Gothamist

A non-profit newsroom, powered by WNYC.

Gothamist

WNYC Listen Live

Donate

 

 

Arts & Entertainment

Photos: Nostalgia Trains And Buses Are Here For The Holidays


By

Jen Carlson

Published Dec 6, 2013

Modified Dec 6, 2013


Share

FacebookTwitterRedditEmail


Never miss a story

 Email address

By submitting your information, you're agreeing to receive communications from New York Public Radio in accordance with our Terms .

via farmwald's flickr

 

Gothamist

View all 7


By

Jen Carlson

Published Dec 6, 2013

Modified Dec 6, 2013


Share

FacebookTwitterRedditEmail


We rely on your support to make local news available to all

Make your contribution now and help Gothamist thrive in 2026. Donate today

Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations

The MTA is bringing back their gorgeous old train cars and buses for the holiday season once again. The subways hit rails and streets last Sunday, and will continue to every Sunday (from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.) throughout the rest of December, bringing a little bit of romance back to mass transit... so please save your bad etiquette for the regular trains. From the MTA:

"If you’re looking for another great reason to ride the train on Sundays in December, try this: take a trip back into time onboard the 1930s-era Nostalgia Special, which will run along the M Subway Line Icon Line between Long Island City, Queens and Lower Manhattan during the first four Sundays in December."

Their Senior Vice President of the Department of Subways says, “They aren’t the first subway cars, but these R 1/9 cars served for five decades and are historically significant as the rolling stock that originally served the IND.” The cars were in service from the 1930s to the 1970s, and feature ceiling fans, padded seats, and incandescent light bulbs, which were state-of-the-art when they first started running.

vintagebus1213.jpg
Bus 8466 part of a new fleet of NYC buses ordered in 1960's and designed and built with air-conditioning (MTA)

On the roads, they're offering bus customers along Manhattan’s 42nd Street crosstown corridor (along the M42) a variety of their vintage fleet, with models that operated from the 1950s through the 1980s (these will run from 9 a.m. and 7 p.m., Monday through Friday from December 2nd to 20th... unless it's snowing or raining).

Get the full details here.

Tagged

holiday trains

MTA

nostalgia buses

nostalgia trains

vintage


Jen Carlson

Jen Carlson is a former WNYC and Gothamist editor.

Read more

Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations


Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations


MORE arts-entertainment

Would you live on a Halloween block? These Hackensackers live for it.

A guillotine, killer clowns, clownfish: They've got it all on Clinton Place.

By

James Ramsay

Published Oct 29, 2026 at 12:00 p.m. ET


Owl pellets and period equity: What's happening at NYC's public libraries this November

Also: Books!

By

Alec Hamilton

Arts & Entertainment

Owl pellets and period equity: What's happening at NYC's public libraries this November

Also: Books!

By

Alec Hamilton


How the Village Halloween Parade keeps its soul

By

Hannah Frishberg

'You Can See Everything' … as long as you go to Staten Island

By

Sonia Rao

Inside the hidden chamber that controls Lincoln Center's magnificent fountain

By

Sonia Rao


Never miss a story

Catch up on the most important headlines with a roundup of essential NYC stories, delivered to your inbox daily.

Sign upEmail address

By submitting your information, you're agreeing to receive communications from New York Public Radio in accordance with our Terms .