In our Hidden Tracks column we tell of the old and the defunct, the hidden and the historic. And while I hope these topics are – by themselves – intriguing, our main goal in bringing history to the fore (the forgotten to light) is to discuss the current state of the system and the proposals for its future.
Take the 2nd avenue line. Most New Yorkers know that it has been planned for more than half a century. Fewer might know that a special subway car was designed for use on this, as of yet unrealized, route. Those cars – the R11 type – were delivered to the city in 1949 and, because the 2nd avenue line was nowhere to be found, used on other parts of the network. The R11 was intensely modern with under-the seat heaters, an advanced ventilation system and sterilizing lights. The last surviving exemplar of the car now sits at the New York Transportation Museum.
The New York Transportation Museum is a great historical museum. Housed in a 1936 shuttle station named for the nearby Brooklyn Criminal Court, it houses a score of historic subway cars. While the age of the exhibits ranges from the very old – a turn-of-the-last-century Brooklyn Union car is on display that made the transition from el underground – to the recently retired, all cars actually run. And though the station has not been in use by commuters for more than sixty years, its tracks remain active and each of the exhibits can be – and sometimes are – taken on the active systems’ rails. Since all power to the exhibit cars is supplied by the active third rail, the visitor has the very real sense of being in a subway, waiting at a station. This sense contributes to making this museum one of the great time machines this city has to offer.
— Christopher F. Schuetze
