a ride back

(tt) The New York Transit Museum gave me a chance of riding a vintage subway train to Woodland from Grand Central with about 150 rail enthusiasts of all ages. It was a blast.
 The finger that often accompanies the pictures was otherwise engaged today so I opted for a substitute.

We gathered at the Shuttle and waited for our guides to lead us to the platform

 

This piece is called 'Fast Track'

Here she comes

This is the type of car that Victor Moore rode in for his classic 'Pay the Two Dollars' sketch in MGM's "Ziegfeld Follies"  The carriage I was in was built in 1924 and stayed in operation until 1969. Note the bare bulbs.  And the ceiling fans.

Advertising art was much smaller

And pretty corny!

 Once we got going you really appreciated the modern trains. The windows were the only form of ventilation and grit and fumes wafted in as the train screeched horribly most of the time. I imagined the commuters having to cope with this, packed as they would have been  in those deodorant free days 10 times a week at the height of summer. My eyes were gritty in a few minutes.

Every so often the lights in each carriage would black out for a second or two

These two guys would have remembered the experience. And I heard a woman say, "Oh, I remember that sound..... I sure don't miss it."

The most wonderful thing was seeing the faces of people on the platforms as we went through. Pointing and gaping and nudging their friends to look. The peep peep of the whistle was deafening and there were loads of people with hands clamped over their ears as we thundered past.

Hundreds of commuters had thrown themselves behind hoardings in fright.
The large building behind is Yankee Stadium

 Game going on.  "There are the sandals I was telling you about."

 Here we have arrived at Woodlawn station

My faithful old rattler

 The end of the line