A passenger poses in front of the vintage R1/9 train, full of people ready for the Holiday Nostalgia Ride to begin. (Credit: Sage Swaby)
The 96th Street train station platform brimmed with passengers on Sunday. Many dressed up in holiday-themes, and had their phones raised to take videos of a green vintage train adorned with festive decorations as it entered the station.
It was Ulises Beato’s first time witnessing a vintage train. The photographer enjoyed how engaged passengers were with one another as they boarded.
“Everyone’s really friendly. I was telling somebody else that it’s almost like going to a dance club but there’s no music,” he said. “Much more friendly than the regular subway.”
The vintage train greeting passengers was part of the Holiday Nostalgia Rides, which allow passengers to take a trip back in time, weekly on Sundays, on the New York Transit Museum’s R1/9 train cars.
Bob Lesko, 64, smiles in his red soldier’s costume on a R1/9 train car. (Credit: Sage Swaby)
Bob Lesko, 64, was dressed in a red soldier’s costume with a tall black hat.
“I’ve been riding the nostalgia train for about 10 years now,” said Lesko, a native New Yorker from Manhattan.
Lesko posed for photos with other passengers and greeted everyone with a big smile as they entered the train.
“I like dressing up generally in different costumes on different holidays. People get a kick out of this one,” he added.
The New York Transit Museum began the nostalgia rides in 2004, allowing passengers to experience a glimpse into public transportation history with just a swipe of their MetroCards.
The R1/9 train car contains its original features including ceiling fans, period advertisements and rattan seats. In 1932, they entered service on the Eighth Avenue line, which is today’s A/C/E train line. The train cars were retired in 1977.
Photographer Ulises Beato posed in front of the R1/9 train.
He charged passengers $20 for a photograph from his vintage camera. (Credit: Sage Swaby)
On the train station platform, Beato sold photographs of passengers taken on his vintage Graflex Speed Graphic 4×5 camera.
Multiple people were dressed in period outfits, evoking fashion from between the 1930s to 1970s. Beato’s camera, which was in production from 1912 to 1973, fit right in.
The R1/9 train will run for two more Sundays for the Holiday Nostalgia Rides on Dec. 22 and 29.
