Question for the older railfans, Re: r44s

[chrislau12]

Does anyone know if the r44 ever ran regularly on the F train for any period of time during its lifetime? If so, when?

 

Thanks.

[BSmith]

It debuted on the F line and ran on the F line for years. Around 1971 to I guess 1975 or so. The R46s started to replace the R44s after awhile. The R44s also ran on the D and the A lines early on and soon after on the E.

 

Does anyone know if the r44 ever ran regularly on the F train for any period of time during its lifetime? If so, when?

 

Thanks.

[N-Trizzy2609]

About a year and a half ago, they put two 8 car sets on the during late night service when it rerouted on the Fulton Line. Because the track work on the Culver Line was so heavy, whatever was in the Ave. X Yard was stranded so a some of the (A)'s R44 went on to the . Keep in mind at the time R160 were still being delivered.

 

http://www.nyctransitforums.com/forums/showthread.php?t=11838 <See Thread for pictures.

[jimbob60]

Cars 100-2?? first saw service on the F beginning in the early 70's while the remaining cars were assigned to the D line. Of the 300 (12 were converted at some point to SIR service), cars I would guess more than 1/2 ran on the F. I started riding the QBL on a regular basis in 1974 when I went to high school and loved the sight of these new cars. I do recall an occasional sighting of these cars on the E. R46's arrived starting in the fall of 1975 and began service on the F. I am not sure when the R44's were last assigned to Jam yard. There were issues around 1980 when R46's saw limited services for awhile due to trunk problems and many cars were reassigned. I am also not sure when all R44's were assigned to Pitkin for exclusive service on the A.

[St Louis Car 09]

Cars 100-2?? first saw service on the F beginning in the early 70's while the remaining cars were assigned to the D line. Of the 300 (12 were converted at some point to SIR service), cars I would guess more than 1/2 ran on the F. I started riding the QBL on a regular basis in 1974 when I went to high school and loved the sight of these new cars. I do recall an occasional sighting of these cars on the E. R46's arrived starting in the fall of 1975 and began service on the F. I am not sure when the R44's were last assigned to Jam yard. There were issues around 1980 when R46's saw limited services for awhile due to trunk problems and many cars were reassigned. I am also not sure when all R44's were assigned to Pitkin for exclusive service on the A.

Thats truck problems.I didnt want to sound like a douche or anything.:tup:

[bwaylimited]

The R44's did indeed run on the "F" when they first entered service in 1971. The 300 original R44's were split into four batches and assigned to the A, D, E and F. When the R46's were delivered, all the R44's were transferred to the A and SIRT.

 

Gerald

 

Does anyone know if the r44 ever ran regularly on the F train for any period of time during its lifetime? If so, when?

 

Thanks.

[Grand Concourse]

Not regularly, but one time during an via Fulton line GO [few years ago], an R44 did end up on the . Probably because JYd was short a train or couldn't get an R32 from the (A)/© to run.

[chrislau12]

Thanks all. I just had a gut feeling that blue stripe and the orange F had a marriage at some point!

[Roadcruiser1]

Yes they did along with other lines.

 

 

R44

 

 

R44

 

 

R44

[jimbob60]

Thanks all. I just had a gut feeling that blue stripe and the orange F had a marriage at some point!

 

The F back then was more of a pinkish color as you can see. Even when the R46's came in the F was pink although appeared as just as circle then. Anyone know when the change came to orange to coordinate all of the 6th Ave trains?

[Roadcruiser1]

Here is the reason why:

 

http://secondavenuesagas.com/2010/05/10/subway-quiz-name-the-colors-as-the-mta-does/

 

Every shade in the subway color scheme has a secret name, known only to the handful of transit workers who oversee the system’s maps and signs. But on a recent visit to the New York City Transit sign shop in Brooklyn, Off The Rails was offered a glimpse at the palette. The colors, which have stayed static since the map changed to its current design in 1979, are provided by an outside paint supplier for use on the system’s signs. Each shade has its own moniker…

 

Colors are assigned based on a subway route’s “trunk line” – that is, which avenue it runs along in Manhattan. (This might provide fodder to those who feel the city’s transit service is biased toward Manhattanites.) The recent decision to re-route the M line up Avenue of the Americas, instead of its previous run into southern parts of Brooklyn, is why the route is about to lose its [brown] tint…

 

Subway colors have shifted over time. The scheme now in place was adapted from the Modernist map by Massimo Vignelli in the early 1970s, an abstract masterpiece that was scrapped because its right angles left riders too confused. Some of Mr. Vignelli’s colors were kept in place, according to Michael Hertz, the designer of the subsequent, less right-angled 1979 map. “We felt there was a familiarity already with dark blue on Eighth Avenue,” Mr. Hertz said in a recent interview.

