M. Friday 1986

Regarding R36WF cars 9400-01: "Also in NJ 9400 and 9401 are on their sides now getting copper goodies chopped off and they recycled all the R27/R30 scrap plus all the NJT RTS shells including the shorties. Made enough room for another contract now." -from BLE-NIMX on Subchat. (http://www.subchat.com/read.asp?Id=1267751) Also: https://www.facebook.com/r36preservation/posts/693693584014762 So we can expect the remaining old railcars system-wide to be leaving us soon.

So I stumbled upon this earlier. Photo's by a guy name DanielRivera24 on Flickr: Says that the photo was taken just last Thursday January 2nd. Appears to be on a move to somewhere on the 145th Street IND Station. Any ideas?

Speaking of snowy weather and what not, check these photos out....... R16 6305 in the snow. Both photos are from John Barnes and posted on nycsubway.org just yesterday. Photos were taken on December 10th at Coney Island Yard. These guys really did an excellent job. Hope car 6339 gets this similar treatment soon.

Random thought of the night....partially because I can't sleep.... As you know, we have a number of Redbird cars that are being set aside for, or are already in preservation. One thing I noticed is that we have at least one pair of each class of cars that later in their lives fell under the category of "Redbird". For example, we have one pair of R26s....a pair of R29s...a pair of R36 mainline cars, etc. (Same can be said for the B-Division equipment - a pair or R40s....a pair of R38s, etc. We have two pairs of R32s for the reason that the ones preserved were the first cars delivered and traveled under their own power to Grand Central Station via today's Metro North line). Now, when it comes to the R33 mainline cars, we have not one pair, but four, or 8 cars that sport various paint schemes. It made me wonder though: what was it about the R33ML class that made them want to preserve a train of 8 cars? In other words, what thoughts or ideas went towards the decision that, instead of preserving one pair, we needed four pairs? Side note: I do remember vaguely something about them wanting to keep 6-8 R38 cars when they retired (cars in the 4140-range at Concourse Yard), but these were quickly scrapped after. Not that I'm complaining that we have too many R33MLs, lol...but I am curious to know why we have a significant amount of them. Ideas and discussions welcome.

Lol....I doubt they'd put a train back in service that's been out of service for a long time. Even less of a chance if this set was in CIY when the yard got flooded by Sandy. But if it did, that would be something. Just wonder about this specific set though, since it wasn't scrapped this year with the rest of the mainline R44 sets.

No clue if this specific R44 set was, but I do remember there were several sets down there in CIY when Sandy hit.

This might've been brought up before here or elsewhere....so forgive me in advance if it has. So I read recently that there was an actual 4-car R44 set sitting in storage at Coney Island Yard for some time. Cars in that set are 5286-5289. I wonder what's the deal with this set? Is it on the scrap list? Long term storage? Any kinds of plans that would indicate that there is an interest in them, be this for parts or for preservation? Thanks!

One of New York City's odd but also amusing instances of street naming:

Today at about noon while on the Deegan I-87, I briefly glanced at what I saw was a single R110B car at 207 Street Yard's Track 65 (same track where recent scrap cars left property this year). No clue on car number (Stef on Subchat reports it to be car 3007), but I could tell it was an A-car unit; front cab was facing the 215th Street gate. I assume this is the car...or one of the cars....(?) from the 3001-3003 set that will be heading to Floyd Bennett Field?

Seemed interesting enough to share (if posted elsewhere on here, my apologies) - posted on Subchat member Gold_12th: http://www.subchat.com/readflat.asp?Id=1264549&p=1#1264554 SMS program on R-32, R-42, R-46, R-142A, R-143, R-160 car fleet "MTA is buying a lot of Westcode products (air brakes, door operator, HVAC components).... Highlights in the contract: R46 will undergo a overhaul on air brake and door controls in 2014-2016. R142A HVAC overhaul now through 2014 and again 2016-2019. R143 HVAC overhaul 2015-2017 R160 HVAC overhaul now til 2020. Cost: ~$8 million. page 176: http://web.mta.info/mta/news/books/pdf/131216_1030_transit-bus.pdf "

Looking forward to that and one with the Redbirds.

