Nostalgic railfans will get another chance to ride one of the subway system’s most legendary trains when the NY Transit Museum brings the R32 ‘Brightliner’ out of retirement for one day only, in celebration of their 60th anniversary.
The Transit Museum will bring out the R32 for one of its periodic “nostalgia rides” on old-timey trains on Sept. 14, but this ride will be an extra special one for those still missing the Brightliner trains, which were retired in 2022 after a whopping 58 years in service. The R32’s lifetime was the longest of continuous service for a rolling stock model on any metro system in the world.
Now, those missing the old trains will get to ride one again. The Transit Museum will bring its R32 back onto the Q line on Sept. 14, where it will start at 96th Street at 10 a.m. and make a non-stop run down to Coney Island, at which point it will turn around in the yard in spectacular fashion before heading back up to the Upper East Side. The revelries will repeat at 2 p.m.
Tickets are on sale now for members of the Transit Museum, while the general public can get in on the action starting Friday. Prices are $60 for an adult and $40 for a child, while member prices are $50 for adults and $30 for children.
The first 600 Brightliners, produced by the Budd Company of Philadelphia, came into service in Sept. 1964, predating the modern MTA. They were noted in their time as the first subway cars made of stainless steel, giving them a shiny, modern look that inspired their nickname. The sleek stainless steel skeleton also made the cars two tons lighter than other models in service at the time.
Where they were once the height of modernity, the R32s stayed in service two decades past their originally forecast 35-year lifetime. By the time of their retirement, when they ran on the A, C, J, and Z lines, they were the least reliable trains in the system.
Now in retirement, many of the R32s have been sunk to the bottom of the ocean to serve as artificial reefs to deep-sea life, though some remain on dry land for display purposes.
The oldest cars still in revenue service on the subway are now the R46 model, which hit the rails in July 1975. The 75-foot trains, known for their “conversational” seating arrangement, are still in service on the A, C, N, Q, and W lines along with the Rockaway Park Shuttle.
Those trains, which break down more frequently than newer models and are considered past their useful life, are presently being replaced by the new R211 train, but funding to replace the full fleet of hundreds of cars is now uncertain due to the pause on congestion pricing.
Correction: article amended to note the R32 will make a non-stop run and to correct the spelling of the Transit Museum’s name.
