15 St-Prospect Park
15 Street-Prospect Park gets my award of the most unusual IND local station. The express tracks here have taken their own more direct route in a tunnel under Prospect Park (Just like what E,F trains do under Queens Blvd) and are running a bit east of the station. The local tracks make a series of 3 curves (the Express tracks avoid these on the direct route, going under Prospect Park) to stop at this station beneath primarily private property with the northern end of the platform under Prospect Park just east of Prospect Park West. The station has a single island platform for the two tracks that curves a bit within the station. These track walls have a yellow with marron borders trimline and 15THST written in white on black tiles at regular intervals one full tile beneath.
Above the single platform for the station's entire length is a narrower than usual mezzanine over a four track line that has 5 quite dispersed streetstairs up to street level. The majority of the mezzanine is laid out in a configuration with the area within fare control along the eastern side, and a continuous passageway outside of fare control connecting all of the station exits along the western side.
Starting at the southern end of the mezzanine is a streetstair up to Windsor Place. This is across from where Howard Place ends at a T-intersection. Immediately on the mezzanine below this streetstair is a high Entrance/exit turnstile and a high exit only turnstile leading to the start of the main portion of mezzanine with sections spit between within and outside of fare control. A staircase soon leads down towards the southern end of the platform. Next, in between this exit and the next one to 16th Street, is the token booth by two MVMs, across from the station's only bank of regular turnstiles, next to another staircase down to the platform. Next is the exit up to 16th Street this begins in the middle of the mezzanine, across from an exit only high turnstile, this leads to a short intermediate landing above the mezzanine where a passageway curves west before leading out to the northside of 16th Street east of Prospect Park West. On the other side of the staircase to reach this exit is another staircase down to the platform.
The within fare control and outside of fare control portions of the mezzanine are then split into two by some ancillary non-public rooms. At the the northern end of this split section is a streetstair up to the SE corner of Prospect Park Southwest (which becomes 15th Street at the opposite side of the square, there are no exits directly to 15th Street) and Bartel-Pitchard Square. Almost immediately the portion of the mezzanine within fare control ends at a staircase down to the platform leading up to a pair of high entrance/exit turnstiles and a single exit only turnstile. Next, the mezzanine is fully outside of fare control with a streetstair from the eastern side up to the Northside of Prospect Park Southwest. This streetstair is located directly inside Prospect Park Southwest, with the stonework along the streetstair blending into the stonewall of Prospect Park.
Starting across from this streetstair, two staircases lead up from near the northern end of the platform up a small area within fare control in the middle of the mezzanine leading to up to a set with a High Exit turnstile and High Entrance/Exit Turnstile on each side of this small landing area within fare control. At the northern end of the mezzanine the station is fully beneath Prospect Park. The final two exits are accessed via a decently long passageway leads west from the northern end of the mezzanine. This leads first to a streetstair up to near the NE corner of Prospect Park West, just north of Bartel-Pitchard Square set within Prospect Park with the decorative stonework of IND station entrances set within parkland, before the passageway continues to a final conventional streetstair up to the NW corner of Prospect Park West and Bartel-Pitchard Square.
Photos 1-9: June 6, 2007; 10-19: June 5, 2009; 21-35: June 9, 2009;
Station Subway Lines (until 2009)
