September 10, 2007, marks the 75th Anniversary of the New York City Transit’s A-Train, made famous in part by by Duke Ellington’s song. For a history and review, see the complete article in the NY Times:
Longest, and Possibly Coolest, a Train Still a-Thrumming at 75
On Sept. 10, 1932, one minute after midnight, a 7-year-old boy named Billy Reilly dropped a nickel into a turnstile and boarded an A train at 42nd Street. It was a southbound express, and it was Billy’s first ride on an A.
It was the city’s first ride, too — 171,267 passengers rode it that September day in 1932, its first day of operation. The line, then called the Eighth Avenue subway, spanned only 12 miles and 28 stations, from the top of Manhattan to the bottom.
BETTMANN/CORBIS
Riders boarded an A train on March 20, 1933, during the opening of the Bergen Street station in Brooklyn. The A train started running in 1932.
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