Nostalgia Rides
New York Transit Museum Nostalgia Rides transport straphangers to another age, using the same equipment that city dwellers would have ridden more than a century ago. Nostalgia Rides offer a chance to experience New York City transportation history firsthand en route to some of the City’s great attractions. One of the Museum’s most treasured traditions, Nostalgia Rides often reflect a time before automated voice announcements, air conditioning or bright fluorescent lighting. Guests can sit on the seats, hold onto the handrails, read the vintage advertisements, and travel through time to the early days of the New York subway system.
Summer 2019 Nostalgia Rides
Beach Bound: Coney Island
Sunday, July 20th, 10 am – 5 pm
General Public: $50 Adults / Museum Members: $35 Adults
Grab a seat on a beach-bound Nostalgia Ride heading to Coney Island! Board our 1910s BMT B-Type Standards and 1920s BMT D-Type Triplex cars (or IND R1-9 cars) for a two-hour jaunt to Coney Island from 96th Street/2nd Avenue. Once we arrive at Stillwell Avenue, brave the rides at Luna Park, check out the action on the legendary Boardwalk, or try one of Nathan’s Famous Hot Dogs. You can also visit the New York Transit Museum’s exhibition Five Cents to Dreamland: A Trip to Coney Island, on loan and on display at the Coney Island Museum. Ride our vintage train back to Manhattan at approximately 4pm, or stay late to take in sunset on the beach before making your own way home.
Remembering the Myrtle Avenue Elevated
Sunday, August 18th, 11 am – 5 pm
General Public: $50 Adults / Museum Members: $35 Adults
To commemorate the 50th anniversary of the closing of the Myrtle Avenue Elevated (El), we will venture along the El’s route, the current M and J lines. A major commuter train constructed to connect the residents of Ridgewood and surrounding communities to the business hubs of Downtown Brooklyn and Lower Manhattan, the Myrtle Avenue Elevated played an important role in accelerating the transition of the surrounding neighborhood from rural to urban life. Our R1-9 cars and BU Gate cars will depart from Delancey/Essex Street in Manhattan, and will travel as far as 111th Street with a stop along the way for lunch on your own, and will return to Delancey/Essex street at 5 pm.
Spring 2019 Nostalgia Rides
Yankees Express
Thursday, March 28th, 11 am
Free with MetroCard Swipe!
If baseball fans swipe their MetroCard right, they’ll ride to the stadium in subway-style on the Transit Museum’s vintage train. The Nostalgia Train, originally operated by the Interborough Rapid Transit (IRT) system, began service in 1917. The vintage train cars and hundreds of other similar cars served subway customers a few years before the first pitch was thrown at the original Yankee Stadium. With rattan seats, ceiling fans and drop sash windows, the train harkens back to an earlier age of subway travel, and provides a photogenic counterpoint to the new home of the New York Yankees.
Note: Equipment is subject to change. Vintage train and bus service is weather permitting.
