To The Rockaways By Rail. On Saturday, August 13, 2022, Metropolitan Transportation Authority - MTA NYCT Subway R-9 1802 (Pressed Steel, 1940) led a 6 car train to Rockaway Park/Beach 116 Street Station with a New York Transit Museum “Nostalgia Ride”, seen crossing the North Channel Swing Bridge over Jamaica Bay from Hamilton Beach towards Broad Channel in Queens, New York. The banner on the front, “Rockaway Here We Come”, is a replica the one used when subway service over the line was inaugurated on June 26, 1956. From its inception in 1880 until a significant fire in 1950 and its ultimate departure from these rails in 1955, the Long Island Rail Road had operated the Rockaway Beach Branch through a variety of service patterns, including via Ozone Park and the Far Rockaway Branch. Today, the area is served by the “A” Line and a shuttle from Rockaway Park/Beach 116 Street, which normally use R-46s or R-179s. Passengers on the Nostalgia Ride had several hours to either ride shuttle trips on a set of R-32s (Budd, 1964-65) that had been brought out for the occasion, grab lunch, or just go to the beach before returning to Manhattan.
