Vintage subway cars return to NYC for the holidays

MANHATTAN (PIX11) — Christmas in New York has so many new and old traditions. 

There is the Rockefeller Center Christmas tree, the Rockettes, and ice skating at Bryant Park. 

Now add taking a ride on the holiday nostalgic subway train, courtesy of the MTA. 

You can take a trip back in time. 

It is the holiday nostalgia subway cars from the 1930s and 40s back in service, just every Saturday in Dec. on the D and F line in Manhattan. 

The eight subway cars featured rattan seats, straps for the strap hangers, paddle ceiling fans, and incandescent lightbulbs that flicker on and off. 

There were also advertisements from the 1930s and 40s. 

Some people were dressed like 1940s newspaper photographers or movie stars. 

“I just want to go back to my childhood,” Genevieve Lake, just 26 years old, told PIX11 years. When we reminded her, it was more like a great-grandmother’s time, she just laughed. 

Each of the subway’s cars had its theme. 

It was packed with both tourists and New Yorkers who were subway buffs. There was at least one celebrity whose voice you hear over and over in the subway making the announcements. 

“This is Charlie Pellett who says, ‘stand clear of the closing door,’” Pellett told PIX11 News. This trip down memory lane had some subway riders wishing for a return to the good old days. 

“The seats were much more comfortable,” Susan Sheppeck, a holiday nostalgic train rider, told PIX11 News. “There was more of a bounce to the seats and it seemed roomier,” she added.