Difference between R68 & R68A?

[R68 Subway Car]

The R68A brake system delays before application when the brake handle is moved to a service position. R68's do not. Ask any B Division qualified T/O and they will tell you

Thats true, R68As always have a delayed start when the brakes are released.

[SubwayGuy]

If you meant acceleration, then that's quite strange. To me, the R68A sounds more like an R42 b/c of the Westinghouse motors. Unlike other trains using a Westinghouse/Adtranz Propulsion, it doesn't make that whirl (except 5076) as on cars with broken motors.

 

That whirring sound is not caused by broken motors. It's caused by the bull gears, which for some reason on this equipment have some kind of metal issue that causes them to make that noise. Because of various shop work that's been performed on the cars over the years, each car may not originally have its original axle/gearbox assembly, so there's no set pattern between R68 and R68A as to where you might notice this.

[LRG]

Even looking at the pictures is still confusing. From now on I can differetniate R68s and R68As only by car numbers, I'm sorry. But we all have different ways of memorizing cars. The way I memorize R142s and R142As is by propulsion (the easiest method available). R160s are more complicated because people think that Onix Propulsion is an Alstom Car when it could very well be KAwasaki. And I heard Alstom Cars may be using Siemems Propulsion as well (?).

[Maserati7200]

The point is, they're both awesome :cool:!

 

Seriously, what were engineers thinking by adding a delay to the R68A's brakes? What if you need to stop from a low speed (less than 5 MPH)because you don't want to hit someone on the tracks or something.. you're going to have to use the emergency brake so you won't get the delay.

[Zman]

 

R68's are numbered 2500-2924, and built by Westinghouse Amrail with the latter part in a combination which included Alstrom! All are in 4 car sets except 2916-2924 which are singles for the Franklin Ave. Shuttle. The Rollsigns behind the screens are flush to the glass, and also the interior, it buldges out. The keyhole is inside a round silver ring for the rollsign. The floors are now black specked to once was the standard beige. The interior is deeper in its shine on its stainless steel. Also note the interior number board placement to which is to the right of the Emergency Brake decal at the cab ends. Also the T/O's cab at the full length end the door swings open to the inside of it. Note on the 4 car sets, the controls are at the full-cab ends on the even numbered cars and are arranged for example 2500-1-2-3, 2504-5-6-7, 2508-9-10-11, 2512-3-4-5, 2516-7-8-9. Then it goes up in the sequence right up to 2915. In the singles, all cars 2916-2924 have controls in both ends (full, and half width cabs). Also on the single Franklin Ave. Shuttle cars, the side rollsign boxes were removed in favor of decaled rollsigns in its place. Another thing is also the rollsigns were removed in each non-operating cab. This conversion took place in 2000. Also outside, the side rollsign has a silver strip between that, and the window underneath. End rollsigns are mostly lower flush in the front except R68's from 2780-2924 to which have a higher rollsign with a slot underneath for what I guess was gonna be a slot for an extra screen that never materialized that the R110's in both series had (time interval screen display board). Number boards are all in the same general locations where they are behind the first sets of doors on each end, and windows. MTA logo is between the cab window and first set of doors on both sides on the right fronts.

 

R68A's are numbered 5101-5200, and built by Kawasaki. All are in 4 car sets now to which was done in 1997-98. All came as singles! Most with the exception of a few have the black speckled flooring. Rollsigns are flush with the wall inside, and the rollsign inside of it is recessed. Also the key hole for it has no ring around it. Cab doors slide, and interior number board placement is above the Emergency Brake sticker at the ends. Also as mentioned on a previous statement, the end rollsigns are all high with no slots underneath, and no red door sticker at the end doors. The interior walls are duller than the R68's built by Westinghouse Amrail. Outside side rollsigns are inside a solid plate of glass rather than in a frame that the R68's have. Also outside numberboard placement is even spaced where the MTA logo is behind the cab, and numberboard with flag behind the first set of doors on one end, and at the other end between the rear door set, and cab window is the numberboard. All R68A's are linked together as follows for example 5001-2-3-4, 5005-6-7-8, 5009-10-11-2, 5013-4-5-6, 5017-8-9-20. Note that again the even cars at the full-length end are the control cars of each end of that particular set.

 

The 68's were also delivered as singles.

 

There's also a petit nuance with the car numbering scheme between the 68's and the 68A's. With the 68's the B car in the 4 car set is always higher than the corresponding A car (2510-11-13-12 -- 2684-85-87-86 for example.) The 68A's do the exact opposite in which the B car is lower than its A mate (5010-09-07-08 -- 5198, 97, 99, 5200.)

 

The R68A brake system delays before application when the brake handle is moved to a service position. R68's do not. Ask any B Division qualified T/O and they will tell you

 

The 68's and the 68A's brake the same since they've both been fitted with E-Cam crap, so there are some similarities.

 

With both the 68 and 68A you will not get a delay in brake when the train is moving at 31 mph or less. You ask for it, you get it. At 32+ mph, you will get a delay of up to 4 seconds from the time the brake is requested until the time the brake actually applies.

 

The difference between the two comes when you are about to stop the train. With the 68 you can "fan" the brakes which makes it a lot easier to stop the train, and if you let the brakes go too much then try to take an immediate brake, the delay (or what we like to call "sailing") is less than a 68A. With the 68A, do it at the wrong time and you could literally sail that first door panel right out of the station. A T/O's natural instinct is to put the brake into full service when this happens, but on the 68A that only compounds the problem.

 

Also with the 68A, you cannot "fan" the brakes so you have to be a lot more delicate when about to make a station stop at speeds of 15 mph or less; you have to place the handle in certain positions and let it sit for a couple seconds to receive the desired effect. The 68A also takes double the time for the air brakes to release from full service to running release (at a station) than a 68.

[R44 5278]

That whirring sound is not caused by broken motors. It's caused by the bull gears, which for some reason on this equipment have some kind of metal issue that causes them to make that noise. Because of various shop work that's been performed on the cars over the years, each car may not originally have its original axle/gearbox assembly, so there's no set pattern between R68 and R68A as to where you might notice this.

 

Perhaps not, but I've heard it on practically all trains with Westinghouse or Adtranz Propulsion systems such as the R62As, R44s, and even R1s.

[KTrainExp]

An obvious way to tell between both train classes are the windows. On the R68s, you can tell that the windows have a thicker layer of rubber outlining in both the interior, and the exterior window panels. The R68As have less of that outlining and more metal surrounding it.

 

Another way to tell, is inside the train. You can only differentiate this only if you are inside the interior of the train. On the R68As, you can see that the bars separating the Northern Destination from the Southern Destination seems to be missing or ripped off. However, on the R68s, the panels that separate the two destinations seem to still be intact. I'll post some visual elements to clarify this shortly.