New York City Subway Trains: 12 Classic Punch-and-Build Trains, by the New York Transit Museum


The New York Subway System turns 100 in October, 2004. (For more information and a timeline, click here.) For a hundred years, this venerable underground network has not only transported legions of New Yorkers and tourists, it has also become an icon in American film, literature, and culture. Currently, the New York subway system operates 22 major lines, 3 shuttle routes, 6,350 passenger cars, 440 maintenance cars, and 468 stations with 31,180 turnstiles. More than 26,000 people are employed, and subway trains carry more than 1.4 billion riders each year.

While it may seem like an immutable fixture, the subway system has actually undergone many changes over the decades. Trains from different eras have long been on display in the New York Transit Museum, a fascinating destination that occupies a former subway station in Brooklyn.

Now, however, you don't have to travel to the Big Apple to get hands-on experience with the New York subway system. In honor of the subway's first century, the Transit Museum has published New York City Subway Trains. This brand new book not only provides the history and specifications of a dozen different cars, it also lets you build three-dimensional replicas of classics like the IRT car that carried visitors to the World's Fair in Flushing Meadows back in 1939. The artwork in New York City Subway Trains is first rate, and the book is printed on heavy laminated matte paper. The replicas are easily punched out, and the directions for building them are clear. Glue and scissors aren't required—the book is all you need to be taken on a trip through time aboard New York's classic people movers.

Mark Sedenquist
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