Remembering The IRT Redbirds

[EE Broadway Local]

Lets share our memories of the I.R.T. Redbirds (R26,R28,R29,R33ML and R36WF) in this thread.

[DarrylR.14]

All I can say to this is that I rode those fleets only on the not any other line. (and when i was 7 or 8 i wanted to ride those shiny R62s but always get the redbirds)

[AA 8th Avenue]

Anything wrong with the B division ones? They were all great. I rode 'em alot back in the day. Just miss them...

[MattTrain]

I rode them a lot as a young boy on the . When my family tried to hop on to what was the brand new R142A on the , we got the redbirds instead. It was fun anyways. :cool: I think the was using all redbirds, and not the R62s, if I'm not mistaken. The was full of those cool redbirds.

[bknightshadow45]

When I was younger I have rode the redbirds on the trains. I was happy that the IRT had the R142's but sad to see the redbirds go. But I did caught an R62a train before they got their R142's.

[SubwayGuy]

Rode the redbirds on Lex Ave all the time as a kiddo...Remember one time I'm sitting in the "love seat" across from the M/M, he's operating, musta been an old rustbird, one of the poor ones...hot car, lights gap off over 3rd rail gaps, squealing brakes and carbody (not rust) rot everywhere...creaking into the station heh...when all of a sudden the storm door slides open, I look out and see - NOTHING. No safety chains, no nothing. Just anticlimber, and then roadbed, as the car rolls to a stop. I remember not being scared at all but just thinking "wow." Of course nowadays there'd be all sorts of complaints and lawsuits about it. Those cars were in some ways a "reality check" if you ask me. Set your expectations too high? Train loses too many motors and gets yanked from service. Get too much of an ego about things like "no A/C being beneath you" boom in comes a cranky redbird blowing hot air, yet somehow still cooler than the subway platform you were just standing on.

 

The redbirds weren't particularly great cars or anything unique but I enjoyed riding them because I grew up riding them, hence "nostalgia train" when they run because it's nostalgic FOR ME. I did my share of standing at the RFW as a kid, and of course even then wanted to be a M/M...was friendly with some of them because I'd always stop to watch the train leave getting off at Bleecker when my father took me w/him to work. They'd wave, off I'd go, and off they'd go..

 

Brings back memories, in hindsight not the best ones but their my memories so its cool. late 80's/90's was an interesting time to ride the trains...so was early 2000's when the new techs came in and you had cars from 3 different generations all running the same tracks.

[Y2Julio]

I used to love riding them to go see the Mets play at Shea Stadium. I would ride up front by the RFW, loved seeing Shea Stadium come out from the forest of buildings and trees as the train got closer.

[mark1447]

Ah yes. The classic days! They were and still are the best out of any car! Even the R32s, even tho i love em too!

 

I use to always enjoy the view of the Railfan window, i played with the roll signs since i was little of course lol.

 

The most id rode em on was on the

 

rode em from time to time.

 

It was such a beautiful set of cars! Loved all of em R26, R28, R29, R33WF/ML, R36WF/ML..

 

RIP!

 

Last time i rode it was in 2003 on the line. Though since i wasnt much of a rail fan i didnt know it was retiring. SO i started checking out the R62As on the , especially since the Storm door/RFW on the front car was poing toward TSQ-42nd, unlike now its Flushing -Main St.

 

Last time for the was in 2002, express to Burnside Avenue

was about the same year or 2001, express from 86th and down

The was in 2001 from 110th St- south

The at 86th

 

This was when i was living in manhattan before 2004

 

I remember in 2004 while on the Downtown i saw the TOMC in regular service passing 135th-125th with passangers. I thought the R33s were still in service, but I was wrong when i saw it on NYCSUBWAY.org

 

I miss em now. So the only way i can ride em today is yearly thru the Train of Many Colors. I wonder whats next years agenda going to be

[R32 3838]

Rode the redbirds on Lex Ave all the time as a kiddo...Remember one time I'm sitting in the "love seat" across from the M/M, he's operating, musta been an old rustbird, one of the poor ones...hot car, lights gap off over 3rd rail gaps, squealing brakes and carbody (not rust) rot everywhere...creaking into the station heh...when all of a sudden the storm door slides open, I look out and see - NOTHING. No safety chains, no nothing. Just anticlimber, and then roadbed, as the car rolls to a stop. I remember not being scared at all but just thinking "wow." Of course nowadays there'd be all sorts of complaints and lawsuits about it. Those cars were in some ways a "reality check" if you ask me. Set your expectations too high? Train loses too many motors and gets yanked from service. Get too much of an ego about things like "no A/C being beneath you" boom in comes a cranky redbird blowing hot air, yet somehow still cooler than the subway platform you were just standing on.

