MTA New York City Transit is starting up a new tradition of rides to the past via its vintage fleet of subway trains. Following the success of the 1930s-era “Shoppers Special” trains which run on weekends during the holiday season, this summer the MTA will roll out the latest addition to its nostalgia fleet.
The “Bad Old Days Special” will re-create the experience of riding the subway late at night during the 1970s and 1980s using R32 rolling stock — the same subway cars currently utilized for C train service on the IND Eighth Avenue Line. The exteriors of “Bad Old Days Special” trains will be decked out in customized full-length train wrap made to look like they had been covered in graffiti. The interiors will also be wrapped with a graffiti livery inspired by images from the National Archives and will be festooned with copies of the New York Post and other garbage.
While the R32 trains were built in the 1960s, they were the dominant rolling stock used on the MTA’s B Division through the 1970s and 1980s. Today, the R32s are some of the world’s oldest metro trains still in regular operation.
“Fortunately we were able to re-purpose these R32s without any new capital funding due to the fact that C service ceases operation in the late evening and early morning periods and currently offers riders the least scheduled service in the entire system,” said MTA Chairman Thomas Prendergast. “This latest addition to our nostalgia train collection allows us to offer riders a glimpse at the past, while simultaneously giving them a glimpse of what the future could look like if the 2015-2019 MTA Capital Program isn’t approved soon.”
A subway ride from the “Bad Old Days” isn’t complete without witnessing a few unsavory characters. That’s why MTA New York City Transit has hired students from New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts to dress in period costumes and pose as transit riders from the Koch era.
Starting on Thursday, June 30, the “Bad Old Days Special” will run between 11 p.m. and 6 a.m. and will make local stops on the Eighth Avenue Line from 168th Street in Washington Heights to Euclid Avenue in East New York.
April Fools.
bought it right to the end! HA
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Nice try, but I recognized that Sandy photo right away!
“Warriors! !!!! Come out and Play!!!” Btw, it is April 1 you know