Ten Question Quiz: Commuter Rails

Long Island Rail Road commuters pack a platform at the Hunterspoint Ave. station in Queens.
( Mark Lennihan / Associated Press )

Summary Transcript

[music]

Brian Lehrer: It's The Brian Lehrer Show on WNYC. Good morning again, everyone. Now it's another Brian Lehrer Show 10-question quiz, which we're doing one of every day during the drive to, hey, have a little fun while we're trying to raise money for the station. Call in and answer two questions in a row and you'll win a Brian Lehrer Show baseball cap. Yesterday, we had a New York City subways quiz, so today we turn to the rest of mass transit on the rails in our area, the commuter rails like Metro-North, New Jersey Transit, and the Long Island Rail Road, and some others that it may help you to know for this quiz. Who wants to play? You can get in line now at 212-433-WNYC, 212-433-9692, and we will start in Long Island Rail Road territory with Bob in Baldwin. Bob, you're on WNYC. Hi there.

Bob: Good morning. Thanks for taking my call.

Brian Lehrer: It used to be, question number one, that you couldn't transfer between the Long Island Rail Road and Metro-North. As of last year, they do now share one station. What is it?

Bob: Grand Central.

Brian Lehrer: Grand Central is right. That was just to see if you were awake. Number two, but this is from a Metro-North standpoint. If I'm stopping at Yonkers, Dobbs Ferry, Hastings, Irvington, and Tarrytown, what Metro-North line am I on?

Bob: Albany.

Brian Lehrer: Sorry, that's not right. The answer was the Hudson Line. We're going to go next to Erin in Nanuet in Rockland County. I don't know if you would have known that Hudson Line question, Erin, because it runs on the other side of the river. However--

Erin: Yes, I do know that one.

Brian Lehrer: Question number three, if I want to take New Jersey Transit from the biggest city in New York to the biggest city in New Jersey, the station on each end has the same name. What is the name of those stations?

Erin: Penn Station.

Brian Lehrer: Penn Station is right. Penn Station in New York, of course, and Newark Penn Station. There you go. There is only one MTA Train Line whose place name is not in New York State at all. Question five. It starts at Grand Central, like the other Metro-North lines, the Hudson and the Harlem Lines, but the name of the line is a place in another state. What's the name of this line or the state that it goes to?

Erin: Connecticut?

Brian Lehrer: Connecticut--

Erin: The Hudson Line.

Brian Lehrer: It's the New Haven Line, but the name of the state was part of the question. That was one of the options of how you could answer, so congratulations, Erin. We will send you a WNYC, a Brian Lehrer Show baseball cap. We'll take your address off the air in order to do that. There you go. All right, how about Jackie in Stoney Point? Hi, Jackie, ready to play?

Jackie: I'm ready, thank you. Hi, Brian.

Brian Lehrer: All right, question number five. If I'm on the Long Island Rail Road's Port Washington branch, stopping at Bayside, Douglaston, Little Neck, Greatneck, Manhasset, Plandome, and Port Washington, whose congressional district am I in?

Jackie: Oh, gosh. Okay, I fooled you with Stoney Point because Stoney Point's in Rockland County, so I should know that in Long Island too, as a citizen, but I just don't.

Brian Lehrer: It's been in the news a lot. That's a clue.

Jackie: [laughs] Oh, what's his name? Oh, gosh. Okay, I'm not going to give you the name.

Brian Lehrer: Sorry. Thanks for trying. All right, let's see. How about Chuck in the Bronx? Chuck, you're on WNYC. You ready to play?

Chuck: Yes.

Brian Lehrer: Okay, question number six. There's a whole other train system besides New Jersey Transit that can get you from Jersey to Manhattan ending at the World Trade Center or 33rd Street. What's the name of this rail line?

Chuck: It's called the PATH, the Port Authority Train Line.

Brian Lehrer: Wow. You know what? You got the bonus question that I was going to ask second. So guess what? Play the trumpets because you've immediately won yourself a Brian Lehrer Show baseball cap. Because after PATH Train, I was going to ask you a bonus question credit for getting it right because I thought it was really hard. No penalty for getting it wrong, and that is, what does PATH stand for? Yes, Port Authority Trans-Hudson. Chuck, hang on, we're going to take your address and send you a Brian Lehrer Show baseball cap. All right, Drew in Pawling, New York. Drew, you're on WNYC. Ready to play?

