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Doug @doug.city · 04/10/2026

When I came across these at the London Transport Museum Depot last week, it was like spotting a celebrity.

1960s-era London Underground ticket machines (decimalized) and AFC ticket barriers

Doug @doug.city · 26/09/2026

(Here’s a nice one from London a couple of nights ago…so they do happen in other places, provided they’re sufficiently large and important cities of course.)

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Doug @doug.city · 01/09/2026

Oh, it’s not at all uncommon (look at the 737), but all the name changes make it rather amusing.

A6WE
Revision 30
BOEING
DC-9-11, DC-9-12, DC-9-13, DC-9-14, DC-9-15, DC-9-15F, DC-9-21, DC-9-31, DC-9-32, DC-9-32 (VC-9C), DC-9-32F, DC-9-32F (C-9A, C-9B), DC-9-33F, DC-9-34, DC-9-34F, DC-9-41, DC-9-51, DC-9-81 (MD-81), DC-9-82 (MD-82), DC-9-83 (MD-83), DC-9-87 (MD-87), MD-88, MD-90-30, 717-200
March 25, 2014

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Doug @doug.city · 07/06/2026

(LaGuardia was also unofficially known as LaGuardia Field until officially being renamed later, but its original name was just New York Municipal Airport.)

Original plaques from the construction of New York Municipal Airport, now in the general manager's office in the LaGuardia administration building

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Doug @doug.city · 08/02/2026

Was passing through GCT so decided to see for myself. Definitely in an easy-to-miss spot!

Portion of a subway map in a linoleum floor showing the area around the Prospect Av, 25 St, and 36 St stations in Brooklyn

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Doug @doug.city · 13/01/2026

My home river is a tidal strait.

A view out an airplane window looking down the East River from the Hell Gate

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Doug @doug.city · 24/12/2025

MetroCard may be retiring, but it’ll always live on as airport art.

MetroCard in a mosaic at LaGuardia Terminal B

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Doug @doug.city · 15/12/2025

The holiday train is always fun, but an unplanned diversion to Continental Av resulting in the first R1-9s on QBL in as long as anyone could remember and the first on 63 St anyone could remember at all (ever?) made for an especially memorable afternoon. Glad I stayed for that last run of the day!

R1-9 holiday nostalgia train at Roosevelt Av.

R1-9 holiday nostalgia train at 21 St-Queensbridge.

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Doug @doug.city · 11/12/2025

Happy 40th to a transit system that still feels like the future!

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Doug @doug.city · 29/08/2025

Riding into the next generation: After a long wait, what a pleasure to be able to ride the inaugural revenue trip of Amtrak’s NextGen Acela this morning (in my case, from Stamford to Philadelphia).

A NextGen Acela train approaching Stamford station.

View of the Manhattan Skyline from the Hell Gate Bridge, with blurred power infrastructure in the foreground.

NextGen Acela train on the platform at New York Penn Station, with the electronic destination sign showing it as Acela 2153 to Washington, DC.

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Doug @doug.city · 03/08/2025

Summer Streets goes uptown! This year, Manhattan Summer Streets (August 2, 9, and 16) stretches al the way from Dyckman Street to the Brooklyn Bridge. Had a nice leisurely walk down Broadway from Dyckman to 145th.

Summer Streets - Broadway at Dyckman Street

Summer Streets - Broadway at West 179th Street

Summer Streets - Broadway at West 164th Street

Summer Streets - Broadway at West 152nd Street

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Doug @doug.city · 02/06/2025

Happy Pride Month to all my queer transit friends! 🚇🏳️‍🌈

Downtown entrance to Christopher St-Stonewall Station on the 1, in front of Village Cigars

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Doug @doug.city · 26/05/2025

Architectural palimpsests of Bergenline Avenue.

M&T Bank. A sandstone, likely originally neoclassical bank with much of the ornamentation stripped off and modernist cladding on the second floor.

Taqueria Mexicana. A diner turned taqueria.

A 19th century tenement with the ornamentation stripped or covered over on the lower floors and the upper floors painted pink and white, with layers of older paint showing below.

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Doug @doug.city · 24/05/2025

It’s the only animal on the city seal other than humans and an eagle for a reason!

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Doug @doug.city · 24/05/2025

A break in the clouds makes for a dramatic backdrop as the bulk carrier SSI Marvelous departs the Brooklyn Navy Yard on its way to Providence on a voyage from Turkey.

A bulk carrier off Lower Manhattan in a storm

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Doug @doug.city · 18/05/2025

And from the Manhattan Bridge.

View from the Manhattan Bridge at night looking down on a tall ship with its topmasts broken and the Brooklyn Bridge in the background

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Doug @doug.city · 18/05/2025

Views of the stricken ARM Cuauhtémoc from Brooklyn Bridge Park.

A tall ship by the Manhattan Bridge at night with its topmasts broken

A tall ship between the Manhattan and Brooklyn Bridges at night with its topmasts broken

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Doug @doug.city · 18/05/2025

I took this photo at 18:35, not knowing this was about to become news…

A tall ship docked on the East River in Lower Manhattan next to the Brooklyn Bridge flying a Mexican flag

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Doug @doug.city · 11/05/2025

Prospect Park and Franklin Av, the terminals of the Franklin Av Shuttle (BMT Franklin Av Line).

