By Philip Newman
“I am furious,” Marshall said in reaction to the defacing early Tuesday morning of Car No. 9075, which was saved from a watery grave in the ocean to serve as a visitors center outside Borough Hall in Kew Gardens. It had arrived exactly a week earlier.”Here we are, fighting the battle against graffiti again,” Marshall said in reference to an era of three decades past when much of New York City's subway fleet was festooned with graffiti in what many saw as a symbol of the city's deterioration and malaise.”We already have it cleaned off and we have security in place against any such defacing in the future,” she said. “To anyone who intends to repeat this, I warn that it will be an exercise in futility.”The 50-foot, 80,000-pound Redbird car was delivered to a site at 82nd Avenue and Queens Boulevard between Borough Hall and the Queens County Courthouse by the New York City Transit Authority.The car, its undercarriage and a section of track traveled to Kew Gardens aboard a convoy of three flatbed trucks from the TA's Coney Island maintenance and repair shops.”When I found out that these cars were being lowered into the Atlantic Ocean to form a barrier reef, I asked the Transit Authority if we could rescue one for use a tourist information center,” Marshall said.”The agency complied with our request and I am grateful for their cooperation and assistance in moving this relic of Queens history to a suitable home.”Marshall hopes to include display cases and possibly Internet access in the car for visitors seeking information about attractions throughout Queens.The Redbird cars, so-called because of their burnt red color, made their final runs on the No. 7 line in June and were replaced with more modern high-tech cars.
