Subway signs, benches, trash cans among 1,000 items at MTA's pop-up holiday sale

Train buffs can take home a piece of transit history for the holidays – but the price is steep.

The MTA is holding a pop-up holiday sale this week, where rail fans can snag subway signs, benches, trash cans and even pieces from the discontinued R32 trains known as the Brightliners. Over 1,000 items are for sale.

A price guide says the artifacts are on sale at a discount. But they’re still costly. A large sign for the Chambers Street A, C, E, 1 and 2 trains goes for $765. A sign for the “Bedford Avenue” subway station sold for $675. The buyer, Dan Hyman, said he planned to hang the sign in his backyard in Williamsburg.

"I love the graphics standards of the MTA. Also, I'm a supporter of it. So it's one way for me to give back, I guess, aside from paying the fare," said Hyman, 37.

Officials said 800 people RSVP'd for a limited time slot online, but more spots are available here on Thursday and Friday. Walk-ins are allowed on Friday between 9 a.m. and 1 p.m.

Matthew Carson from Long Island City snagged some rare scroll signs, which were used to indicate the line a train was traveling on. Carson got signs for the K, H and X lines, none of which are currently in service, to give to his twin 9-year-old boys.

“They couldn't attend, they're in school today, but I signed up and got some very cool collector items,” said Carson, 48. “It's going to be a meaningful Christmas present from Santa, so to speak.”

Paul Dvoskin, the MTA’s director of asset recovery, is in charge of gathering the old equipment, assigning a price and running the sale. To the train buffs who’d come from around the world to check out the three-day sale, he might as well have been Santa.

“We have side roll signs, seats, number plates, master controllers, everything that we're able to pull off, it's there,” he said.

This year's hottest items are pieces of R32 trains, which were recently taken out of service on the C line.

Dvoskin used eBay auctions of similar items to help set the price. He said he also considered “the historical significance, geographical significance.”

“Something from Times Square, something from the World Trade Centers — it'll be priced a little higher,” he added.

One of the cheapest items for sale was a $25 grab bar from the Redbird train cars, which were retired in the 1980s. Dvoskin said the cars were completely stripped of parts before being dumped in the ocean to make an artificial reef.

Tom Howell, 38, who was visiting from Brisbane, Australia with his 5-year old daughter and -year-old son in tow, was among the curious customers on a frigid Wednesday morning.

He grabbed a small Wall Street subway sign, a Lexington Avenue sign, and stickers once used on buses to display the fare when it was $2.75.

“It's the only thing you can take back that's authentic,” he said. “We very frequently go through Manhattan and see the tourist shops,” he said. “But this is authentic, this is real. This is what New York is.”

This is the third year the MTA has held the holiday pop-up sale.