 

The redbirds weren't particularly great cars or anything unique but I enjoyed riding them because I grew up riding them, hence "nostalgia train" when they run because it's nostalgic FOR ME. I did my share of standing at the RFW as a kid, and of course even then wanted to be a M/M...was friendly with some of them because I'd always stop to watch the train leave getting off at Bleecker when my father took me w/him to work. They'd wave, off I'd go, and off they'd go..

 

Brings back memories, in hindsight not the best ones but their my memories so its cool. late 80's/90's was an interesting time to ride the trains...so was early 2000's when the new techs came in and you had cars from 3 different generations all running the same tracks.

 

That was the Main reason why The MTA wanted all the redbirds gone, Most of those problems were the WH R29's on the , But I used to ride those Redbirds on the (2)/(5) alot as well as the , Rode the on the (4)/(6) rarely I even rode an R33ML on the Post 9/11 to New Lots ave, But the (2)/(5) had the best redbirds, The (4)/(7) had the rust buckets, My Favorite ones were the R26/28's and the R33WF's, I also liked the R33ML's as well.

[R32 3838]

Ah yes. The classic days! They were and still are the best out of any car! Even the R32s, even tho i love em too!

 

I use to always enjoy the view of the Railfan window, i played with the roll signs since i was little of course lol.

 

The most id rode em on was on the

 

rode em from time to time.

 

It was such a beautiful set of cars! Loved all of em R26, R28, R29, R33WF/ML, R36WF/ML..

 

RIP!

 

Last time i rode it was in 2003 on the line. Though since i wasnt much of a rail fan i didnt know it was retiring. SO i started checking out the R62As on the , especially since the Storm door/RFW on the front car was poing toward TSQ-42nd, unlike now its Flushing -Main St.

 

Last time for the was in 2002, express to Burnside Avenue

was about the same year or 2001, express from 86th and down

The was in 2001 from 110th St- south

The at 86th

 

This was when i was living in manhattan before 2004

 

I remember in 2004 while on the Downtown i saw the TOMC in regular service passing 135th-125th with passangers. I thought the R33s were still in service, but I was wrong when i saw it on NYCSUBWAY.org

 

I miss em now. So the only way i can ride em today is yearly thru the Train of Many Colors. I wonder whats next years agenda going to be

 

They need to run the TOMC or those Redbirds this December instead of R1/9's, I would love to ride those cars again and this time in passenger service.

[mark1447]

They need to run the TOMC or those Redbirds this December instead of R1/9's, I would love to ride those cars again and this time in passenger service.

 

Thanks YOU!!!! Forget the R1/9. Its not fair every weekend in decmember its R1/R9! Give people the classic Redbirds!

 

I remembe rin 2004 they had every weekend for a month for each IRT line to have the Redbird

 

1 weekend for the the other for the .. dunno about the maybe it was for the instead..

 

I also hope something like that comes for the R32/R38/R40/A/R42

[R10 2952]

I remember them as being the only subway cars that I really liked back then. I rarely rode the subway back then, though. Rarely go the chance to. I usually rode them on the , and maybe sometimes on the , but as far as I knew, the were almost always redbirds, whereas the , , , and trains were almost exclusively R-62/A. That is why I always hated the , , and , and loved all the other numbered lines. I liked all the Redbird cars, but my favorite cars were the R-33WF, as they recieved a rebuild that left them with many of their original parts, and were single cars; as well as the R-36 ML, as they were very rare (only 34 of them altogether), and seemed to be like a better-maintained version of the R-33 ML. of course, back then I didn't really know which was which.... I could only differentiate between ML and WF cars because of the window shape.

[Princelex]

The first time I rode on a "Redbird" was in the summer of 1987. My mom and I took the to her hair salon in Gun Hill Rd from 110th St and after we got on, I was just amazed. I thought they were new trains cause they were so fast and I loved the ride. Later on, I would ride them everyday on the to school and sometimes it was all I rode on having lived by the and transfering to the at 149th St - Grand Concourse in the late 80's - early 90's.

 

I loved them on the and as well but there was something about riding them on the that was just fascinating. I felt like I was somewhere else with those trains. They were unique, they rocked nicely and they were fast. Man those redbirds were truly something special and I'm so glad that I was able to ride them on a daily basis.

[Princelex]

They need to run the TOMC or those Redbirds this December instead of R1/9's, I would love to ride those cars again and this time in passenger service.

Why not have them both? It would make Christmas 2009 that much more fun if they ran them both in revenue service but it's all about the Benjamin's. I hope they have enough to make it happen this year.

