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New Yorkers painted the Bronx in pinstripes Thursday for the Yankees season-opener against the San Francisco Giants.
Hundreds of baseball fans gathered at Grand Central Station in the morning to ride vintage trains to 161st Street in the Bronx – a collaborative effort of the New York Yankees, the MTA and The New York Transit Museum that has been part of opening day for more than a decade. And they were not disappointed, as the team shut out their opponents in a 5-0 victory.
One of the rolling museums was a 1917 IRT Lo-V subway that entered service during the First World War. These trains feature a militaristic olive green coat on the interiors, light bulbs in the subway cars that glow in different colors, rattan seats stuffed with horsehair, and four-bladed metal ceiling fans. Unlike a typical train ride, these trains did not get halted in traffic and run in a straight line to Yankee Stadium on 161st Street.
Ball fans draped in pinstriped jerseys and Yankee hats packed the cars full, but along with the baseball diehards, there was no shortage of transit enthusiasts.
“People have a very emotional attachment to our transit system,” said senior curator Jodi Shapiro, who has worked with the transit museum since 2014. “I think that’s true of any city that has a transit system that covers ground like ours does.”
Anthony Errante, a retired train operator of 33 years, admitted he is not as much of a baseball fan as he is a fan of public transit.
“Everybody that’s here… all the guys, even the people that work in the transit museum, it’s like a family, ” he said, “It’s a family away from home.”
Marketing and Public Relations manager at NYTM Chelsea Newburg said one of her favorite things about the nostalgia train rides is the intergenerational experiences that ensue.
“Every single time I ride one of these trains, I always overhear someone saying, ‘You know, this is the train of my youth. This is the train I took to high school,’ and telling their kids and their grandkids about these experiences that they had riding these trains,” Newburg said.
Matthew Carson, who rode the vintage train with his family, said the experience was a rite of passage for his two sons. It was their first time watching the Yankees play in front of the home crowd.
“Spring is here, and the first pitch is coming out for everyone,” he said. “So, the tides are turning in New York, and we’re glad to have sunshine back and big crowds coming back to the games since COVID.”
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