A Time Capsule runs on the V line
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Location
Underground
1328 Broadway
New York, NY
United States
Waiting to catch a weekend V train to hit the MOMA, two Fs passed before something slow and army green struggled to a stop. Searching the nose of it it was marked S to Forest Hills, hard to recognize at first since it seemed to be traveling through time, from the past, not from Herald Square. Something out of the Polar Express, even.
The doors opened to red vinyl seats, overhead fans and real straps to hang on to. It took only a moment’s hesitation to step onto this relic of time-past, regardless of where it was going. Stepping back in time, seats were smaller, configured in U-shapes like the A. It felt like the train described in Catcher in the Rye, maybe as how anyone envisions the “subway” when they’ve never experienced a real one in today’s molded plastic and extruded aluminum time. The overhead fans (no underseat air vents) and chunky incandescent lighting were those details my imagination had overlooked. Moving through the cars, another, later version sported better (brighter) lighting and striped upholstery, with a fascinating yellow lines and diamonds pattern on a blue background. That would wake you up on the way to the office.
But the best part, that truly made it a complete transcendence back in time were the adverts. Covering the same vague wall-meets-ceiling 12 inches or so of engineered curve were wide graphic callouts.
Tips for making your money last longer, your bread stay fresh, what radio station to listen to (and tell your friends!) Even actual property values! In dollars circa 1956!
To top it off, this was the V and it delivered me, via this opportune wormhole back in time but then, directly to 53rd and fifth.
http://www.mta.info/nyct/maps/submap.htm
