In a pre-dawn fog that blanked southern Brooklyn, a transit worker bent over a black metal box and used a "crank handle" to move a switch so a work train could proceed from one track to another.
The transit worker had to turn the five-pound tool in a clockwise position about 20 times, using both hands towards the end to muster the necessary force. About 75 feet away, another worker using the same rudimentary tool maneuvered the far end of the switch into place.
The operation could have played out in the early 20th century, but it took place Monday morning as the MTA was firing up the subway system.
For most riders, the subway seems to have recovered fully from Hurricane Sandy. Behind the scenes, however, the system is badly wounded.
Opening and closing the switch for the work train took 10 minutes. Before Sandy, it would have taken 10 seconds.
"The wheels are rolling, but we still have a lot of work to do," Wynton Habersham, chief electrical officer for the subway system, said.
The lingering effects of Sandy are perhaps most starkly illustrated in the Coney Island yards. The yard essentially is part of a larger complex that also includes the adjacent Culver and Stillwell subway yards. About 1,800 subway cars are stored in open air each night.
About one-third of the cars are coupled together as trains and pull out every morning for commuting rush. The others are there for routine inspections, repairs or major overhauls.
Flooding damaged all of the 196 motorized switches that allow staffers  in control towers to remotely set a course for trains to move in, out and about the yard.
As of Monday, 80 switches were back in automatic service while 116 still needed to be operated by hand.
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