R = rare, N = never

i smiled a lot while reading this story.

The W was one of two subway lines (the other was the V) to be axed by the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, which began major cuts to transit service this weekend to help close an $800 million financing gap.
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But on Friday, hours before commuters had to face the consequences of the cuts, the city’s subway enthusiasts decided to send the doomed trains off in style.
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The W’s valedictory journey took on the vibe of a New Orleans funeral. Ms. Carames, the conductor, took the troubles in stride: the twentysomethings who piled into the back car with piña coladas and acoustic guitars; the hipster who screamed, “Murderer!” in her face as she made her way along the car during her last inspections. Perhaps it was a joke, but given public attitudes toward the transportation authority, it did not strike Ms. Carames as particularly funny. “I knew it was going to be a bit of a madhouse,” she said.
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Quietly observing this bacchanal was Renee Alexander, who stood in the far corner of the car and assumed the studied stare of a subway rider who finds herself inches away from chaos. “I am feeling like my train was hijacked,” she said.

Ms. Alexander, a stage manager who commutes most days from a theater at 59th Street, said she was sad to see the W go. Its replacement trains, the R and the N, do not impress her. “The rare and the never,” she called them. (via)