Museum rages at vandals who mar old subway cars set to be retired
Nostalgic subway fans are on notice after some of them were accused of vandalizing the 1960s-era subway cars the MTA is retiring.
A series of last-call rides for the R32 Brightliner cars — first put on the tracks in 1964 — will be canceled if attendees don’t get their act together, the New York Transit Museum warned.
The warning came via email days after vandalism cut short last Sunday’s event, the first of four weekly final runs for the 57-year-old R32s, which were in regular passenger service until last year. They were among the world’s oldest active subway cars.
Transit staffers who worked last Sunday’s event said someone kicked in one of the seats, which are original and irreplaceable.
“If at any time, for any reason the train crew deems it necessary to take the train out of service, they will do so immediately and all future retirement runs of the R32s will be canceled,” New York Transit Museum Director
Concetta Bencivenga wrote in a stern email to the city’s rail fans.
“If you destroy a vintage train, you are not in fact a railfan — you are vandal and a criminal and will be treated as such.”
If vandalism continues to be a problem, Bencivenga said, the museum could make future runs of vintage trains ticketed events.
The final three R32 retirement runs are still on. The public can ride the old cars — nicknamed “Brightliners” for their shiny, stainless steel exteriors — on Sunday on the D line, between Second Ave. on the Lower East Side and 145th St.. from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.
The cars will run the same route at the same times next Sunday, Jan. 2.
The final celebratory rides are slated for Jan. 9, and will take riders between Brighton Beach and the Upper East Side on the Q line — the same route the R32s first served in 1964.
After the Jan. 9 run, the Transit Museum in Brooklyn will be the only place to view the R32s.
The museum houses a fleet of antique subway cars.