NJ-ARP Blog

The New York Transit Museum’s Nostalgia Train will be making three trips this year. The train consists of vintage R1/9 cars, which were built between the 1930s and the 1940s.

The three trips are as follows:

1. Sunday, July 22, an afternoon/evening trip to Rockaway Park
2. Sunday, August 12, a daytime trip to Coney Island, including a guided tour through Stillwell Avenue Terminal
3. Saturday, Sept 8, a daytime trip to Rockaway Park and a ride along the ‘A’ line

Reservations and advanced payment required: 718-694-1867. $30, Museum members $25, children 3-17 $10. For more details on the trips, see http://www.mta.info/mta/museum/programs.htm and scroll down about 1/4 of the page to the Nostalgia Train section.

Working notes:

The following cars are expected to be in the consist of pre-WW2 subway cars in operation for the New York Transit Museum’s Summer 2007 Nostalgia Train excursions to Rockaway Park and Coney Island. The vintage railcars on the New York Transit Museum’s 2007 Nostalgia Train excursion were built between the 1930s and the 1940s.

A brief historical overview:

The IRT and BMT were initially operated by private companies with construction and rolling stock costs paid for by the city. In 1925, construction began for a new municipal subway system named the IND, the divisional initials for Independent. New York City stepped in to operate the new IND subway line during the Great Depression because the IRT and BMT companies were in no condition financially to accept stewardship of the new line. Compared to the other two divisions, (BMT & IRT) the IND turned out to be very efficient utilitarian engineering model. Stations were built in a larger scale with the entrances closer to both ends of the train, and tiles were color coded to help passengers identify their stops.

An introduction to the R1 – R9 series of Revenue Subway Cars:

The new IND Standard Revenue series subway cars known as the R1 – R9s entered operation in the 1930s. Numbered 100-399, they were operated on the new IND (Independent Subway) 8th Avenue line. The new IND R1 subway cars featured wicker seats, overhead fans, porcelain-covered straps and poles, and more spacious seating than their predecessors, such as the IRT Low-V (”low voltage”) and BMT Triplex cars. Although the new IND cars improved passenger loading with four pairs of individual double leaf door openings as compared to three on the BMT Standards with center posts. Other BMT innovations such as end destination and route signs were incorporated into the design of the IND fleet. IND R1 – R9s are 10 feet wide and 60 feet long; IRT cars are 8 feet 9 ½ inches wide and 51 feet long, and BMT Standard cars are 10 feet wide and 67 feet long.

Of the cars in operation for this season’s Nostalgia Train excursion car, all of the R 1 – 9 cars were designed to be inter-operable with each other with interiors similar to car #100. #484 and #1575 have different interiors – #484 has the Bull’s eye lighting and #1575 the prototype for the R-10 the first post WW2 cars sport different seating, ceiling fan configurations and longitude seating armrests.

The following cars are expected to be in the 2007 consist: #100; #381; #401; #1300, #1575; #1802 and the car roster subject to change.

Car #100 was in service from 1930 – 1970 and operated on the BMT Sea beach line (N), 1931; IND Eighth Avenue Lines (A,C, E) Sixth Avenue Lines (B,D,F) and Crosstown Line (G) 1932. Car # 100 was also the first of 300 cars in the R-1 series to be delivered to NYC. Each 60 foot-long car contained 60 seats in a mixed pattern of cross and lengthwise seating. Cars built for the IND through the 1930s (R-1 – R-9) retained the same basic design and mechanical systems. The R-1’s riveted shell and utilitarian green paint epitomized the somber industrial look of the Depression years. Yet the train also inspired a classic swing number, Billy Strayhorn’s “Take the A Train.”

Car # 381 was the last R-1 series car produced and its interior is similar to car 100.

Cars #401 and #484 from the R4 series made their appearance in the early 30s. Originally equipped with bare bulbs for lighting the interior (that featured left-hand screws so they could not be used for home lighting to discourage thieves. In the 1940s, the bare bulbs were replaced by “bullseye” lighting, so-called because of the fluted glass diffusers. In the 50s, wicker seats gave way to red cushion seating that did nothing to discourage vandals, bringing on the era of plastic benching. Car #401 R4 car sports a gray blue interior and was in operation one of the cars in operation during the models last days of service. The R4s were essentially the same as the R1s.

Car # 484 sports a lime green interior with red vinyl seats was the first subway car with a public address system, and bulls-eye lighting (a lens that dresses up the bare bulb) as seen in car 401.

Car # 1575 a R7a series subway car was built 1938 and rebuilt in 1947. This R-7a/ R-10 prototype was in service from 1938 through the 1970s. They operated on the IND 8th Avenue Line (A), Sixth Avenue lines (B,D,F), Crosstown line (G). 1938 – 1977; BMT Eastern Division Lines (J,M,L) after 1968. In 1946, #1575, was involved in an accident and was rebuilt as the prototype for the R10 post WW2 series subway cars, and it re-entered service in 1947. As a prototype for the next generation of subway cars, the R-10s featured new technical and interior amenities including: fluorescent lighting replacing incandescent bulbs; small window top roll signs, small twin bracket mounted fans replaced large ceiling mounted paddle fans; plastic velon seat coverings replaced the traditional rattan upholstery; and porcelain handgrabs were replaced by stainless steel handgrabs.

Car # 1300 — #R-6-1 in operation from 1936 – 1970. a standard IND car that was rebuilt after an accident operates the same interior as car 100.

Car # 1802 – the last R-9 produced. Interior is the same as car 100 was manufactured by the Pressed Steel Car Company. This subway car sports paddle fans, exposed incandescent lightbulbs, illuminated destination signs, rattan seats with a lime green interior.

In conclusion, the R1 -R 9 class subway cars delivered more than 45 years of continual reliable service.

The above information was provided by the New York Transit Museum.

Posted by Bob Scheurle under Uncategorized.