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1930s subway train makes rare uptown trip in NYC
Following on from the New York Transit Authority's tie-up with HBO in 2011, when an original 1920s subway car was taken out of mothballs to mark the beginning of Boardwalk Empire's second season, a vintage New York underground train has once again made an appearance on one of the city's lines.
This time the eight carriages were of a slightly later 1930s vintage, but are no less æsthetically pleasing to look at! What is more, it sounds as though their return to the tracks was something of a surprise treat - particularly for the commuters - as the New York TA took the opportunity to celebrate the reopening of a section of line previously damaged by Hurricane Sandy last year. Quite a way to mark the occasion, I think you'll agree. Well done to the Transit Authority for coming up with such a wizard idea, for anyone who just happened to be on that line at the time to enjoy. Wouldn't it be something if London Underground ran some of its old '30s stock around the City once in a while, just for the fun of it? (I know the London Transport Museum runs the occasional excursion on various suburban lines' extremities, of course - in fact there's one coming up next month - but it would be splendid to see some 1930s Art Deco on, say, the Circle or Metropolitan lines.)
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Still it sounds like those New Yorkers lucky enough to experience public transport 1930s-style enjoyed the opportunity, even if some of them seemed a little nonplussed(!). It's sometimes easy to forget that where we would experience a thrill at seeing an 80-year old train pulling into our local station, there are people out there for whom the whole thing would just be very odd. I know - what's wrong with 'em, eh? It's nice to see that it brought back happy memories for some folk as well, though - all the more reason to do it again!
Let's hope that it doesn't take another natural disaster (or period TV show) to encourage the New York Transit Authority to wheel out some of their classic carriages again. In the meantime it's great to see these old cars given their head on a newly-restored line.
That would definitely enliven the commute to work! What I'm particularly fascinated by is the fact that there are fans on the roof! Never thought of how they dealt with the heat of the underground prior to air-con!
ReplyDeleteI love it! The Glasgow Transport Museum had old trams in it, what amazing things they were, stained glass windows, the lot. Marvellous museum, well it was until the new and ghastly building it was shifted to, sigh, yet another c**k up in the name of progress and improvement, was emphatically not impressed by it.
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