Photo courtesy of New York Transit Museum

The New York Transit Museum is back with its vintage fleet for the Parade of Trains, transporting straphangers to another age. For the cost of a Metro Card swipe or an OMNY tap, take a ride back in time on such classics as the R-1/9 series, BMT Standards, and BU Gates cars, with meticulously maintained interior fixtures and even original maps and advertisements. From 11:00 AM to 4:00 PM on Saturday, September 9 and Sunday, September 10, trains will run back and forth continuously along the BMT Brighton line, from the Brighton Beach Station (a short distance from Coney Island) to the Kings Highway Station in Brooklyn, NY. All boarding and exiting of the trains will take place on the interior two B/Q platforms at the Brighton Beach Station and on the Manhattan-bound B/Q platform at the Kings Highway Station.

For those travelling from Manhattan to Brooklyn, use the Q train to reach the Kings Highway or Brighton Beach stations. The ride will take anywhere from 55 to 70 minutes, depending upon your starting point and terminus. From there, straphangers can disembark and hop on the vintage cars at the platforms advised above.

Please note: The B train isn’t an option because it only operates on weekdays between Brighton Beach in Brooklyn and 145th Street in Harlem, Manhattan.

The New York Transit Museum offers year-round events through its Nostalgia Rides series, a program beloved to train enthusiasts, history buffs, and the public at large, that began back in the mid-70s. In one form or another, the series has continued unabated ever since, with the only notable hiatus occurring in 2020 and 2021 due to the pandemic. Some ticketed events cost upwards of $60 ($50 for museum members), but the Parade of Trains offers this unique opportunity at the cost of a regular subway fare, much like the Holiday Nostalgia Rides, one of our favorite things to do in NYC around the holidays.