R42 (New York City Subway car)

R42 (New York City Subway car)

An R42 train on the at Broad Street.

Interior of an R42 car.
In service 1969-present
Manufacturer St. Louis Car Company
Built at St. Louis, Missouri, USA
Replaced All remaining BMT Standards, and many R1s
Constructed 1969–1970
Refurbishment 1988–1989
Scrapped 2008-
Number built 400 (many retired)
Number in service 50
Number preserved 5
Number scrapped 345
Formation Married Pairs
Fleet numbers 4550–4949
Capacity 44 (seated)
Operator(s) New York City Subway
Depot(s) East New York Yard[1]
Service(s) assigned  – 40 cars
Specifications
Car body construction Stainless Steel with Carbon Steel chassis, roof and underbody, Fiberglass A-end bonnet and B-end top bonnet
Train length 2 car train: 120.4 feet (36.7 m)
4 car train: 240.8 feet (73.4 m)
6 car train: 361.2 feet (110.1 m)
8 car train: 481.6 feet (146.8 m)
10 car train: 602 feet (183 m)
Car length 60 ft (18.29 m)
Width 10 ft (3,048 mm)
Height 12.08 ft (3,682 mm)
Platform height 3.76 ft (1.15 m)
Doors 8
Maximum speed 55 mph (89 km/h)
Weight 74,388.5 lb (33,742 kg)
Traction system General Electric (GE) SCM propulsion system using Westinghouse 1447J motors
115 hp (85.8 kW) on all axles
Electric system(s) 600 V DC Third rail
Current collection method Contact shoe
Braking system(s) CI Rebuilds: New York Air Brake SMEE/ Newtran (dynamic and friction), A.S.F. simplex unit cylinder clasp (tread) brake
MK Rebuilds: WABCO "SMEE" Braking System, A.S.F. simplex unit cylinder clasp (tread) brake
Coupling system Westinghouse H2C
Headlight type halogen light bulbs
Track gauge 4 ft 8 1⁄2 in (1,435 mm)

The R42 is a New York City Subway car model built between 1969 and 1970 by the St. Louis Car Company in St. Louis, Missouri, serving the B Division (IND/BMT). This fleet was the first to be fully equipped with Stone Safety 10 ton air conditioning systems/units similarly found on the last ten (10) R38 and R40A cars. The R42 fleet is numbered 4550-4949. It was the last 60-foot (18.29 m) B Division car built for the New York City Subway until the R143 in 2001, and the last car model class to be built in married pairs.

Background

On May 9, 1969, cars 4554-4555 entered service on the N as part of a mixed consist with straight-ended R40As. Although, there were some slight cosmetic differences, the straight-ended R40As and R42s were for all practical purposes the same car type. As of January 5, 1970, all cars were in service.[2]

The R42s were the first cars to use solid state converters in place of the motor-generators as standard equipment.

History

Maintenance and Overhauls

In 1974, cars 4650-4659 & 4760-4769 were sent to Garrett AiResearch's facilities in Los Angeles, California to test out Flywheel Energy Storage System equipment.[3] The even-numbered cars received energy conservation machinery with batteries and amber-type digital readouts indicating the amount of energy used by the equipment, while the odd-numbered cars remained untouched. These cars were later tested at the UMTA, and the US Department of Transportation's Testing Facilities in Pueblo, Colorado for evaluation, and were returned to the MTA in 1976 for in-service testing on all BMT/IND Lines to check the effectiveness of the technology.

In 1977, pantograph gates, salvaged from retired R1s - R9s, were modified and then installed on the front ends of the R42 and R40A straight-ended cars, and baloney coiled spring type inter car safety barriers were installed on the blind ends of the married pairs (the straight-ended R40As came factory equipped with the baloney coiled spring type inter car safety barriers on their blind ends, and so did not need such installations).

Between 1988 and 1989, R42s underwent overhaul as a result of deferred maintenance in the New York City Subway during the 1970s and the 1980s. 282 cars (4550–4839) were overhauled by Morrison-Knudsen while the last 110 cars (4840–4949) were rebuilt in-house by the Coney Island Overhaul Shop in Brooklyn. The one minor difference in appearance between the two overhauls was that many cars of the Coney Island version featured the original blue door indicator lights at the ends of the cars, whereas these lights were removed from the Morrison-Knudsen rebuilds.