 

But Mr. Hertz, whose firm is still in charge of maintaining the transportation authority’s maps, said he was skeptical of a few of his predecessor’s other choices. “His Lex colors were weak,” Mr. Hertz said. “One was a pink, one was a light gray.”

 

 

Mr Hertz 1978 map.

 

http://www.nycsubway.org/perl/caption.pl?/img/maps/calcagno-1978-system.gif

 

 

The most recent subway map from 2005

 

http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_KtmkplGjOTw/S9r3MzZ66KI/AAAAAAAAAY8/V133pxHuHXI/s1600/nyc-subway-map1.jpg

 

Not being mean and it might be a bit off topic this is my favorite system map. Even though it's from 1939 it reminds me that all of New York was once served by a giant amount of Subway and Elevated Lines. The only difference is there is no Sixth Avenue Line and Rockaway Beach Line. Which I would have had still wanted. I wished our present day subway map was this extensive with the Sixth Avenue Line, and Rockaway Beach Line added to it as well.

 

 

http://www.nycsubway.org/perl/caption.pl?/img/maps/system_1939.jpg

[Grand Concourse]

Links to the pictures would've been fine. You don't have to post pics of the maps.

[Eric B]

 

The R44's did indeed run on the "F" when they first entered service in 1971. The 300 original R44's were split into four batches and assigned to the A, D, E and F. When the R46's were delivered, all the R44's were transferred to the A and SIRT.

The 44's then became concentrated on the and . It was during the truck fiasco that a lot of the trucks were borrowed from the 44's to use on the 46's, and a lot of the 44's were sidelined (c1980). After a derailment on the , they were pulled and seemed to disappear altogether, and then eventually resurfaced only on the , and with the new braking (this still before the full GOH).

[MTAFan]

What about this:

[Grand Concourse]

Which I stated earlier:

Not regularly, but one time during an via Fulton line GO [a year ago], an R44 did end up on the . Probably because JYd was short a train or couldn't get an R32 from the (A)/© to run.

[St Louis Car 09]

What about this:

Thats a good catch!!!! Poor R44

[Joel Up Front]

Derailment on the ?

 

Note the Second Avenue Elevated on the last map there. It didn't run all the way down Second Avenue, but ran a good distance down the thing.... And then after World War II blew over, they wanted it torn down.... bad mistake, whether it used 2nd Avenue all the way down or not.

[SubwayGuy]

Note the Second Avenue Elevated on the last map there. It didn't run all the way down Second Avenue, but ran a good distance down the thing.... And then after World War II blew over, they wanted it torn down.... bad mistake, whether it used 2nd Avenue all the way down or not.

 

That's a good point about the els. Basically the 2nd ave el was a "variant" of 3rd avenue. What I mean by that is the southern and northern terminals were shared. North of 125th, the 2nd Avenue el merged into 3rd Avenue. South, the 2nd Avenue el turned east on 23rd Street and went down 1st Avenue until it became Allen Street, then merged back with the 3rd Avenue at Chatham Square, allowing for service either to City Hall or South Ferry.

 

The only deviations for 2nd Avenue service from this were the 60th street spur over the Queensboro Bridge to Queensboro Plaza, and the 34th Street spur to the river terminal. The 3rd Avenue elevated featured the spur to Grand Central at 42nd.

 

6th and 9th Avenue worked similarly. Both left South Ferry and went north. 6th Avenue split off, made a couple turns, and wound up on 6th Avenue as far as 53rd Street, where it rejoined the 9th Avenue Elevated.

 

The 6th Avenue IND was built to roughly mirror the 6th Avenue elevated (torn down), which is why the IND 53rd Street line was constructed as it was and the 6th Avenue N/B trains that aren't Queensbound rejoin the 8th Avenue IND along that street instead of any other. Because of the park's position, it also allows them to continue uptown.

[EE Broadway Local]

Thats truck problems.I didnt want to sound like a douche or anything.:tup:

 

Ah, the famous Rockwell Trucks.