"Climbing the Manhattan Bridge"
From the compact cab of R32 #3360, Train Operator James McGinty pilots the R32 Retirement Extra across the Manhattan Bridge during the morning of January 9th, 2022. The "R32 Retirement Extra", consisting of eight Budd Company R32 "Brightliner" railcars, was on it's first of 4 round trips from Brighton Beach to 96th Street.
The R32 fleet entered service in 1964 and would run in service up until January of 2022, making them the oldest surviving subway cars in North America. About half of the fleet was retired in the late 2000s with the arrival of the R160 cars leaving the rest to cover services mainly on the Eighth Avenue Line routes (A & C) during the winter season and BMT Jamaica Line routes (J & Z) during the summer season. During the month of October, 2020, the rest of the fleet was finally placed into storage/ work service after 2 reactivations and the securement of the R179 fleet in revenue service. The R32s were officially retired on January 9th, 2022 with a farewell celebration that featured a special train making several trips throughout the day along the Brighton, Broadway and Second Avenue Lines.