New York Transit Museum

The New York Transit Museum! Where do I even begin? I wanted to visit since I was a kid and, once I finally did, even though I felt weird because I was there alone among families, the place did not disappoint in the least. Allow me to share some highlights.

There’s plenty for graphic design and signage nerds, including old MTA logos, like the one shown above, and wayfinding through the years, shown below.

The route of the dashing commuter? Sign me up!

Tons of machines and mechanical equipment straight from the bowels of the subway system and its various control rooms:

Artifacts from before the Metropolitan Transit Authority, when NYC transit consisted of independent networks:

Maps; tons of them! This one shows where I first lived in Brooklyn:

Then I lived in the vast expanse of nothingness shown here, where the trains don’t go:

A scale model of a vintage elevated station, complete with a horse-drawn carriage on the street below. It’s just too much:

The highlight is the lower level, which is an old subway station whose tracks are now lined with old train models:

The best part is that the train cars are filled with period-appropriate advertising. My children must purify hands before eating. OMG:

I love the seemingly ancient history of the MTA, but this is more in keeping with my time frame:

The New York Transit Museum site is really just one long web page without many photos. It lists all the exhibits, but I’m not sure how well it really sells them to the potential visitor. Two awesome exhibits I’m not sharing because I don’t want to give everything away are Fare Collection, which is a row of turnstiles from different eras, and A Day in the Life of a Bus, which I don’t think I even need to explain.

The New York Transit Museum is located on the corner of Boerum Pl. and Schermerhorn St. in Brooklyn, with a small annex in Grand Central [both locations have extensive gift shops]. I’ve been to a lot of different museums, and this one is one of my all-time favorites. If I’d gone as a kid, I might have been inspired to become a train conductor!

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