R62A 1750

Location: Grand Central-42nd Street Station, New York, NY
Operator of Vehicle: MTA New York City Transit
Date of Photo: March 24, 2017

Last week, I had a business trip to New York City.  Despite not having been on public transit for over 400 days due to the Covid-19 pandemic, being back on the rails didn’t feel all that different, until I descended in to the subway to take the 6 train to where I was having dinner.  I consider the 6 train to be my “home route” in New York, but after about 15 years of R142As exclusively serving the line, I’m still not used to seeing R62As, such as the one pictured here, on this route.  One might think that this would be an easy adjustment to make, as R62As were the predominant car type from the late 1980s until the introduction of the R142A in 2000.  However, for some reason, I just haven’t gotten used to their reintroduction along the Lexington Avenue Line.  Is there any vehicle assignment and line pairing that just seems out of place to you, no matter how hard you try getting used to it?

Although the sight of an R62A on the 6 still seems unusual to me, I really like this picture because of how the curved platform creates a “snaking effect” for the yellow platform edge and makes it possible to see the front part of the train from the location where I took the photo near the rear end of the platform.   Curved platforms are definitely a relic of older systems such as New York’s and while they pose a variety of accessibility and safety concerns, they can also make for some interesting photography vantage points.

For more photos of the R62A Subway Cars, please click here.