The story: in 1986 I made a round trip through the USA and Canada. The starting point was New York. So I filmed some scenes in Manhattan. And was going in the underground at 43nd St & Timesquare. I filmed with a big ARRIflex 16mm camera with a 120m magazine with 7250 Kodak 16mm color reversal Tungsten 400 ASA film and a Schneider Cine Xenon 1:2/16mm lens . This equipment is good for 10 Minutes recording duration at 25 f/sec.
After I time a man comes to me and said, he´s a cameraman at ABC and filming at the subway is strictly forbidden without any permission and police is on the other end of the platform. So I was leaving the station, but I had these beautiful pics of the old times in the New York subway. At the same time I recorded the stereo sound with a SONY WM-D6C with two Sennheiser micros in stereo.
In 1986 I edited the pics to the song of the band “London Beat” — “9am at a New York subway”. About 25 years later I was uploading this movie to YouTube. But SONY Music was locking my movie because of the copyright of the song. So I deleted the audio track und was uploading the silence version. After the great response to this video of the New York subway of 1986 now I opened my archive once again with the original film and composed it with the original stereo sound to this over 10 minutes long “directors cut” of all scenes, I filmed at this day in June 1986. Enjoy it!
Thank you to Judy for telecine & color correction and Marion for the original sound recording.
Ah yes. The gritty in-your-face era of the NYC I remember. I was on the subway just about every day. Times Square (like a lot of underground stations) was brutal especially in summer. I was in my mid 30s then in 1986, and as a native-born New Yorker, this how I remember it in the mid-80s. But it was a fun year for me, the New York Mets kept us New Yorkers thrilled all season. Those R-32, R-22, R-29 and R-38 subway cars were spared no mercy from the graffiti, starting somewhere in the mid/late 1970s. And the cars seen in this video weren't the most extreme of the graffiti assault. There were some cars tagged (whole car-top to bottom) that you couldn't tell what station you were at until the doors opened. The MTA waged war on graffiti, finally suceeding by the later 1980s. Heavily graffitied cars often looked worse when MTA used strong solvents on the carbon-steel cars. R-62 stainless-steel subway cars came online in 1986.
Sure miss the sounds: the screeching of brakes, and the general loudness of trains entering or leaving stations. And the announcements: "Step in! Step in!! Watch the closing doors!! Hey you back there!! Let the doors go!! We have a holding light, we should be moving shortly." And back then, train reliability was an issue: sometimes while at a station there would come the announcement: "Attention passengers, everybody off!! This train is now out of service!" If a train came to a stop in between stations, after a long period, one could hear the conductor conversing to the motorman (now called "train operator") "Are we in BIE?"
Thank you for posting this awesome video! Sure brings back the memories. The sounds, images, the people and the general atmosphere are captured so well.
"….In the old days of New—New York, dwellers would notify eachother by secret messages painted on the Metro cars, where the recipient line would quickly respond by the next business day….If you were careful to read for updates — I ❣️ New York — is the most favourable message communicated about the Metropolis…."
Meanwhile decades later my ears are remembering the damage done by the loud rattling and screeching of those trains. I never realized how dingy it was down there, just accepted it until I saw subways overseas, how clean, safe, and modern they were. Great footage. Thanks.
Those Pullman-built R-44 I remember were really fresh and modern addition to the 80+ yo Subway/Elevated rail system back then… tho looking online it's stated that "St. Louis Car Co." built the R-44s, tho I clearly remember the Pullman build-plates… all the newer R-160s seem closely modeled after the R-44s
Now THIS is the NYC that I miss…Despite the high crime, I miss this era that the city had especially because of these beautiful train cars…..These trains is what made the city…Today the city has lost all of its characters and flavor thanks to the weak a$$ millennials…aka….the snowflake generation with no taste….Thanks for the video!!
As an 18 year old today in 2022 looking at how much the trians have changed over time is just so cool to me especially with the new ones that are coming in on the lirr and then with the really cool modern bullet ones you see in Japan but it’s crazy these people are staring at him wondering why he’s recording not realizing this small moment in their life probably a very insignificant day would be a video use for history lol
Ah yes. The gritty in-your-face era of the NYC I remember. I was on the subway just about every day. Times Square (like a lot of underground stations) was brutal especially in summer. I was in my mid 30s then in 1986, and as a native-born New Yorker, this how I remember it in the mid-80s. But it was a fun year for me, the New York Mets kept us New Yorkers thrilled all season. Those R-32, R-22, R-29 and R-38 subway cars were spared no mercy from the graffiti, starting somewhere in the mid/late 1970s. And the cars seen in this video weren't the most extreme of the graffiti assault. There were some cars tagged (whole car-top to bottom) that you couldn't tell what station you were at until the doors opened. The MTA waged war on graffiti, finally suceeding by the later 1980s. Heavily graffitied cars often looked worse when MTA used strong solvents on the carbon-steel cars. R-62 stainless-steel subway cars came online in 1986.
Sure miss the sounds: the screeching of brakes, and the general loudness of trains entering or leaving stations. And the announcements: "Step in! Step in!! Watch the closing doors!! Hey you back there!! Let the doors go!! We have a holding light, we should be moving shortly." And back then, train reliability was an issue: sometimes while at a station there would come the announcement: "Attention passengers, everybody off!! This train is now out of service!" If a train came to a stop in between stations, after a long period, one could hear the conductor conversing to the motorman (now called "train operator") "Are we in BIE?"
Thank you for posting this awesome video! Sure brings back the memories. The sounds, images, the people and the general atmosphere are captured so well.
I'm thinking that Robert De Niro will come down the escalator from somewhere… Like in a Scorsese movie…..
Like at "Mean streets"….
Heard NYC is a hell hole
Wow this was such a different time in space, I miss those NYC days.
I love this
"….In the old days of New—New York, dwellers would notify eachother by secret messages painted on the Metro cars, where the recipient line would quickly respond by the next business day….If you were careful to read for updates — I ❣️ New York — is the most favourable message communicated about the Metropolis…."
I turned 20 that year and I left in April to begin Basic Training in Ft Benning Ga.. Awesome footage. Thank you for the memories!
The platform at 1:20 was really narrow. I don't know if today's security standards would allow that.
yepp
We got some time travelers sending us some real footage man
I never considered those random tags "art." That shit looked sloppy. But when the whole side of the car was bombed, that was hot.
Good times…no apps around
I'm finding it hard to believe trains looked like this less than 15 years before I was born
R44 noice
Such a filthy time…
Meanwhile decades later my ears are remembering the damage done by the loud rattling and screeching of those trains. I never realized how dingy it was down there, just accepted it until I saw subways overseas, how clean, safe, and modern they were. Great footage. Thanks.
CC train?? Wha?? ITS CALLED C TRAIN NOW
Those Pullman-built R-44 I remember were really fresh and modern addition to the 80+ yo Subway/Elevated rail system back then… tho looking online it's stated that "St. Louis Car Co." built the R-44s, tho I clearly remember the Pullman build-plates… all the newer R-160s seem closely modeled after the R-44s
Now THIS is the NYC that I miss…Despite the high crime, I miss this era that the city had especially because of these beautiful train cars…..These trains is what made the city…Today the city has lost all of its characters and flavor thanks to the weak a$$ millennials…aka….the snowflake generation with no taste….Thanks for the video!!
As an 18 year old today in 2022 looking at how much the trians have changed over time is just so cool to me especially with the new ones that are coming in on the lirr and then with the really cool modern bullet ones you see in Japan but it’s crazy these people are staring at him wondering why he’s recording not realizing this small moment in their life probably a very insignificant day would be a video use for history lol