As with Worth St, 18th St lost out to the platform widening programme at 14th St. As such it was no longer needed and closed in 1948. It was built as one of the stations on the first subway line in NYC, the IRT (Interborough Rapid Transit) line. When it was open it looked like this:

However, it now sadly looks like this. Years of neglect and spray can action have left it a shadow of it's former self. Most of the tilling is still in place though.

The red light across the 4 tracks, each with it's own live rail, lights up the far platform. The platforms here  are only 61m long, which equates to 5 carriage trains. Trains are now double and in some cases triple that in length.

While a train on the track by the far platform lights up the platform on this side. A pile of crap and debris just left on the platform. The transit systems rubbish, that is kept under the carpet of darkness.

This passenger gathering area has three sets of stairs, two are parallel in the foreground, and a third set sits just left of centre in this picture in the background.

For such a stark and basic station, the original architects did put in a few flourishes, such as these in the ceiling, and the coving where the ceiling meets the wall. Although as throughout the station, they are covered in break dust and graffiti tags.

The disused stations are so similar in NYC, that once you've done one, you've pretty much done them all. So it's hard to muster much enthusiasm when writing about them. We dropped back onto the tracks, and headed back to the live station. Another successful foray under our belts. I'd heard from a chap who explores lots of the metro that there was much to see. However I felt that the 6 line seemed to be lacking from what I could see. Mostly just functional and boxy. It wouldn't be until I did Myrtle that I would get to see the sexier bits of this network. Thanks to Fishbrain for usual awareness.