Rush Hour at Myrtle Av-Broadway - No.3

Rush Hour at Myrtle Av-Broadway - No.3

It’s rush-hour on an October afternoon, as a Manhattan-bound Z train of mid-1960's R32 railcars
is about to enter the Myrtle Avenue/Broadway station in the Bushwick section of Brooklyn.

The curving turnout tracks that the Z is about to rumble across mark where
M trains (*) diverge from, or join, the Jamaica Line used by the J and Z trains.

Interestingly (to this photographer), if the photo had been taken in the 1970’s when the R32 trains were young,
instead of the present, the trains would have been as “gaffiti’d” (or worse) as the Bushwick surroundings. What can
be counted on now is that, no matter how “decorated” a neighborhood may have become, the trains passing through, whether modern or older types like the R32, will be bright and shiny (or they will not leave their yards!).

The photo, taken in 2018 when the solid Budd-built R32 "Brightliners" were in the twilight years of their service as the longest-running Subway trains in the U.S., makes its first appearance this evening, as a train-loving photog remembers some most enjoyable rail-fan-window rides through Lower Manhattan, Brooklyn and Queens on these rugged old gals.

©2024 Steve Ember
(*)