New York Transit Museum

🎂 Happy Birthday, #NYCsubway! 📽️ Behold! The first-ever known footage of the subway, and we're sharing it today on the subway's 122nd birthday. #TodayInHistory: #OnThisDay in 1904, New York City’s first rapid transit subway, the IRT (Interborough Rapid Transit) opened.

#NYC's first subway line ran along a 9.1 mile route extending from City Hall to 145 Street and had 28 stations. The line ran under Park Avenue South to Grand Central, across 42 Street to Times Square, and then up Broadway to 145 Street.

#DidYouKnow the number or letter assigned to a train's route is called a "service designation?"

To address this problem, in 1960, the Transit Authority implemented a new system of numbers and letters. This "Know Trains at a Glance" sign from the #NYTMCollection helped commuters remember the changes.

#DidYouKnow the number or letter assigned to a train's route is called a "service designation?"

Originally, #NYCsubway service was provided by three separate companies, each with their own nomenclature. Some of their service designations overlapped, causing confusion. For example, there was a "4" train on both the IRT and the BMT.

Today is #InternationalDayofClimateAction. 🌳

The ads point to the problem of cars creating pollution and congestion. As an alternative, sustainability through using buses and subways is promoted.

Today is #InternationalDayofClimateAction. 🌳

#DidYouKnow there was once a 91 Street Station on the IRT Broadway–Seventh Avenue Line (today's 1 line)? Taken just two years before the station was closed, this #NYTMCollection image from 1957 shows the 91 Street Station’s southbound entrance at the northwest corner of 91st Street and Broadway.

A longer platform at the 96 Street station resulted in the creation of a new station entrance on Broadway between 93rd and 94th Streets. This entrance was so close to the 91 Street Station that the 91 Street Station could not have its own platforms extended.

#DidYouKnow there was once a 91 Street Station on the IRT Broadway–Seventh Avenue Line (today's 1 line)? Taken just two years before the station was closed, this #NYTMCollection image from 1957 shows the 91 Street Station’s southbound entrance at the northwest corner of 91st Street and Broadway.

🎬 #TransitTrivia: In the film "Gloria” (1980), Gloria Swenson (Gena Rowlands) is on the run from mobsters and successfully evades them, saying “You let a woman beat ya, huh?!”

🌲🚂 We're working hard to get the Holiday Train Show up and running! Here's a peek at what's going on behind the scenes during exhibit prep. Opening at Grand Central Terminal on Friday, November 13, our much beloved Holiday Train Show returns for its 22nd year. Admission is FREE!

This year’s display features a new section of buildings by New York City-based artist Danny Cortes, plus a miniature Economy Candy storefront will be joining the show.

🌲🚂 We're working hard to get the Holiday Train Show up and running! Here's a peek at what's going on behind the scenes during exhibit prep. Opening at Grand Central Terminal on Friday, November 13, our much beloved Holiday Train Show returns for its 22nd year. Admission is FREE!

⛹️‍♂️ Tonight, the Knicks 2026-27 season begins, as the team hosts LeBron James and the Philadelphia 76ers! After the @MTA.info repainted the entrance to 34 Street–Penn Station this summer, we were inspired to make three new additions to the #NYTransitMuseum:

🏀 3D-printed K-rail model - back in stock in our store! 🏀 Limited-edition interactive pin. Tap the keychain boots against the subway globe to see it light up! 🏀 The championship parade float's custom K-Rail — on view now at the Museum in Downtown Brooklyn.

#TodayInHistory: #OnThisDay in 1964, acoustic-folk-rock duo Simon & Garfunkel released their debut album “Wednesday Morning, 3 A.M.” For the album cover, Paul Simon and Art Garfunkel were photographed inside the Fifth Avenue/53 Street station of the #NYCsubway.

Wednesday Morning, 3 A.M. did not sell well initially, but caught on the following year when the song “The Sounds of Silence” (later renamed “Sound of Silence” - singular) began receiving radio airplay with college audiences.

☎️ These #NYTMCollection photographs from 1928 show the interior of the System Operator’s office at the IRT (Interborough Rapid Transit Company)’s 59th Street Powerhouse in #Manhattan. The operator is shown at his desk with an extensive telephone system, Weston wattmeters, and alarm bells.

The powerhouse served as a vital part of the #NYCsubway system until 1959, providing electricity to the IRT, the city’s first subway system. Built in 1904 with six massive smokestacks, it was the largest steam powerhouse in the world at the time of its completion.

This 1974 MTA Commuter Rail System Map takes a broad look at the transit systems of the tri-state area, including LIRR, PATH, and other lines serving upstate New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut that today are operated by New Jersey Transit and Metro-North.

Designed by Joan Charysyn as a counterpart to the Unimark “Vignelli” Subway Map of the same era, the guide takes liberties with geography in favor of clarity, using clean angles and uniform spacing.

These historic signs reside in two different #NYC museums, but they are companions. They were both seen by people heading to the 1964-65 World’s Fair. The first, from the New York Transit Museum, was shown to #Brooklyn subway riders.

“Follow the blue arrow” signage guided fair-goers to where they could board a NYCTA (New York City Transit Authority) “Subway Special” train. This service ran on the IRT Flushing Line (today’s 7 train) to Willets Point station, delivering passengers to Flushing Meadows Corona Park.

These historic signs reside in two different #NYC museums, but they are companions. They were both seen by people heading to the 1964-65 World’s Fair. The first, from the New York Transit Museum, was shown to #Brooklyn subway riders.

#DidYouKnow that double-decker buses briefly ran on #NYC streets in the 1970s? This #NYTMCollection photograph shows a Leyland double-decker bus in Midtown #Manhattan. Though double-decker buses were common in the first half of the 20th century, they were retired from service in 1954.

More than two decades later, an MTA pilot program sought to reintroduce them. Eight Leyland Atlantean double-decker buses, manufactured in England, were purchased and tested beginning in 1976. However, they did not last long on city streets.

#TodayinHistory: Taken #OnThisDay in 1968, these #NYTMCollection photographs captured a sunny fall day at the Freeman Street station in the #Bronx.

Like many images in our Subway Construction Photograph Collection, they were meant to be used as survey photos, but they also show a candid moment from a bygone era of #NYC, and provide a glimpse into station design and the fashion choices of New Yorkers.