Platform at Prospect Park with a Q train and a Franklin Av Shuttle train

Platform at Franklin Av with a Franklin Av Shuttle train

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Doug @doug.city · 10/05/2025

Happy National Train Day! Here’s a train.

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Doug @doug.city · 28/04/2025

Bell Works, Holmdel, NJ. Formerly the Bell Labs Holmdel Complex (Eero Saarinen, 1962), a research lab. Now a “metroburb”: offices above, a “pedestrian street” at ground level, and a conference center underground.

Interior entrance of Bell Works, a reception desk inside a sunken seating area.

Interior of Bell Works: a massive modernist atrium with skylights, balconies above, and a “pedestrian street” on the ground floor.

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Doug @doug.city · 28/04/2025

City Island feels like a little coastal town that floated down the Sound and settled next to the Bronx coastline, especially on a cloudy day. It’s a short ride on the Bx29 from Pelham Bay Park on the 6, but feels far from the city.

View south from City Island on a cloudy day. The Stepping Stones Lighthouse and the shore of Long Island are visible in the distance.

View southwest looking over a beach on City Island on a cloudy day with the Manhattan skyline faintly visible in the far distance.

View southwest from City Island on a cloudy day with the Manhattan skyline faintly visible in the far distance. In the foreground there is a white masonry wall separating the street from a beach, and in front of the wall is a street sign reading END.

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Doug @doug.city · 28/04/2025

Pelham Bay Park. Next to the city’s biggest park is the northern terminal of the country’s busiest rapid transit line, the 6 train. It also has a station house with cool vintage backlit signage.

Elevated island platform at Pelham Bay Park with a 6 train on one side.

Station house entrance at Pelham Bay Park. An older backlit sign reads Subway in black on a yellow background with a green 6 icon.

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Doug @doug.city · 14/04/2025

Harlem-148 St, aka 148 St-Lenox Terminal. Opened in 1968 in the preexisting Lenox Yard, this is one of my favorite subway terminals because of its unusual design and history even though it took me until April to get here. I’ve also now visited every Manhattan terminal this year.

A 3 train at Harlem-148 St, an outdoor but covered station, with other 3 trains at the adjacent yard

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Doug @doug.city · 01/04/2025

Happy Trans Day of Visibility!

View of the Lower Manhattan skyline from Brooklyn Heights at night. The spire of One World Trade Center is lit in trans pride colors.

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Doug @doug.city · 24/03/2025

Welcoming the Fall River/New Bedford Line. Today, for the first time since 1958, Fall River and New Bedford again have a rail connection to Boston. An early start (the first train was at 0427) and gloomy, wet weather couldn’t dampen the enthusiasm for the commonwealth’s newest rail service.

A bi-level diesel MBTA Commuter Rail train arriving at New Bedford station in the dark.

Departure board at South Station. The date is 03-24-2025, time is 6:35 am, and the next departing train at 6:45 am is to Fall River and New Bedford.

Bi-level train at Fall River on a rainy day.

Crowded tent with a stage with Fall River/New Bedford Line Grand Opening branding. Gov. Maura Healey, General Manager Phil Eng, and other dignitaries are on stage.

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Doug @doug.city · 13/03/2025

Some truly fascinating typographical choices on this Home Depot mailer: * First and third lines bold * Second line semibold (?) * All words capitalized * Important (?) words all caps

Label on brown paper mailer with a recycling symbol and text reading:
Please RECYCLE
This Mailer Just
LIKE A BOX

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Doug @doug.city · 10/03/2025

Word Trade Center. Only debatably a separate station from the adjacent Chambers St, this terminal is a reflection of the IND’s thinking that express trains would travel between boroughs while locals wouldn’t. Its Brooklyn counterpart, Court St, closed in 1946 and is now the New York Transit Museum.

Platform at World Trade Center with a train on each side of the island platform.

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Doug @doug.city · 03/03/2025

The A Division had its own NTTT, the R110A, which had some of the advanced NTT passenger information features missing here. Sadly, all 10 were damaged and converted to pump cars. But there’s still the R110B, and for the first time in 25 years, you can experience this unique piece of subway history!

Detail of interior sidewall: passenger intercom, car number 3007 decal, vintage subway tile pattern decal strip, and passenger alarm tape.

Interior detail of side window with part blanked off for exterior LCD destination sign.

Detail of transverse seats with sidewall elbow niches.

Interior rear of R110B car 3007 looking toward rear of car.

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Doug @doug.city · 03/03/2025

It retains “conversation seating” like the R44/46/68, but with more modern materials. Unlike the production NTTs, there’s still a front rollsign and no electronic strip maps or next stop signs, just LCD destination signs like the post-overhaul R44/46. There’s a passenger intercom for the first time.

Interior front of R110B car 3007 looking toward the cab door.

Detail of cab door, speaker, Bombardier builder’s plate, and 1990s Transit Museum ad card.