Drew: I think so.

Brian Lehrer: All right, we have a listener's choice here. Would you rather have a Metro-North question or a Long Island Rail Road question?

Drew: I'm on Metro-North and I grew up on Long Island Rail Road, but I'll try Metro-North.

Brian Lehrer: Okay, so in that case, question number seven. If I'm going to the Caramoor Music Festival, that outdoor music venue in Westchester, what's my Metro-North stop? You're actually not that far from it in Pawling.

Drew: I can't think of what it might be.

Brian Lehrer: All right. Sorry about that. The answer was Katonah. That's where Caramoor is. Great outdoor music venue, folks. For people who've never been there, I've been there. Check out Caramoor sometime. Mike in Prospect Heights, ready to play?

Mike: Hey, Brian. Yes, let's go.

Brian Lehrer: Okay, you get the Long Island Rail Road question that the previous caller deflected on. If I take the Long Island Railroad Babylon Branch to Bayshore, Sayville, or Patchogue, I can catch a popular ferry to where?

Mike: Oh, gosh. I'm going to say Fire Island.

Brian Lehrer: Fire Island is right. Absolutely right. That's one right. By the way, a couple of callers have pointed out that I never gave the answer, Tom Suozzi, to the earlier question about whose congressional district you'd be in on the Port Washington Line of the LIRR. Yes, I said that congressman who's been in the news as a clue, but the caller didn't get it and I never gave the actual answer, which is Congressman Tom Suozzi.

You got to know a little bit of Jersey here to get question number nine right and win a baseball cap. Can you name any two of the top 10 busiest New Jersey transit stations other than Newark Penn Station and New York Penn Station? Those are number numbers one and two. What are any two of the rest of the top 10 busiest, most passengers NJ transit stations?

Mike: I think Secaucus is going to be one.

Brian Lehrer: That is one. That's the next biggest, in fact.

Mike: Let's see, the first one paid off because I'm from Long Island, this is outside of my depth. Could you repeat the first two that you mentioned?

Brian Lehrer: Well, New York Penn Station and Newark Penn Station are the busiest two, and then Secaucus is the third busiest. You got that one right. You just need one more of the remaining from the top 10. You definitely could think about places where a lot of people might be heading to campus as one little clue, or a lot of people might be heading to go far away.

Mike: [laughs] How about, oh, gosh, Princeton?

Brian Lehrer: Princeton is right. Technically, the station is Princeton Junction, but yes, you got two in a row. Mike, hang on and we're going to take your address and send you a Brian Lehrer Show baseball cap. Mac in Manhattan, ready to play?

Mac: Brian, I'm on deck and about to swing the bat. It's almost baseball season. I take the 7 Train.

Brian Lehrer: There you go. Yesterday, we had a 7 Train question, but today, it's been mostly what we would generally consider the commuter rails, but there is one part of our region that we couldn't have a question about yesterday in our subway quiz because it didn't qualify and it is also not in any of the commuter rail counties. It's not on Long Island, it's not upstate, it's not in Jersey, but it does have its own railway that helps you get close to Manhattan if you take it all the way north. This is the final question, question number 10 in the quiz, so if you get this one right, you who mentioned baseball will get a baseball cap, but where am I?

Mac: If you take it all the way north and it's not a Robert Moses-era bedside community, you were saying, that's not where the emanates from.

Brian Lehrer: I'm just saying it's not on a subway line. It's not on Metro-North, it's not on NJ Transit. It's not on the Long Island Railroad, not on the PATH line, but it does have its own railway that helps you get close to Manhattan if you take it all the way north. Where am I?

Mac: I'm going to guess the seldomly talked about fifth borough of Staten Island, that Staten Island MTA line that will get you to the St. George terminal, and then from the St. George terminal, on the ferry to the bedrock of Manhattan.

Brian Lehrer: That is absolutely right. The much maligned, much ignored Staten Island. We found a way to get it into our two days of rail line quizzes. It is called the Staten Island Railway, which goes from Tottenville in the south up to St. George, as you said, in the north. Way to go, Mac. Hang on. We're going to take your address and send you a Brian Lehrer Show baseball cap, and that is today's 10-question membership drive quiz. We'll have another one tomorrow.

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