Last week the MTA formally retired the R-42 model subway cars from circulation, the oldest ones remaining in the fleet. They had been shuttling New Yorkers around since 1969, half a century of loyal service. The R-42s were rather dull but very solid cars with unbroken grey seats and wide spaces, acommodating a lot of people.
The subways have evolved a great deal in the last 50 years, going from a literal hell-whole to something out of the space age.
In late 1972, Vivian Gornick wrote a now classic essay about the nightmare that was the then-NYC subway. With great narrative detail, she paints the picture of a system -- and a city -- on the verge of collapse, a repository of societal failure.
Today, obviously, the city and the subway are much improved -- and the R-42s witnessed this change first-hand.
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