Exploring NYC's Abandoned Underground, From Grand Central To Bushwick Sewers

In it's 100+ year history, New York's subway system has accumulated over 800 miles of track, but it didn't become the massive network that we know today without some hiccups, balks and bad ideas.

Last month, WNYC dug into the history of the city's many underground tunnels, highlighting its eerie abandoned stations and unfinished lines. Stream the story below and check out their cool interactive map of the Big Apple's lost subway lines and empty platforms, from an unrealized underwater route from Brooklyn to Staten Island and a secret station under Grand Central Terminal that is said to have been used by FDR.

"The MTA doesn't want people exploring the abandoned or lost station stops," WNYC says, but that hasn't stopped intrepid souls like urban explorer Steven Duncan and filmmaker Andrew Wonder. We loved their film Undercity, and more recently they've been exploring other subterranean spaces in a video series for Gothamist and MyBlockNYC. Check out their trip into the Knickerbocker sewer extension, which was built in the late 19th century to carry wastewater from Bushwick's thriving breweries to the East River (and even made the cover of Scientific American):

We'll leave you with a requisite disclaimer: don't try this at home.

-- John Ruscher