Accidents

Cars 4680-4681, 4714-4715, and 4766-4767 were scrapped in 1988 due to various accidents in the 1980's. On June 6, 1995, cars 4664-4665 were involved in a collision on the Williamsburg Bridge. Car 4664 was scrapped in 2000 (with cars 4685 and 4726, which were not involved in the accident), while 4665 was mated with straight-ended R40A car #4460, which lost its mate in the same accident. On November 6, 2007, an M train of R42s was involved in an accident when the motorman attempted to relay it south of the Chambers Street station. As the R42 fleet was being retired at the time, the entire consist[4] was hauled to the 207th Street Yard for reefing instead of being repaired even though only the first two cars suffered major damage.[5][6]

Retirement and Preservation

The R160s replaced most of the R42 fleet from 2007 to 2009. They were intended to replace the entire fleet, but this has been halted due to structural issues found on the R44s that led to a premature retirement of that fleet. The NYCTA-rebuilt R42s were retired and reefed first, from late 2007 to mid-2008. Subsequently, most of the Morrison-Knudsen-rebuilt cars followed starting in late 2008 until December 2009, when it was decided to retire the NYCT R44s instead.[7] All but 50 cars were retired, and most were stripped and sunk as artificial reefs. However, after the reefing program ended in April 2010, retired R42s have been trucked to Sims Metal Management's Newark facility to be scrapped and processed, an action that occurred between July 2013 and October 2013 and is expected to occur with the remaining cars when they retire.[8]

The 50 cars still in service, 4788-4817 and 4820-4839, are assigned to East New York Yard, operating on the J and Z. The remaining R42s were expected to be replaced by the R179 order starting at least in 2016. However, as of July 2015, no retirement date has been set due to numerous delays in the delivery of their R179 replacement cars, along with a previously unanticipated fleet expansion caused by increased ridership and the rebuilding of the 14th Street Tunnel. In January 2016, cars 4824-25 were sent to the Coney Island Overhaul Shops, and 4830-31 were sent to the 207th Street Overhaul Shops. The four cars received a new round of Scheduled Maintenance Service to extend their useful lives and returned to service in March 2016. In turn, another six cars were temporarily pulled from service, and were sent to the above two facilities for the SMS program.[9][10]

Preservation

Cars 4572-4573 have been preserved, repainted, and set aside for the New York Transit Museum, and are currently being stored at Pitkin Yard along with other museum cars, and are operated on certain excursions sponsored by the New York City Transit Museum. This set was used in the famous chase scene in the film The French Connection. The cars have been used on several recent fan trips, including the BMT 100th Anniversary special.[11]

Car 4665 and its R40A mate 4460 have been preserved by the Railway Preservation Corp and are stored at Coney Island Yard.

Cars 4736-4737 were donated to East New York's Transit Tech High School[12] on April 14, 2009, replacing R30 car 8337, which was reefed a few months later.[13]

See Also

R40A (New York City Subway car) - 100 cars (referred to as R40M) that looked similar to this model also built by St. Louis Car Company. This model has since been retired.

References

  1. ↑ New York Subway Barn Assignments. December 2014
  2. ↑ ERA New York Division Bulletin, August 2005 "January 5, 1970 Car Assigment", Page 9.
  3. ↑ http://www.nycsubway.org/perl/show?26969
  4. ↑ Cars 4730, 4731, 4624,4625, 4818,4819, 4786, and 4787
  5. ↑ "MTA - Press Release - NYC Transit - M Train Incident at Chambers Street". mta.info.
  6. ↑ "www.nycsubway.org". www.nycsubway.org.
  7. ↑ https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/u/1/d/1l6kZ05gU-4fMhf5rc9GX5igW6d97vq9_nn0WSJkNTxM/pub?single=true&gid=4&output=html
  8. ↑ "Showing Image 140235". nycsubway.org.
  9. ↑ "Governor Cuomo Announces $600 Million MTA Investment in Upstate Manufacturing". Governor Andrew M. Cuomo.
  10. ↑ http://mta.info/mta/news/books/docs/r_179_staff_summary_March_2012.pdf
  11. ↑ http://www.nycsubway.org/perl/show?144505
  12. ↑ Mooney, Jake (May 3, 2009). "Very Closely Watched Trains". The New York Times (New York, NY). p. CY1.
  13. ↑ "www.nycsubway.org". www.nycsubway.org.

Further reading

External links

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