R179 Discussion Thread

[Bill from Maspeth]

12 hours ago, NewFlyer 230 said:

I guess what the MTA could do is possibly swap the R68A’s on the  with the R46’s from the  so that at least some of the R46’s are not running all day, all night and on the weekend.  

Besides there not being enough R68A's to fully stock the A line, and besides the one R68/68A that does one trip on the A line in the PM rush, you will never see R68 or R68A's make up the bulk of A line service.

This is because at 207th St. when trains come up north out of place, or the RCI is working on a train in the station, or if the car cleaners need additional time with a train, or if they're short relaying due to a b/o train making them short a train, to change signs to/from Lefferts/Far Rock on the R68/68A equipment is an impossibility.  Even if they had 4 platform c/r's, each person changing 4 signs in 2 cars each takes time.  And guess what?  207 has ZERO platform conductors, unless someone is on board or a restricted t/o or c/r happens to be there, which is extremely rare.

 

[Calvin]

1 hour ago, NewFlyer 230 said:

Shoot at this point if the R46’s prove to be problematic they should just swap the ‘s R68A’s with R46’s. The line ends early and doesn’t run on the weekends which means those trains would be sitting in the yard on the weekends. 
It’s just bad that the MTA can’t get rid of its oldest cars fast enough. 

From what I've heard, (this could be another reason), Concourse Yard doesn't have parts for the R46s. So, the R68/As are the class car for maintenance for both  and  at the Yard. 

[MHV9218]

3 hours ago, Bill from Maspeth said:

or if they're short relaying due to a b/o train making them short a train, to change signs to/from Lefferts/Far Rock on the R68/68A equipment is an impossibility.  Even if they had 4 platform c/r's, each person changing 4 signs in 2 cars each takes time.

On this note, at least on the 80s signs for the 68As – don't know if the 2001 replacements were printed the same way – the MTA, in its infinite wisdom, grouped the readings alphabetically. This makes sense to somebody in a suit, less so somebody working in RTO. Consequently, "Far Rockaway" is nowhere near "Rockaways, Queens" or "Rockaway Park," and "Lefferts" is stuck in the middle. On other orders of rollsigns they wisely placed terminals near each other for the C/R's sake, and in later 68 rolls they combined "Far Rockaway" and "JFK Airport" into "Far Rockaway via JFK Aiport," which made things smoother.

[R32 3838]

R179's already having issues with braking and other issues. This spreading all over Facebook and there's a screenshot from an actual employee complaining about the issue.

[NewFlyer 230]

3 hours ago, Bill from Maspeth said:

Besides there not being enough R68A's to fully stock the A line, and besides the one R68/68A that does one trip on the A line in the PM rush, you will never see R68 or R68A's make up the bulk of A line service.

This is because at 207th St. when trains come up north out of place, or the RCI is working on a train in the station, or if the car cleaners need additional time with a train, or if they're short relaying due to a b/o train making them short a train, to change signs to/from Lefferts/Far Rock on the R68/68A equipment is an impossibility.  Even if they had 4 platform c/r's, each person changing 4 signs in 2 cars each takes time.  And guess what?  207 has ZERO platform conductors, unless someone is on board or a restricted t/o or c/r happens to be there, which is extremely rare.

 

Ahh that makes sense which is why the  is stuck with the R46’s. I forget about the constant need to change the rollsigns since the  has three southern terminals. I thought the trains had a feature where all the roll signs could change at the same time. Maybe I misread a post on here a long time ago. 

 

Just now, R32 3838 said:

R179's already having issues with braking and other issues. This spreading all over Facebook and there's a screenshot from an actual employee complaining about the issue.

At least they did not scrap the R32’s right away. It’s sad that the MTA is stuck using trains that are close to 60 years old. 

[Vulturious]

17 minutes ago, R32 3838 said:

R179's already having issues with braking and other issues. This spreading all over Facebook and there's a screenshot from an actual employee complaining about the issue.

That was much shorter than I expected, however not exactly surprising either. You mind sending links to them?

[MysteriousBtrain]

23 minutes ago, R32 3838 said:

R179's already having issues with braking and other issues. This spreading all over Facebook and there's a screenshot from an actual employee complaining about the issue.

 

4 minutes ago, Vulturious said:

That was much shorter than I expected, however not exactly surprising either. You mind sending links to them?

Not so fast. I'm now hearing rumors that that guy wasn't even a T/O and (possibly) could be making it up.

[Union Tpke]

1 hour ago, MHV9218 said:

On this note, at least on the 80s signs for the 68As – don't know if the 2001 replacements were printed the same way – the MTA, in its infinite wisdom, grouped the readings alphabetically. This makes sense to somebody in a suit, less so somebody working in RTO. Consequently, "Far Rockaway" is nowhere near "Rockaways, Queens" or "Rockaway Park," and "Lefferts" is stuck in the middle. On other orders of rollsigns they wisely placed terminals near each other for the C/R's sake, and in later 68 rolls they combined "Far Rockaway" and "JFK Airport" into "Far Rockaway via JFK Aiport," which made things smoother.

