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Recently, a popular blog known as Strangemaps posted an article about our 2008 Rochester Subway map called “Pipe Dreams, or the Rochester Ghost Subway” .

The Subway map was submitted to Strangemaps by a fellow named Duane Thomas Fields. Turns out he was doing some research on Rochester (he’s going to school here in the Fall) and he stumbled upon our site. Thanks Duane!

I have to say I thought the title was kind of pessimistic. I mean ‘Ghost Subway’ sure, but ‘Pipe Dreams’? Where would Rochester be if George Eastman hadn’t dreamt of making cameras stupid-proof… Or if Nick Tahou didn’t fantasize about sloppy food combinations? But I concede, our subway map is a tiny bit strange and we’re just excited that it’s receiving some national attention.

Aside from the title, the article was a good one—I even learned a few things about Rochester from reading it. For instance, did you know that Rochester is the second largest economy in New York State after New York City? I always assumed Buffalo held that distinction. Or that the term “Smugtown” was coined for the city of Rochester by the novel of the same name, Smugtown USA ?

So anyway, I just wanted to share this Strange news with you before I forgot and it was too late. Don’t forget to check out the comments at the end of the article. Here are a few of the more interesting ones…

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“Why a pipe dream? Sooner or later, car driving will be too expensive – and there you have it! Apparently, city center living also grows more and more popular, which is another bonus for a metro railway.”
– Comment by Jan Wiklund

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“Oh my, I didn’t expect to see my hometown on this fine blog! I’ve walked through the empty subway tunnel a number of times. It’s very very very dark. and not just a little bit scary. 🙂 This is some interest in turning the broad street bridge aquaduct area into a museum of graffiti and ‘tag art.’ That plan too has yet to gain any momentum. By and large, there is a lot of talk about what to do with the subway, but almost no action at all.”
– Comment by Scott

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“I’m intrigued so see that, with four subway lines on the map, none of them seem to connect with the rail station. Integrated transport?”
– Comment by Ken

Tags: article, blog, Buffalo, George Eastman, history of Rochester, New York, Nick Tahou, NY, or the Rochester Ghost Subway, Pipe Dreams, Rochester history, Rochester Subway map, Smugtown USA, Strangemaps

This entry was posted on Tuesday, August 11th, 2009 at 7:21 pm and is filed under Rochester Gifts, Rochester History, Rochester Subway, Transit + Infrastructure. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.