 perator
Grace Williams steered the train from the cab
of the "R12" car. Built in 1948, the R12 has
a light and dark gray exterior with orange stripes and
interior wicker seating, a red floor, and a tall arched
ceiling. Besides appearance, Williams said the mechanics
of the train were unique.
“It
has a different feel,” Williams said. “The
brakes are harder.”
Smiling
the entire time, Bronx native Vera Glazewski was among
the riders.
“We’re going
back in history because we rode these cars when we were
young,” Glazewski said. “It’s my childhood
-- being with my family, my parents and traveling through
the Bronx.”
The train first bounded
downtown on the Lexington line and then back uptown
on the Broadway line. The trip included a stop at an
old graffiti covered platform underneath City Hall.
In a rapidly growing city, the platform was considered
too short – it’s the length of five cars
– and was closed in 1945.
Motor instructor John Albanese
watched the awed spectators in a 1950 “R15”
that ran strong for 35 years. Each set of R15 doors
had four porthole windows, reminiscent of a ship. “It
was the first experimental air-conditioned car,”
Albanese said.
Most people are surprised
to see the cars.
“It’s like
they're in ‘The Twilight Zone,” Albanese
said.
The classics were a treat
for the younger generation. Children squealed when the
lights went off in the cars, a regular occurance with
the older models.
"When the power is
not being continuously fed from the third rail, the
lights will go out or dim until the third rail power
connection is re-established," explained Roxanne
Robertson, an MTA spokesperson.
The back-to-the-past train
then dashed all the way to 242nd Street in the Bronx,
where riders disembarked for a visit to Van Cortlandt
Park.
Stopping in the Bronx symbolized
the extension of the subway system at a time when the
borough was considered distant country to Manhattan.
The rail connection eased travel and sparked the growth
of neighborhoods along train routes.
In
the late 1980s, the MTA began replacing older models
with modern, high-tech cars. Today, trains are computer-driven
with marquis inside and voice announcements of
upcoming
stops.
|
ose
Angel Muñoz left
New York City as a child in 1974 and returned recently
-- not to see the Empire State Building or visit friends,
but to ride a train.
