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Usually, getting on the subway means hoping your train arrives before you finish your podcast. This weekend, you can board one that predates podcasts by several decades—and make the ride itself your afternoon plans.
The New York Transit Museum’s fall Nostalgia Rides return this Saturday, October 3, starting with a trip to Brooklyn’s Green-Wood Cemetery aboard its 1930s IND R1/9 cars. A second outing on November 7 will give the museum’s beloved Redbirds a chance to stretch their wheels, with access to a shuttered station and a peek inside a train yard.
Saturday’s excursion departs from Manhattan’s 96th St–2nd Avenue station at 2pm, carrying passengers to Brooklyn for an afternoon at Green-Wood. Bring a picnic and join a guided tour exploring the stories of the cemetery’s permanent residents, including actors, politicians, artists and inventors from the Victorian era and beyond.
These prewar cars feature rattan seats, paddle ceiling fans, incandescent bulbs and old-fashioned roll signs. The first R1s entered service on the city-owned Independent Subway’s Eighth Avenue line in 1932; the fleet’s wider, faster-opening doors and fewer seats helped accommodate rush-hour crowds.
Retired from regular service in 1977, the cars also make appearances on the museum’s December Holiday Nostalgia Train. But this fall trip gives you an earlier excuse to admire them.
On Saturday, November 7, “Fly Away Redbirds” offers departures at 10am and 2pm from Old South Ferry station. Opened in 1905 and closed to the public since 2017, the station has original mosaics and terracotta artwork to check out before boarding, plus opportunities to photograph the vintage train.
The approximately 90- to 100-minute round trip heads to the Bronx, passes through an MTA maintenance yard and returns downtown. The cars date to fleets delivered between 1959 and 1964, with their signature bright-red paint arriving beginning in 1984. They remained in passenger service until 2003.
Tickets are on sale through the New York Transit Museum site, with proceeds supporting exhibitions, educational programs and maintenance of the vintage fleet. Equipment and routes are subject to change.