Or perhaps "The '60s Train"...seeing each car class was built throughout the 1960s.

Yup, I was told the same as well. R26, R28, R29, R36ML, and R36WF will remain as Redbirds and will be included into the museum collection with the 8 R33ML TOMC cars. EDIT: I also read there's interest in making a train of R32/38/40/40M/42s as well.

In R110A and R110B news: According to this post on Subchat : http://www.subchat.com/read.asp?Id=1263521 The R110B cars 3001-3003 are currently in the shop, as they've been chosen to be used by the NYPD at Floyd Bennett Field. They're replacing the R33ML Redbird 9156-57 that used to be there and are now gone (no idea if this will also replace the R32GE pair 3594-95 there, that's for anyone else to find out). Also in that same thread, regarding the R110A 8006-8010 that was sent recently to 207 Street Yard, it seems only the B-cars (8007, 8008, 8009) will go through the conversion to pump cars at this time. What plans are for 8006 and 8010 are unknown at this time. Post about the R110A here: http://www.subchat.com/read.asp?Id=1263549

I drove by the yard on the Major Deegan this morning and, whatever cars that were supposed to be there, weren't there anymore. But after seeing the pictures you posted yeaterday, I realized cars 3001-3003 weren't where they would normally be parked. The question is where they'd be heading to.

For anyone interested, as posted by Stef on Subchat - http://www.subchat.com/read.asp?Id=1263320 "R188 Car 7843 has arrived on the property at 239th St Yard as per my sources; so I will be looking for a complete set of Cars 7838-43 in a few days." So another set should be here soon. But...... "One which I am not so clear on right now involves the R110B. Have been told one car (3007) has been moved to the track (65) that goes out onto 215th St. Chances are, it's leaving the property." The second bit seemed more interesting to me. An R110B leaving property? As I understand, these cars can't be scrapped (at least not right now) due to them being purchased by federal money. So this can't be a scrap move. Anyone here have any ideas?

I noticed this too, whenever an R156 is making a move, there aren't many cars in the consists. I heard they can't pull or push many cars.

All my comments in Blue. Thanks for sharing!

So I was on a work-related trip to the Transit Museum this afternoon and among checking out the cars, I noticed that R15 car 6239 has a couple of mean dents upper mid-body, one right over the middle door of the car, and the other to the upper right of said door. Also noticed one window was cracked and fixed up with some scotch tape and part of the rubber frame supporting that window was popping out. Check out this photo and see what I mean: Photo by Nicholas Noel - 5/12/13 Also, the R44 5240 received one of the old school New York City Transit logos, and looks really good on the car. And the French Connection R42 pair look very sharp.

Saturday Night Live sketch done at the New York Transit Museum - http://www.hulu.com/watch/563307

Perhaps this has been announced elsewhere, but I figured I'd share this here. According to this post on Subchat - http://www.subchat.com/read.asp?Id=1259246 Arnine cars 100, 484, and 1575 left the New York Transit Museum yesterday in preparation for the Holiday Train rides that will be happening soon. In their place, R42 French Connection pair 4572-73 will be put on display. Get the cameras ready!

Question to you guys who might happen to know: As you guys know, the last railcars scrapped off NYCT property occured last October 22nd with R27 8145 and R30 8463. Lately, scrapping's come to a standstill, though I noticed that there are a few cars left on property that have been sitting in storage, including: - a handful of R33WF cars scattered at Unionport Yard and 207th Street Yard - 4 R36WF cars at Unionport Yard (9582-85) - R17 6895 and R21 7267 at Concourse Yard - R22 7486 at 207th Street Yard Question: what's the timeline for the rest of these cars to go to scrap? Does this have anything to do with the scrapping of cars already off property? Are there other cars not mentioned going to scrap? Thanks, guys!

Now I wonder this - are the Redbirds (specifically the ones from Corona) even being used for these yard moves anymore?