On Monday, November 3, 2003, at approximately 10:15 AM, old 9546 took off from the Times Square Subway Station, unaware that a chance assignment would bring it a moment of glory, as the lead car of an 11 car, No. 7 train, the last Redbird subway train to operate in revenue service on the MTA.
The No. 7 redbirds were built in 1963 in preparation for the 1964-5 World’s Fair in Flushing Meadows Park. They were originally painted in a beautifully turquoise and white
scheme – more Bluebird than Redbird. In the eighties these cars received graffiti resistant red paint. Many loyal fans rode the redbirds to its final destination – Willets Point
Boulevard and a send off to a useful afterlife as an artificial reef in the Atlantic Ocean.