4 Avenue-9 StreetStation
my feelings on this station are complicated, to say the least. the pros: fascinating history, unique intersection of the fourth avenue line and the G service. nice view from the aboveground platform. the cons: a FUCKTON of stairs.
let's start with the pros. this station is fascinating. it, along with smith-ninth streets, is the only station on the original IND system to be aboveground- and aboveground it very much is, running directly over its namesake fourth avenue upon the culver viaduct. they built it that way because of the gowanus canal, a shipping canal allowing the gowanus bay (alongside a bunch of pollutants) to wedge itself deep inside south brooklyn. originally, the plan had been to just bore their tunnels deeper, but apparently the depth was great enough that that would have been Too Expensive, so they built a giant bridge over the damn thing. the upside of this is that it looks kind of cool. the downside, as mentioned earlier, is the fucking stairs. y'see, the R on the fourth avenue line is still a story and a half underground. the F and G are a few stories aboveground. THIS STATION DOES NOT HAVE ELEVATORS OR ESCALATORS. smith-ninth streets, which is much taller, has escalators for most of its height, but they apparently decided retrofitting this station wasn't worth the effort, despite being the only intersection between the G and the R, two important local lines that are the sole transit option for large portions of brooklyn.
(i complain, but i actually understand this decision. the F, which is used far more than the G, intersects with the R only a few stops uptown at jay street-metrotech, which is fully accessible and pretty modern. i'm just bitter.)
anyway. where was i. this station's a pain. they combined the fourth avenue and culver line stations in the fifties, which was apparently before they really gave a shit about transferring from northbound trains to southbound ones. this means that, for any passenger who wants to get on a bay ridge-bound R train from a manhattanbound F train, or vice versa, you have to climb an additional two flights up and two flights down. in the fifties this was apparently considered perfectly reasonable. today, however, it is not, at least for people like me who have to use canes to get just about ever and who can feel their lifespan diminished by every pointless flight of stairs they climb. pretty station, interesting history, unique background, miserable experience. 5/10