Ronald Ruiz

Ronald, a retired New York City bus driver who lives in the Bronx, came to Coney Island on this day with his daughters via the Nostalgia Train, a set of six fully restored 30's and 40's era IND subway trains that the New York Transit Museum runs a few times a year. He describes with joy his various memories, including the terror of riding The Cyclone for the first time as a child but then becoming addicted to it, the experience of riding in a swinging car of the Wonder Wheel for the first time with his mother, the various attractions at Steeplechase and the anticipation of seeing the beached tugboat at Coney Island Creek, knowing then that he was almost there. Ronald also gives us a glimpse of what it was like in summer as a child to get off the train and head toward the beach.