For me, riding in the 60's and 70's was wonderful.
We had the BMT Triplexes, the BMT Standards, and the
IND R 1/9's. It was a world illuminated by bare
light bulbs. In the winter time, you could get nice
and warm and toasty sitting on one of the wicker
seats of an R 1/9 heated by its own heater. Instead
of listening to the feedback of the PA system, you
could listen to the pumping of an air compressor, or
listen to the air release sounds of the air brakes.
When a train went over a switch, you could look down
the set of cars, and watch the lights blink on and
off from car to car. If you were riding a Triplex,
you could ride in that little section between two
cars. If you were lucky, and could get to the front
window on the front car, you could look out to your
heart's content. Kids actually wanted to look out
the front window. On the Triplexes, Standards, and
even some of the newer IRT cars, the front window
would drop down half way and you could go barreling
along on an express run and have the wind blow in
your face.
Another big thing was I rode the trains and
enjoyed the trains without knowing a whole lot about
the trains. It was fun riding the trains, and fun
running into a set of R9's in their final days. It
wasn't so much of a head trip about how much I knew,
as it was how good it felt.
So Christopher, my advice, and remember it is coming
from someone who is not dealing with a full deck, is
to ride the subways and experience it. Watch the
motorman, or watch out the front window, or watch
the speedometer in the cab, or DO whatever speaks to
your heart. Get to KNOW transit, nor just know
about it.
Hey Christopher, around the time of the transit
strike, when I was trying to organize people here to
get ready to provide alternate ways to get around
the city, didn't you volunteer to be in charge of
the Marine Operations? If that was you, thanks for
being the only one on this board who pitched in.