Gothamist
A non-profit newsroom, powered by WNYC.
Gothamist
Listen Live
News
Subway signs, benches, trash cans among 1,000 items at MTA's pop-up holiday sale
By
Stephen Nessen
Published Dec 14, 2023
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 .
Stephen Nessen/Gothamist
By
Stephen Nessen
Published Dec 14, 2023
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
Train buffs can take home a piece of transit history for the holidays – but the price is steep.
The MTA is holding a pop-up holiday sale this week, where rail fans can snag subway signs, benches, trash cans and even pieces from the discontinued R32 trains known as the Brightliners. Over 1,000 items are for sale.
A price guide says the artifacts are on sale at a discount. But they’re still costly. A large sign for the Chambers Street A, C, E, 1 and 2 trains goes for $765. A sign for the “Bedford Avenue” subway station sold for $675. The buyer, Dan Hyman, said he planned to hang the sign in his backyard in Williamsburg.
"I love the graphics standards of the MTA. Also, I'm a supporter of it. So it's one way for me to give back, I guess, aside from paying the fare," said Hyman, 37.
Officials said 800 people RSVP'd for a limited time slot online, but more spots are available here on Thursday and Friday. Walk-ins are allowed on Friday between 9 a.m. and 1 p.m.
Signs for sale at the MTA holiday pop up.
Stephen Nessen/Gothamist
Matthew Carson from Long Island City snagged some rare scroll signs, which were used to indicate the line a train was traveling on. Carson got signs for the K, H and X lines, none of which are currently in service, to give to his twin 9-year-old boys.
“They couldn't attend, they're in school today, but I signed up and got some very cool collector items,” said Carson, 48. “It's going to be a meaningful Christmas present from Santa, so to speak.”
Paul Dvoskin, the MTA’s director of asset recovery, is in charge of gathering the old equipment, assigning a price and running the sale. To the train buffs who’d come from around the world to check out the three-day sale, he might as well have been Santa.
“We have side roll signs, seats, number plates, master controllers, everything that we're able to pull off, it's there,” he said.
This year's hottest items are pieces of R32 trains, which were recently taken out of service on the C line.
Dvoskin used eBay auctions of similar items to help set the price. He said he also considered “the historical significance, geographical significance.”
“Something from Times Square, something from the World Trade Centers — it'll be priced a little higher,” he added.
One of the cheapest items for sale was a $25 grab bar from the Redbird train cars, which were retired in the 1980s. Dvoskin said the cars were completely stripped of parts before being dumped in the ocean to make an artificial reef.
Australian tourist Tom Howell brought his two kids to the MTA pop-up shop in Coney Island.
Stephen Nessen/Gothamist
Tom Howell, 38, who was visiting from Brisbane, Australia with his 5-year old daughter and -year-old son in tow, was among the curious customers on a frigid Wednesday morning.
He grabbed a small Wall Street subway sign, a Lexington Avenue sign, and stickers once used on buses to display the fare when it was $2.75.
“It's the only thing you can take back that's authentic,” he said. “We very frequently go through Manhattan and see the tourist shops,” he said. “But this is authentic, this is real. This is what New York is.”
This is the third year the MTA has held the holiday pop-up sale.
Tagged
transit
brooklyn
Stephen Nessen
Stephen Nessen covers transportation. Since 2008 he has reported on everything from Occupy Wall Street, the rebuilding of the World Trade Center site, Hurricane Sandy, to Trump’s campaign for president. His transportation reporting has taken him everywhere from the MTA’s secret Rail Control Center to the gleaming subways of Seoul. Got a tip? Email [email protected].
Read more
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
MORE news
Upper East Side braces for affordable housing fast track, and backlash from residents
A new land-use approval process could make it easier for developers to build larger apartment complexes in one of the city’s wealthiest, most densely populated neighborhoods.
By
David Brand
Published Sep 29, 2026 at 6:30 a.m. ET
Plan to modernize NYC's diesel-spewing produce market falls apart under Mamdani
Bronx officials are scrambling to try to salvage a transformative project worth $650 million.
By
Elizabeth Kim
News
Plan to modernize NYC's diesel-spewing produce market falls apart under Mamdani
Bronx officials are scrambling to try to salvage a transformative project worth $650 million.
By
Elizabeth Kim
Central Park birders, others remember 63-year-old woman killed in park
By
Charles Lane
Dump truck driver hits and kills cyclist on 34th Street in Midtown, NYPD says
By
Liam Quigley
New ingredient mandated for Latin American kitchen, restaurant plates in NJ
By
Arya Sundaram
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 .