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A Mishap on an R-40 (A) train


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I rode an uptown-bound (A) Slant again today after school, in lead car #4280. I think I've now FULLY understood why the R-40 must go... As the train was rounding the two sharp curves between 168th and 175th, one of the screws that holds in place the interior hinged metal panel covering the door motors came loose and attacked me.:eek: And the panel, from that point on, was held in place only VERY loosely by another screw that itself was about to come out. Man, it just kept swinging and swinging, threatening to swing open at any second. I wouldn't be surprised if it eventually whacked someone in the head during a later run. When I got off at 207th, I walked down the line of cars to take a close look at them. I'd say that at least 7 of those 10 cars were somewhat dirty, and had that strange duct tape/steel adhesive strip covering rust lines on the roof, had rust holes, and were in overall poor shape.:tdown: This R-40 set definitely should be the next to retire... Although I love the Slants, I don't quite enjoy being bombarded by assorted odds and ends of subway cars. With the luck I have, the next thing you know, I'll be hit by a falling rollsign, or a light cover. Geez....

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The bodies of the cars are not in any kind of good shape, but the floor down is 100%:tup:.

 

The hell years really took about a decade off of the slantie fleet's life.

 

(NYCT) was once old looking, bland, flat blunt ended cars with no real mojo or "soul". Then, the (NYCT) embraced what i call "slantificationism" where the new slanties were rolled out all new, shiny, with that little curve in the side a color vs just metal.

 

When slantification was at its peak, so were the hell years, and they were pummeled with spray paint chemicals and in real life were aging 2-4x faster than designed due to this situation. Thankfully sanity reigned in and the graff shower slowly subsided to its current rate (however they are still hit, and often, they simply wash it off before they put it in service as they shoulda been doing), but the damage had been done. A good 10-15 years had been taken off the slanties, marred in their prime by neglect.

 

Yet they soldier on, with bucking couplers, dirty looking floors, that are actually clean, but are so worn you can't tell the difference, and awesome air conditioning in summer. They lasted a year longer than we all expected, but about 6 years less than (NYCT) envisioned. They were to bridge between the old and the next NTT order, but this will not be.

 

The slant taught us a lesson. We can dream, take risks, do crazy things, but we can never forget to do the important stuff, like simply staying clean enough to stay healthy & not hit people with panels.

 

On behalf of the R40 pair that mistakenly thought you were (MTA) brass i apologize. :cool:

 

- A

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The bodies of the cars are not in any kind of good shape, but the floor down is 100%:tup:.

 

The hell years really took about a decade off of the slantie fleet's life.

 

(NYCT) was once old looking, bland, flat blunt ended cars with no real mojo or "soul". Then, the (NYCT) embraced what i call "slantificationism" where the new slanties were rolled out all new, shiny, with that little curve in the side a color vs just metal.

 

When slantification was at its peak, so were the hell years, and they were pummeled with spray paint chemicals and in real life were aging 2-4x faster than designed due to this situation. Thankfully sanity reigned in and the graff shower slowly subsided to its current rate (however they are still hit, and often, they simply wash it off before they put it in service as they shoulda been doing), but the damage had been done. A good 10-15 years had been taken off the slanties, marred in their prime by neglect.

 

Yet they soldier on, with bucking couplers, dirty looking floors, that are actually clean, but are so worn you can't tell the difference, and awesome air conditioning in summer. They lasted a year longer than we all expected, but about 6 years less than (NYCT) envisioned. They were to bridge between the old and the next NTT order, but this will not be.

 

The slant taught us a lesson. We can dream, take risks, do crazy things, but we can never forget to do the important stuff, like simply staying clean enough to stay healthy & not hit people with panels.

 

On behalf of the R40 pair that mistakenly thought you were (MTA) brass i apologize. :cool:

 

- A

 

Well said! :cool::tup:

 

As much as I love those Slants, their time is done. We'll miss you slants, your service was honorable.

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I rode an uptown-bound (A) Slant again today after school, in lead car #4280. I think I've now FULLY understood why the R-40 must go... As the train was rounding the two sharp curves between 168th and 175th, one of the screws that holds in place the interior hinged metal panel covering the door motors came loose and attacked me.:eek: And the panel, from that point on, was held in place only VERY loosely by another screw that itself was about to come out. Man, it just kept swinging and swinging, threatening to swing open at any second. I wouldn't be surprised if it eventually whacked someone in the head during a later run. When I got off at 207th, I walked down the line of cars to take a close look at them. I'd say that at least 7 of those 10 cars were somewhat dirty, and had that strange duct tape/steel adhesive strip covering rust lines on the roof, had rust holes, and were in overall poor shape.:tdown: This R-40 set definitely should be the next to retire... Although I love the Slants, I don't quite enjoy being bombarded by assorted odds and ends of subway cars. With the luck I have, the next thing you know, I'll be hit by a falling rollsign, or a light cover. Geez....

