Page 9 - Allisons Magazine Issue #95

This vintage series of sixty-foot-long
subway cars was designed in 1932 and
named for the contract it was ordered
under, Revenue Contract 1. Each car
contained sixty seats in a combination
of crosswise and lengthwise seating
and had room for 280 passengers. The
R-1’s trademark green, riveted shell is © Shaelyn Amaio
characteristic of the industrial look of
the Depression. The R-1 cars also have
four sets of double doors on each side,
and safety devices were installed so doors
could not be held open by passengers.

The New York Transit Museum Though these
facilitates other Nostalgia Train rides trains are still
throughout the year on the vintage a surprise to
subway cars, picking up passengers from many subway
somewhere in the system and taking riders, their
them to designated places like Coney popularity has
choo Island or to the Transit Museum itself. grown over the
The museum was founded in 1976
choo as part of the country’s bicentennial years. The vintage

celebration. It was a time of transition
holiday rides
in the city, and transit employees saw are especially
ch’ boogie an opportunity to remind New Yorkers beloved by the
of the wonder of the subway. They
written by shelley goldstein resurrected vintage trains and brought © Voon Chew vintage clothing
photography as noted aficionados, jazz
them into the Court Street Station,
which had been decommissioned musicians and
© Marc Hermann
and served as an ideal venue for the enthusiasts, and
museum. The exhibit was only meant to swing dancers.
be temporary, and yet it still stands over
ICE-SKATING BENEATH THE TREE into operation. Dubbed the Holiday all trains fit on all the tracks, so forty years later.
at Rockefeller Center. Catching the Nostalgia Train, this throwback event we work with transit and go with
Rockettes’ Christmas Spectacular. Self- began in 2004 to coincide with the their recommendations.” Part of the Though these trains are still a surprise
guided store window tours of Tiffany’s subway’s centennial. preservation of these cars involves to many subway riders, their popularity
and Saks Fifth Avenue. These are holiday keeping them moving, letting the oil has grown over the years. The vintage
traditions that have lasted through The trains are in regular service, only seep into all the right places, and passing holiday rides are especially beloved
generations of New York City natives requiring one swipe of a MetroCard electricity through the circuits. Subway by the vintage clothing aficionados,
and tourists alike. A perhaps lesser- or $2.75. The route and schedule are trains are machines, after all, and jazz musicians and enthusiasts, and
known tradition takes place underneath announced each fall, and they may perform best when they are running. If swing dancers. So beloved, in fact,
the city from Thanksgiving to Christmas change slightly from year to year. As left to sit, the cars eventually decay and that unofficial pop-up parties began
Eve. This is when the Metropolitan Regina Asborno, deputy director at the become inoperable. The creation of the happening as a collaboration between
Transit Authority starts putting the New York Transit Museum, explains, Nostalgia Train is a win-win situation these groups whose interests coincided
New York Transit Museum’s restored “It’s a bit of a puzzle depending on for the vintage trains and the people on a specific era. For ten years, New
vintage R-1 through R-9 train cars back what construction is going on. Not who love to ride them. Yorker and swing dancer Amy Winn has © Shaelyn Amaio

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