Old New York Subway Cars-Dingy..

[Mitchell]

I don't know how often they are in use anymore. Maybe I'm limited because I usually only use the E train to get places, and sometimes, the Uptown 6 to see my Dad on the Upper East Side, but.,. today I had to go to a meeting in Lower Manhattan.

Going there I took the usual E.. but coming home.. I walked out of the meeting, and ended up going on the A and C trains to get uptown to connect with the E coming home. The A and C seemed to be dark, dingy trains. I finally got the E at West 4th St, and was able to take it home to Forest Hills.

I don't know if any other New Yorkers find this.. but.., Lower Manhattan confuses me terribly. As I was trying to get to my meeting.. I passed through Chinatown, the Bowery, etc.

Thoughts on the old NYC subway cars? How about other big cities.. for those of us who regularly ride the subway? Are your cities cars new.. or old?

 

[Myriads]

If you think todays cars are dingy, you really need to hop the wayback machine to 1974 and ride those. Ah the sweet sweet smell of piss in a hot NY summer, and every surface painted over with 'urban art'.

Myriads

 

[Mitchell]

I';m sure you're right, Myriads.

The only time I remember riding subway cars when I was that young, was, I believe, to the old Shea Stadium in Queens, from Manhattan, to see a Jets game with my father. I do recall seeing in 70s movies how there was a lot of graffiti on the subway cars.

 

[milagros317]

When I first moved back to New York City in 1978, there were some subway cars manufactured in 1931 still in use. They were really decrepit.

 

[Mitchell]

Wow. Sounds nasty, mils.

I took one old subway car yesterday, but it wasn't as bad the one that I was on the day I posted this thread. Subway riders are spoiled by brand spanking new cars like the E train that I usually ride. Those are awesome.

 

[kopfhorer]

Last time I was in The City, it was pot luck between really new cars with the electronic readouts which told you exactly where you were & where you ere headed and ones from I guess the 70s or 80s which had been refurbished. All had A/C, a blessing in the mid-summer heat!

Where I live, it's not unusual to see an 18-wheeler flat-bed truckrolling down the highway toward New York with a NYC subway car strapped to its deck. (There's a factory near Elmira or Corning, NY I guess where the cars are built and/or refurbished).