Season’s greetings on the subways! Nostalgia Rides on NYC vintage trains return this holiday season

The New York Transit Museum and the MTA’s NYC Transit are bringing back their cheerful annual tradition of Holiday Nostalgia Rides next month.

New Yorkers will step back in time when they ride the Downtown Brooklyn museum’s historic railcar fleet that dates back to the 1930s. The train of cars will run between the Lower East Side’s 2nd Avenue-Houston Street on the uptown F line and 96th Street-2nd Avenue on the Q line every Sunday in December, from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Vintage train riders will explore the past as they ride the Holiday Nostalgia train, which consists of eight cars from the Depression era that ran along lettered lines through the late 1970s.

The vintage Independent Subway System (IND) cars were built for the first subway company operated by the City of New York. Modern for their time, the R1/9s complemented the IND’s Depression-era Art Deco aesthetic. With rattan seats, paddle ceiling fans, incandescent light bulbs, roll signs, and period advertisements, these are the very cars that inspired Billy Strayhorn’s song, “Take the A Train.”

Ticket prices to ride the train are $2.90 each, the price of a subway ride.

Commuters at the Holiday Nostalgia Train.Photo credit: New York Transit Museum

“There’s something magical about seeing our vintage subway cars filled with holiday cheer,” Regina Shepherd, acting director of the New York Transit Museum, said. “The Holiday Nostalgia Train connects riders to the joy of New York’s past and reminds us why the city’s transit system remains at the heart of our shared stories.”

When they are not in use during the holiday season, the vintage cars remain preserved in the New York Transit Museum’s collection.

New Yorkers who want to keep their holiday fun on track this year, the Holiday Train Show at Grand Central Terminal will open on Nov. 13. The transit museum’s beloved display will feature Lionel model trains zipping through a 34-foot miniature New York City, complete with a model of Grand Central Terminal at its heart.