There's something endlessly fascinating about subway cars retiring in the deep seas and transforming into artificial reefs. The MTA's fleet of Redbird cars have been underwater since 2001, in New Jersey, Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, South Carolina and Georgia. Coming up next Monday Bob Martore, the Artificial Reef Manager from South Carolina’s Department of Natural Resources, will be in town to explain how subway cars help provide homes for marine life (tickets), and the organizers of the event just sent us over this video of a sea turtle and some of his friends taking the 7 train! (Warning: watching this video leaves you at risk of having that song from The Little Mermaid stuck in your head all day.) more ›

It's time for your annual subway reef moment of zen. Last November the Today Show gave us an up-close look at the watery graves that some subways will meet. Now the NY Times points out that tonight's National Geographic Ultimate Factories program visits a plant that produces the new subway cars, "telling us for almost an hour about all the welding and wiring and safety inspections that go into making the things." That's right, see the subway car that will inevitably cause you to be late for something, before it even hits the track, and way before it hits the surf. more ›

This morning the Today Show took a look at the subway cars that retire from the underground of New York, and (at the cost of the MTA) are sent to create artificial reefs off the coasts of other cities. (The program may soon benefit us as well, however.) Consider the below clip subway-reef-porn, with footage of the old cars being made suitable for the sea, and dumped off barges to meet their final watery resting place. more ›

A reader sent us some photos of retired subway cars traveling by barge to their watery graves. Once hitting the correct latitude they're dumped overboard to create natural reefs. Earlier this year the reef program proved to be too popular in Delaware, where subway cars were sent on the MTA's dime. Reportedly they're adding tanks, refrigerators, shopping carts and washing machines to the ocean floor in order to expand the reef. more ›