 

While you were at 207th St did you report the condition to anyone?

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seriously that was definitely a "see something say something" situation.

 

I've ridden in that slant. The latch is broken, and they have no more spares. Most they can do is pull from service.

 

- A

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Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; U; CPU iPhone OS 2_1 like Mac OS X; en-us) AppleWebKit/525.18.1 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/3.1.1 Mobile/5F136 Safari/525.20)

 

I've ridden in that slant. The latch is broken, and they have no more spares. Most they can do is pull from service.

 

- A

 

 

That's better than leaving it in service and then someone actually does get hurt.

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I've ridden in that slant. The latch is broken, and they have no more spares. Most they can do is pull from service.

 

- A

 

I rode on that slant Friday and I didn't notice anything off about the train but this is not surprising. Their days are numbered.

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I rode an uptown-bound (A) Slant again today after school, in lead car #4280. I think I've now FULLY understood why the R-40 must go... As the train was rounding the two sharp curves between 168th and 175th, one of the screws that holds in place the interior hinged metal panel covering the door motors came loose and attacked me.:eek: And the panel, from that point on, was held in place only VERY loosely by another screw that itself was about to come out. Man, it just kept swinging and swinging, threatening to swing open at any second. I wouldn't be surprised if it eventually whacked someone in the head during a later run. When I got off at 207th, I walked down the line of cars to take a close look at them. I'd say that at least 7 of those 10 cars were somewhat dirty, and had that strange duct tape/steel adhesive strip covering rust lines on the roof, had rust holes, and were in overall poor shape.:tdown: This R-40 set definitely should be the next to retire... Although I love the Slants, I don't quite enjoy being bombarded by assorted odds and ends of subway cars. With the luck I have, the next thing you know, I'll be hit by a falling rollsign, or a light cover. Geez....

I'm not saying the R40s shouldn't be retired but a screw loose isn't exactly enough to retire a car...

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I'm not saying the R40s shouldn't be retired but a screw loose isn't exactly enough to retire a car...

 

No....but you can't deny that they're deteriorating right before our very eyes. The beautiful thing about it is that despite their age these R40s grace the rails with their great speed, pleasant AC and years of a good service history.

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I rode on that slant Friday and I didn't notice anything off about the train but this is not surprising. Their days are numbered.

 

They probably simply screwed it back on tight & put epoxy on the inside to keep it shut.

 

No....but you can't deny that they're deteriorating right before our very eyes. The beautiful thing about it is that despite their age these R40s grace the rails with their great speed, pleasant AC and years of a good service history.

 

Yea, they really are. I agree, these cars don't just stand out because of the slant, they were the cannon fodder, the workhorse, along with the lesser quality R32. Don't get me wrong, i like the R32 a lot, especially the classic ribbed budd body exterior, but its a glorified redbird with its own assortment of issues. R40 stands head and shoulders above, and if they had been taken care of properly, they would, in my own personal opinion, be embraced as lovingly as the venerable & everlasting triplexes, and still be in service another 10 years.

 

- A

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At least the R38s didn't have any broken parts and never broke down within the last few years before their retirement. The T/A just didn't want to spend those extra rolls of duct tape on their roofs. The R40s should've all gone to the reef if the T/A wasn't so absurd as to judge a car by external appearance over performance.

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At least the R38s didn't have any broken parts and never broke down within the last few years before their retirement. The T/A just didn't want to spend those extra rolls of duct tape on their roofs. The R40s should've all gone to the reef if the T/A wasn't so absurd as to judge a car by external appearance over performance.

Didn't have ANY broken parts? NEVER broke down? This is a 200-car fleet that ran for hundreds of miles each day. There's no way NO car NEVER broke down.

No....but you can't deny that they're deteriorating right before our very eyes. The beautiful thing about it is that despite their age these R40s grace the rails with their great speed, pleasant AC and years of a good service history.
Yeah I know, but the OP's anecdotal evidence was a screw loose. If you saw that on an R160 it means someone didn't get enough sleep before going to work, not that the R160s should all be scrapped. I'm not disagreeing that the R40s should be retired.
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While you were at 207th St did you report the condition to anyone?

 

Well, it was rather late, and I didn't really see any staff close by, not even the motorman.... Also, I guess I didn't stop and think about it, even though I should have. I was guessing that the pair was due to be scrapped soon, or that it would be inspected soon...

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I agree. What they did is, push the R38s out and make room for the moribund slants.

 

Exactly. And it wasn't the brightest idea. All they should have done with the R-38s is repaint their roofs. When I was much younger, I used to think that the Slants had been built in the Soviet Union in the late 1970s. Seriously.

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