HBO charters vintage 4-car IRT train as rolling billboards for their 'Boardwalk Empire' TV show

Manhattan, September 4, 2011 - HBO chartered the 4-car IRT low-voltage train built in 1917 and 1924 as rolling billbords for their 'Boardwalk Empire' TV show scheduled to debut on September 25, 2011. On Saturdays and Sundays during this month of September, these behemoths of the past will troll the 7th Avenue IRT express line (2 and 3) between the 42nd St- Times Square and 96th Street stations.

Normally, rides on this classic equipment are done by special arrangement. The cost you ask? It's free when you've already paid your fare to enter the system. HBO hired the MTA to operate the train to promote the TV show. All you have to do is show up and ride!

My experience today is that many riders were not railfans but those looking to experience something they've never seen and sometimes sharing those experiences with their families or 'best buddies'.

The logical question is how did these cars survive almost a hundred years? The answer is through the passion and desire of railfans to save the equipment back in the 1960s as the scrapper's torch was about to hit them. Frank Turdik was a transit employee in the early 60s that loved the cars and managed to hide them with some help, evade the 'grim reaper' of the person in charge of scrapping all the 'Lo-V' cars. It's too long a story for this blog right now, but maybe I'll get to it some day.