No more reindeer – this year Santa is arriving on a subway express train.
For the third year in a row, New York City’s Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) is hosting a pop-up Christmas sale where more than 1,000 memorabilia objects will be put on sale. Rail enthusiasts may purchase items such as benches, subway signs, garbage cans, and even parts of the long-gone R32 Brightliners trains.
800 individuals have already registered online for a restricted time period, according to officials, but there are still spaces available on Thursday and Friday. Additionally, potential buyers can come in any time between 9 a.m. and 1 p.m. on Friday.
The artifacts, however, are not very cheap. For instance, $765 is the price of a huge sign for the Chambers Street A, C, E, 1 and 2 trains. A subway station sign for “Bedford Avenue” was auctioned off for $675. Dan Hyman, the buyer, stated that he intended to display the sign on his Williamsburg lawn.
Overall, the most sought-after objects this year are sections of R32 trains, which were just retired from the C line. A $25 grab bar from the Redbird train carriages, which were withdrawn in the 1980s, was among the least expensive things for sale.
The MTA’s asset recovery director, Paul Dvoskin, is the person in charge of assembling the used equipment, setting a price, and overseeing the sale. “We have side roll signs, seats, number plates, master controllers, everything that we’re able to pull off, it’s there,” he told Gothamist.
Dvoskin established the pricing in part by using eBay auctions of comparable things. According to him, “the historical significance, geographical significance” were also taken into account.