This issue is why the K bullet was moved next to the B

 

[R10 2952]

57 minutes ago, NewFlyer 230 said:

I thought the trains had a feature where all the roll signs could change at the same time. Maybe I misread a post on here a long time ago. 

Before GOH, the R44/46s did have motorized rollsigns, but they frequently broke, both because of a lack of maintenance combined with those cars being lemons to begin with.

Edited September 24, 2020 by R10 2952

[Union Tpke]

1 hour ago, MHV9218 said:

On this note, at least on the 80s signs for the 68As – don't know if the 2001 replacements were printed the same way – the MTA, in its infinite wisdom, grouped the readings alphabetically. This makes sense to somebody in a suit, less so somebody working in RTO. Consequently, "Far Rockaway" is nowhere near "Rockaways, Queens" or "Rockaway Park," and "Lefferts" is stuck in the middle. On other orders of rollsigns they wisely placed terminals near each other for the C/R's sake, and in later 68 rolls they combined "Far Rockaway" and "JFK Airport" into "Far Rockaway via JFK Aiport," which made things smoother.

These are the rollsigns in question, courtesy of @Lance

 

[MHV9218]

1 hour ago, Union Tpke said:

These are the rollsigns in question, courtesy of @Lance

 

Good catch. I was actually referring to the Helvetica 1988 R68A/replacement rolls, which some cars still have, but yes, same alphabetic ordering. I would have to check if they remedied that in later printings.

The 68A originals, for reference (RapidTransitArt photo):

Edited September 25, 2020 by MHV9218

[Vulturious]

2 hours ago, MysteriousBtrain said:

 

Not so fast. I'm now hearing rumors that that guy wasn't even a T/O and (possibly) could be making it up.

Anything happening with those rumors yet? I can't exactly tell since from a screenshot provided by someone online is from a group that's private so I can't tell what is happening.

[Eric B]

3 hours ago, Union Tpke said:

This issue is why the K bullet was moved next to the B

 

Because the  (the former AA) was interlined with the , so that the same trains changed back and forth between the rush hours and other times. So they put them next to each other on the signs so it would be quick to change. Those signs are arranged by lines that are close to each other and might interchange like that.

Edited September 25, 2020 by Eric B

[R32 3838]

4 hours ago, MysteriousBtrain said:

 

Not so fast. I'm now hearing rumors that that guy wasn't even a T/O and (possibly) could be making it up.

Nope He's a legit T/O, I thought it was BS at first but it's true.

[VIP]

13 hours ago, R32 3838 said:

Nope He's a legit T/O, I thought it was BS at first but it's true.

False false false! They’re doing fine. whatever you heard is complete conjecture. There’s a R179 set running light on the  and it’s believed to enter service. 

[trainfan22]

https://mobile.twitter.com/progressiveact/status/1309301979655663618

 

 

 

Tweet about T/O complaining about the R179 braking problems.

Edited September 25, 2020 by trainfan22

[R10 2952]

I don't know, that post reads like it was written by a foamer pretending to be a motorman.... 👎

[Missabassie]

1 minute ago, R10 2952 said:

I don't know, that post reads like it was written by a foamer pretending to be a motorman.... 👎

Kind of agree with this.

Aren't the 179's the ones with the funny controls? Could be just re-learning the controls, (build that muscle-memory)

[trainfan22]

12 minutes ago, R10 2952 said:

I don't know, that post reads like it was written by a foamer pretending to be a motorman.... 👎

The thing that is fishy to me is how does this "T/O" know the C/R is panicking, their several cars back! 

 

 

Would be funny and sad at the same time if it's a buff trolling cause that progressive action twitter page is a legit page about transit issues and they might have gotten duped.... 

 

[NewFlyer 230]

Honestly only time will tell. If the trains get pulled from service again then we know it was legit. 

Edited September 25, 2020 by NewFlyer 230

[Lex]

17 minutes ago, trainfan22 said:

The thing that is fishy to me is how does this "T/O" know the C/R is panicking, their they're several cars back! 

I mean, if there's an open line of communication and the C/R's using it, it's entirely possible, especially if they're a rookie...

[4CNRailfan]

How many R179 sets are in revenue service as we speak? Hopefully this helps to debunk the Facebook rumor.

[R32 3838]

4 hours ago, VIP said:

False false false! They’re doing fine. whatever you heard is complete conjecture. There’s a R179 set running light on the  and it’s believed to enter service. 

Well 2 R179's are oos due to two separate incidents. I questioned the post as well but it was legit. It's the first 8 car set that's having the issues. 

[R10 2952]

I'm pretty sure a real motorman wouldn't go around posting stuff like that- not when the MTA regularly monitors employees' social media presence and dishes out discipline like candy corns on Halloween.

[1998NewFlyer]

 

Only if covid never happened, then the 211s would already be here and going threw its testing fase and all this madness from the lemons wouldn't cause such a huge issue