All aboard! The vintage subway nostalgia train, featuring cars with rattan seats, incandescent light bulbs, paddle fans, old tyme advertisements and roll rather than electronic signs will be rolling through Manhattan every Sunday in December.

The Holiday Nostalgia Trains are the last operating remnants of 1,700 subway cars of a fleet that first began operating during the 1930s. Today, the eight surviving cars are kept in operating condition by NYC Transit.

And so, from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Dec. 7, 14, 21, and 28, riders will have the opportunity to ride on the New York Transit Museum and MTA New York City’s Holiday Nostalgia Train for just the price of a Metrocard or OMNY subway ride.

You could make an entire day out of traveling between 2nd Avenue Station (at Houston) on the F line and 96th Street and Second Avenue on the Q line and back. Approximately a 40 minute ride in each direction, the sights, sounds and smells are quite different from our normal subway rides. Your ride will be enhanced by ceiling fans, whistles (not horns like current trains) that announce each station arrival, and an enthusiastic cadre of Transit Museum volunteers and NYC Transit employees who negotiate the unusual equipment through busy subway lines, filled with regular scheduled Sunday subway trains.

It’s quite the balancing act.

Preserved as part of the New York Transit Museum’s collection, the eight vintage Independent Subway System (IND) cars on the train began to enter service on the Eighth Avenue line (today’s A/C/E) in 1932 and ran until 1977, when they were sidelined for newer equipment. Once the pride of the first subway company operated by the City of New York. The R1/9s used on the train evoke the IND’s Depression-Era Art Deco aesthetic. Of special note, car 1575 runs in the middle of the train and was rebuilt from its original appearance in 1946. It became a testbed subway car with new interior and cosmetic features, and looks quite different from the rest of the train cars.

The Holiday Nostalgia Train equipment that you will ride in are the last operating remnants of 1700 subway cars of that fleet, kept in operating condition by NYC Transit.

This year, the Train will operate on December Sundays, the 8th, 15th, 22nd and 29th of the month, departing between 10 a.m. and 5 p.m. from 2nd Avenue – Houston Street on the uptown F line in lower Manhattan at 10am, 12p, 2pm and 4pm. The return trips from 96th Street – 2nd Avenue on the Q line will be at 11am, 1pm, 3pm, and 5pm.

The Holiday Nostalgia Trains will stop in both directions at 2nd Avenue – Houston Street (F), Broadway – Lafayette Street (D, 6) West 4th Street – Washington Square (A/C/E, D/F), 34th Street – Herald Square (D/F, N/Q/R), 42nd Street – Bryant Park (A/C/E, D/F, N/Q/R, S, 7), 47th – 50th Streets – Rockefeller Center (D/F), 57th Street – 6th Avenue (F), Lexington Avenue – 63rd Street (F, Q), 72nd Street – 2nd Avenue (Q), 86th Street – 2nd Avenue (Q) and 96th Street – 2nd Avenue (Q) stations.

Passengers can board the train at any of the stations

Accessible stations along the route include Broadway – Lafayette Street (D, 6), West 4th Street – Washington Square (A/C/E, D/F), 34th Street – Herald Square (D/F, N/Q/R), 47th – 50th Streets – Rockefeller Center (D/F), Lexington Avenue – 63rd Street (F, Q), 72ndStreet – 2nd Avenue (Q), 86th Street – 2ndAvenue (Q), and 96th Street – 2nd Avenue (Q).

Please note for stops between 2 Av–Houston St and Lexington Av–63 St, board on the F line platform; stops between Lexington Av–63 St and 96 St–2 Av, board on the Q line platform.

Like other octogenarians, timing, routes, and equipment of the train are subject to change.