Every Sunday during the holidays, ride a vintage 1930s subway around NYC
Photo by Marc Hermann, Courtesy of the New York Transit Museum
Every Sunday between Thanksgiving and New Year’s, the New York Transit Museum will run its Holiday Nostalgia Rides, departing from the 2nd Avenue F train station. The 1930s R1-9 train cars have a “Depression-Era Art Deco aesthetic,” complete with “rattan seats, paddle ceiling fans, incandescent light bulbs, roll signs, and period advertisements,” the announcement tells us.
The NY Transit Museum has been hosting its iconic Nostalgia Rides since opening in 1976. Other events for which they operate them include summer trips to Coney Island and special Yankees games. At the museum itself, visitors can step aboard seven different vintage subways (20 cars in total) in an actual decommissioned 1936 subway station.
The R1-9 train cars first ran along the Independent Subway System (IND), the Eighth Avenue line that was the first subway company run by the city, when it opened in 1932 and continued to run on lettered lines through 1977. According to the Transit Museum, it was these cars that inspired Billy Strayhorn’s “Take the A Train.”
Here is the full schedule of the Holiday Nostalgia Rides:
- December 1, 8, 15, 22, and 29, departing from 2nd Avenue on the uptown F line at: 10am, 12pm, 2pm, 4pm
- December 1 and 8, departing 125th Street on the downtown A line at: 11am, 1pm, 3pm, 5pm
- December 15, 22, and 29, departing 145th Street on the downtown D line at: 11am, 1pm, 3pm, 5pm
On Sundays, December 1 and 8, the uptown stops departing from the 2nd Avenue F station are:
- 2nd Avenue (F)
- Broadway-Lafayette Street (D/F/M)
- West 4th Street – Washington Square (F/M, A/C/E)
- 14th Street (A/C/E)
- 23rd Street (C/E)
- 34th Street – Penn Station (A/C/E)
- 42nd Street – Port Authority (A/C/E)
- 50th Street (C/E)
- 59th Street – Columbus Circle (A/C/D)
- 125th Street (A/C/D)
The downtown stops are:
- 125th Street (A/C/D)
- 59th Street – Columbus Circle (A/C/D)
- 7th Avenue (D/E)
- 47th – 50th Streets – Rockefeller Center (D/F/M)
- 42nd Street – Bryant Park (D/F/M)
- 34th Street – Herald Square (D/F/M)
- West 4th Street – Washington Square (D/F/M, A/C/E)
- Broadway-Lafayette Street (D/F/M)
- 2nd Avenue (F)
On Sundays, December 15, 22, and 29, the uptown stops are:
- 2nd Avenue (F)
- Broadway-Lafayette Street (D/F/M)
- West 4th Street – Washington Square (D/F/M, A/C/E)
- 34th Street – Herald Square (D/F/M)
- 42nd Street – Bryant Park (D/F/M)
- 47th – 50th Streets – Rockefeller Center (D/F/M)
- 59th Street – Columbus Circle (A/C/D)
- 125th Street (A/C/D)
- 145th Street (A/C/D)
The downtown stops are:
- 145th Street (A/C/D)
- 125th Street (A/C/D)
- 59th Street – Columbus Circle (A/C/D)
- 7th Avenue (D/E)
- 47th – 50th Streets – Rockefeller Center (B/D)
- 42nd Street – Bryant Park (D/F/M)
- 34th Street – Herald Square (D/F)
- West 4th Street – Washington Square (A/C/E, D/F)
- Broadway-Lafayette Street (D/F/M)
- 2nd Avenue (F)
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