Detail of interior sidewall: 1990s Transit Museum ad card, 1997 subway map, passenger alarm tape, and passenger intercom.

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Doug @doug.city · 03/03/2025

The R110B is the missing link between the 1970s-80s R44/46/68 and 2000s-20s R143/160/179/211. It’s an odd length—67 ft like a 1910s BMT Standard, not 75 like the R44/46/68 or 60 like other B-Division cars—so it ran as a 9-car train of 3-car sets, not 8 or ten cars like most B-Division trains.

Detail of “A” rollsign and blank front LED destination sign on R110B.

Detail of side window with blank LCD destination sign.

Detail of coupling between R110B and 1930s R1 car 100.

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Doug @doug.city · 03/03/2025

R110B at NYTM. This week, one of the most unusual subway cars owned by NYCT went on display at @nytransitmuseum.bsky.social. One of nine New Technology Test Train cars for the B Division, it ran from 1993 to 2000, and is the prototype for all New Technology Train B-Division cars from the R143 on.

Front of an R110B subway car in the dim light of the Transit Museum, with “A” rollsign.

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Doug @doug.city · 02/03/2025

96 St/2 Av, the newest terminal in the subway system.

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Doug @doug.city · 24/02/2025

17/20: First-class open promenade detail. 18/20: Looking forward from the cabin-class open promenade. 19/20: View over the stern from the cabin-class open promenade. 20/20: Cabin-class covered promenade.

Detail of a peeling deck house with two open portholes.

View from an aft open deck forward to the superstructure and aft funnel. The green decking is severely deteriorated and the bulkhead of the deck house is almost completely covered in rust.

Looking over the stern into the river. The green decking of the aft deck is heavily decayed and pockmarked, and part of the railing has been bent and is lying on the deck.

A covered deck space. There is some standing water on the deck and moss growing.

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Doug @doug.city · 24/02/2025

13/20: Wheel house. 14/20: First-class open promenade. 15/20: First-class open promenade detail. 16/20: The aft funnel from the first-class open promenade.

View of the wheel house. All the equipment has been removed, but you can see where it was formerly mounted on the deck.

A covered deck space. The white deck house and green decking are dirty and rust-streaked and the paint is peeling.

Close-up of four portholes on a white deck house. The white paint is peeling, the portholes are dirty and cloudy, and one is shattered.

A faded, peeling, red, white, and blue funnel with part of a deck house visible beneath it.

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Doug @doug.city · 24/02/2025

9/20: View over the bulwark of the foredeck. 10/20: Builder’s plate. 11/20: View of the funnels from the top of the wheel house. 12/20: View over the bow from the top of the wheel house.

Looking over the bulwark of the foredeck into the river. The rusty hull can be seen in the bottom of the photo.

Builder’s plate reading: United States
Designers Gibbs and Cox, Inc.
Builders 1952 Newport News Shipbuilding and Dry Dock Co. No. 488
Maritime Commission No. 2917

The two massive, faded peeling, red, white, and, blue funnels.

View out over the rusty foredeck with South Philadelphia beyond.

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Doug @doug.city · 24/02/2025

5/20: First-class main foyer. 6/20: First-class ballroom/lounge. 7/20: View through a round window in the first-class cocktail bar onto the first-class enclosed promenade. 8/20: View toward the superstructure from the foredeck.

A stair foyer with all the decor removed.

A double-height space with all its decor and furnishings removed, except a dance floor and bar are still present.

Looking through a dirty round interior window, with a ladder and large outer windows visible.

Standing on the rusty foredeck looking at the superstructure. Large piles of dock lines are coiled up on the foredeck. Underneath the bridge, a banner reads SaveTheUnitedStates.org.

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Doug @doug.city · 24/02/2025

While the SS United States is on its death tow to a watery grave off Florida in the Gulf of Mexico, I thought I’d post some photos from my one time on board, in June 2014, thanks to the SS United States Conservancy (which fought valiantly for 15 years to save the ship before time ran out in 2024).

Looking up at the SS United States, a rusty 1950s ocean liner, from the pier.

Close-up of the hull showing a rusty shell door.

Former staterooms. Most of the interior partitions and fixtures are removed, but their outlines can be seen on the deck.

An enclosed promenade. One side is entirely lined with large windows.

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Doug @doug.city · 23/02/2025

Three more terminals: 8 Av, Canarsie-Rockaway Pkwy, New Lots Av.

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Doug @doug.city · 20/02/2025

LOL it won't even load for me in Safari.

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Doug @doug.city · 19/02/2025

The Instagram ad algorithm is working very hard to find the most improbable vehicle for me to purchase.

Instagram ad from Bentley Paramus for a $270,290 2025 Bentley Bentayga S V8

Instagram ad from Ritchie List advertising heavy construction equipment

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Doug @doug.city · 19/02/2025

Pretty clearly a “your first year is practically free” loss leader, but I wasn’t expecting $12 to get me a tote bag in addition to 12 print and digital magazines. Is this the SF equivalent of the New Yorker tote bags that are ubiquitous in NYC neighborhoods like mine?

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