“For two and a half years, Stephen Mallon photographed New York City’s subway cars as they found a new home and a renewed purpose. Called “Next Stop Atlantic”, the series sheds light on how these modern-day machines take on their next challenge – being artificial reefs for marine life.”
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All images by Stephen Mallon
Thank you to My Modern Met and Katie Nichols
One day in the far future – someone will come across subway cars on the bottom of the ocean and it will become one of the biggest mysteries of how they got there.
Want to dump your rubbish at sea but find your plans frustrated by all those pesky environmental regulations?
Simple, label your c**p an ‘artificial reef’ and dump away!
Actually, Mark, it’s cheaper to dispose of old subway cars on land- before turning them into reefs, they have all the old brake pads removed, fluids drained, various toxic materials taken away to landfills. But you’ll enjoy your fashionable cynicism regardless of any good done in the world.
Not to mention that if you dispose of the old subway cars on land, you can sell the metal for scrap. Lot’s of stainless steel on those cars, stainless steels sells for a good price.
Sad to say, the idea of dumping subway cars isn’t new. Decades ago in Los Angeles, the tire and auto companies realized that the best way to convert L.A. into a car culture was to get rid of all the electric streetcars that ran from downtown out to the beach, to Pasadena, etc. So they dumped them all in the Santa Monica Bay and tore up all the streets they used to run on. True story.
These images are riveting…haunting, heartbreaking, and sad…yet there is something so beautiful about these photos…
How the hell did so many people convince themselves that dumping any/everything in the ocean was a great idea? Let’s not forget how “Glass Beach” came to exist in Northern Ca. A really destructive and foolish idea for disposal at the time. As much as I don’t like how it came to be, I have to admit it really is an interesting place to see.
This is my first visit to this site. I look forward to coming back. Thank you.
Don’t you people read? This is done all over the world for the creation of artificial reefs. It is, afterall, marineLIFE that sustains the ocean and the way we live, and they’re NATURAL habitats are being eliminated. If these pictures showed old boats being lowered into the ocean to create reefs instead of old subway cars would you people still be crying?
and of course by they’re I meant their.