[DJ MC]

Please, watch the Nazi Banksters Crimes Ripple Effect at http://jforjustice.co.uk/banksters

[RTOMan]

May "take" on the Rebirds that i operated on when i was in the A Div best to worst line wise..

 

.. fastest trains best braking

 

.. slides a bit leaf season even more fun..

 

.. Too many dead motors for my taste

 

.. Motors drop out too much get tired of reseting them..

 

.. All of the above problems, you are praying sometimes when you grab a brake..

[S78 via Hylan]

I miss the ones on the .

[FlushingExpress]

i remember riding the R33/36 World's Fair Version on the on a weekly basis to visit my relativies in elmhurst and for summer school in flushing. though i knew the trains had 11 cars with five married pairs and one single car, i did not know the single units were not air-conditioned, which is why they did not run during the summer. i loved how the World's Fair cars blink over third rail gaps and the Mainline Redbirds were also great. i rode them often on the . i never rode on the until July 2003, when only the was still using them. the mainline cars were retired in April 2003 and August 29, 2003 was the last time i ever rode on a Redbird train. There were only three in service that day and the one i rode to Flushing went out of service after my ride. luckily, another Redbird train came (it was an express) and i rode it back to Manhattan. i knew the end was near considering how badly the cars were deteriorating. unfortunately, i was unable to make the last ride since i had school.

[trainfan22]

May "take" on the Rebirds that i operated on when i was in the A Div best to worst line wise..

 

.. fastest trains best braking

 

.. slides a bit leaf season even more fun..

 

.. Too many dead motors for my taste

 

.. Motors drop out too much get tired of reseting them..

 

.. All of the above problems, you are praying sometimes when you grab a brake..

 

They probaly didn't maintain those redbirds much when you operated them because the R142/As were replacing them soon. I noticed that in Transit a old train or bus always goes down the crapper when its about to retired and replaced with new equipment.

[R10 2952]

They probaly didn't maintain those redbirds much when you operated them because the R142/As were replacing them soon. I noticed that in Transit a old train or bus always goes down the crapper when its about to retired and replaced with new equipment.

 

That is so true. I mean, look at the R-40 Slants right before they were retired. They rumbled very loudly, had flat wheels from time to time, and their exteriors were FILTHY. If they were still running today, they'd be almost as dirty and grimy as they were in the 1980s.

[mark1447]

That is so true. I mean, look at the R-40 Slants right before they were retired. They rumbled very loudly, had flat wheels from time to time, and their exteriors were FILTHY. If they were still running today, they'd be almost as dirty and grimy as they were in the 1980s.

 

Same for R44, its not getting any small fixes regarding the carbon strip area which is rusting and its got like 5-6 yrs to go. Not even new seat paint will do like the R46...

[trainfan22]

That is so true. I mean, look at the R-40 Slants right before they were retired. They rumbled very loudly, had flat wheels from time to time, and their exteriors were FILTHY. If they were still running today, they'd be almost as dirty and grimy as they were in the 1980s.

 

Of this batch of retirements, the ENY R42s had it the worst IMO (When the 160s only ran during rush hours on the ). They were beat up sent to pikin they fixed them up then got sent to jamaica only to get beat up again! lol.

[DJ MC]

Please, watch the Nazi Banksters Crimes Ripple Effect at http://jforjustice.co.uk/banksters

[waynejay]

I have lots of memories of them as these are the car I grew up riding. As a child I lived near West Farms Sq. We used to ride the line regualrly from E. 180th to Dyre Ave to visit my aunt. Always loved looking at the layed up trains at 180th shops. Loved the Lexington Ave express, but 7th Ave express got honorable mention. I remember in the 70s when the TA start installing A/C in the R-26/28,29,33ML and 36. Once I was old enough to ride on my own I tended to avoid the older stuff (R-14,15,17,21 & 22).

 

I loved the R-26/28 and 29s when they came back from GOH at Morrison-Knudsen. Those cars were awesome and I rode them every chance I got on the . Did ride them too much on the Pelham line as they usually did the service and the R-62As seem to hold down the service.

 

One thing I never liked was the mixed consist trains whoch were pretty much the rule.

 

They were great part of my childhood.

[R32 3838]

My favorite ones were the the R26/28's, They were the best, As well as the R33/36WF cars, The R33ML's were great also, But I liked the ones with the NYAB equipment and the mixed motor sound better than the Wabco Ones, The Only Redbirds I did not like were the Westinghouse R26's on the , They were the wrost, But the R36ML's and WF cars were great, The R36ML's could have lasted for another 3 years, They were in the best shape.