uptown F to Lexington-53 (the F was covering the E's   
   route as far as the 53rd St. tunnel was concerned). The Weekender also   
   gave the impression that there was no downtown A or C below 59th, either.   
      
   However, when I got to the subway, a southbound A was just arriving, and   
   I was able to get on it and change at West 4th for an uptown F, which   
   did indeed turn onto 53rd instead of continuing north to the 63rd St.   
   tunnel and Roosevelt Island.   
      
   How, you may ask, would someone get to Roosevelt Island? I learned this   
   not from the Weekender, but from the posters at the Sixth Avenue platform   
   at West 4th: The E train was using the 63rd St. tunnel -- only as far as   
   63rd & Lexington! So I suppose you'd take the Q to there, or maybe use   
   your "walking transfer" from 59th on the Lex.   
      
   But then, returning at 9:30 (the concert was scheduled from 7 to 9 --   
   it only went a half hour over), the F train startled me by announcing   
   that the next stop after Fifth Ave. would be not 47-50, but Seventh   
   Ave.! And indeed it "followed the E line" and got me to the bus terminal   
   in time for a much earlier bus than I had expected. I wonder if that   
   was possible because C service may have ended early, or maybe there   
   are few enough A, C, and F trains on a Saturday evening that all three   
   lines can use the same track?   
      
   (For, heading south on the A train at about 5:30, there were work trains   
   parked on the local track in both 34th and 14th St. stations, and well-   
   illuminated work on the local track was visible as we passed by, south   
   of 23rd.)   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)