Last Stop

SUBWAY LAST STOP 4, originally uploaded by Tom Loback.

Old subway cars are being used to make artificial reefs off the east coast.

OCEAN CITY, Md (Reuters) - After four decades carrying millions of New Yorkers, 44 of the city's subway cars are now home to millions of fish.

The worn-out cars were dumped on Friday into the Atlantic Ocean, 21 miles off the Maryland coast, to create an artificial reef, designed to attract fish for the state's lucrative sport-fishing industry.

"These reefs provide quality habitat for marine life off our coast which benefits not only the environment but also local businesses," said Ocean City Mayor Rick Meehan.

The 18-ton stainless steel cars -- minus wheels, windows and doors -- were stacked two-high on a barge where a bucket crane with a specially designed hydraulic lift picked them up one by one and dropped them into 90 feet of water.