| R36 World's Fair (New York City Subway car) | |
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R36 9401 at Corona Yard, Flushing, New York |
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| Manufacturer | St. Louis Car Company |
| Built at | St. Louis, Missouri, USA |
| Constructed | 1963–1964 |
| Entered service | 1964 |
| Refurbishment | 1981–83, 1984–86 |
| Scrapped | 2002-03 |
| Number built | 390 |
| Number preserved | 8 |
| Number scrapped | 382 |
| Formation | Married Pairs |
| Fleet numbers | 9346–9523, 9558–9769 |
| Capacity | 44 (seated) |
| Operator | New York City Subway |
| Specifications | |
| Car body construction | LAHT (Low Alloy High Tensile) steel |
| Car length | 51.04 feet (15.56 m) |
| Width | 8.75 feet (2.67 m) |
| Height | 11.86 feet (3.61 m) |
| Doors | 6 |
| Weight | 69,400 pounds (31,500 kg) (pre-rebuild) 72,000 pounds (33,000 kg) (rebuild units) |
| Traction system | Westinghouse XCA248 (cars 9346–9523), General Electric 17KG192 (cars 9558–9769) with Westinghouse (WH) 1447C or, General Electric (GE) 1240A5 DC motors (4/car, 100 hp) |
| Auxiliaries | Motor-generator and battery set (WH YX304E, GE 5GMG 153LI) |
| Electric system(s) | 600 volt DC |
| Current collection method | Third rail |
| Braking system(s) | WABCO, "SMEE" (electrodynamic) |
| Gauge | 4 ft 8 1⁄2 in (1,435 mm) standard gauge |
The R36 World's Fair (also known as R36 WF) New York City Subway cars were built in 1963-1964 by the St. Louis Car Company in St. Louis, Missouri for the IRT division (also known as the A Division). They were purchased for service on the IRT Flushing Line (7 <7> trains) which was the closest line to the 1964 New York World's Fair. These were the last entirely LAHT bodied (non-stainless) cars built for the New York City Subway.
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In 1962, the New York City Transit Authority (NYCTA) ordered 430 cars for the 7 train. This route would run to the World's Fair grounds in Flushing Meadows in Queens. The first 40 cars were singles (R33 World's Fair), with the rest R36 cars. (Single cars were needed since the 7 service runs 11-car trains, and R36's were only pairs.) The cars were painted in a light blue turquoise "Bluebird" scheme (see "Paint Schemes" below) and with large picture windows unlike other IRT cars. Thirty-four R36s were built at the same time for the IRT Main Line and had small drop sash windows.
The first R36 cars (9558-9561) arrived in fall 1963, shortly after the R33 WF's began arriving in September. With the fair opening approaching on April 12, 1964, R36 cars were built and delivered in larger quantities that Fall. More cars arrived throughout 1964, enough to displace the R12, R14 and R15 on the 7 service by the close of 1964.
Through the 1970s the R36s were the mainstay of the 7 service. The cars kept their original paint until 1972, when some were repainted in the new "Silver & Blue" scheme. Around 1975-78, the entire subway system was being covered in graffiti. Most cars had their original paint covered up by then or were given a new white "anti-graffiti" covering by 1982. By 1984 all cars had received air conditioning as part of a retrofitting program. [1]
The R36 were the first cars to be rebuilt in the NYCTA's General Overhaul Program (GOH) in the 1980s. This program improved car life by rebuilding older cars and keeping other cars in a state of good repair. A trial rebuild program was done on selected Westinghouse R36 cars in 1981-83. Beginning in late 1984, the other R36 cars were rebuilt at rate of 200 cars per year, with the majority of them done in-house at the Coney Island Shop. Others were rebuilt by General Electric in Buffalo, New York and by Amtrak at its Beech Grove, Indiana and Wilmington, Delaware shops. The last remaining cars were sent out for rebuild in late 1985 and by 1986 all cars were back in service.
After rebuilding, the 7 service's R36 cars were repainted in a red scheme prior to returning to service. At first the scheme was known as "Silver Fox" or "Gunn Red" after NYCT chief David L. Gunn and was a graffiti resistant red. By 1989, the Gunn Red would evolve into the Redbird scheme best known to many New Yorkers, with beige interiors, red exterior paint and interior doors and black and silver exterior trim along the car windows, roof and undersides.
In 1999, the R36 cars were the most reliable in the NYCT fleet, with a Mean Distance Between Failure (MDBF) rate of 194,150 miles, despite being 35 years old at the time. While in decent shape mechanically, rust holes were beginning to form in the sides of most of the cars.
In the 1990s and until mid 2001, cars 9478-9523 usually ran on the 6 train based at Westchester Yard in the Bronx. Previously, some Westinghouse R36 WFs had been assigned to the 1 and 3 trains in the 1970s.
In 1998, New York City Transit announced that it would phase out its Redbird cars. The Redbirds — R26, R28, R29, R33 and R36 — would be replaced by modern R142 and R142A cars.
While the Redbirds on the IRT Main Line were beginning to be retired starting in early 2001, the 7 service was all Redbird until January 2002. That month, a set of R62A's arrived from the IRT Main Line. As more R142 sets were delivered, the 3 and 6 services would give up their R62A's to the 7, replacing R36s. R36 units were still plentiful in 2002, since R142 delivery was slow that year.
By mid-2003 Redbird sets were dwindling on the 7 service. Only a few sets were running by fall. The last Redbird train ran along the 7 on November 3, 2003, marking the retirement of the Redbird cars and the end of non stainless steel cars in the subway.
Most of the Redbirds (1,294) were submerged off the coast of Delaware, New Jersey, South Carolina, Georgia and Virginia as artificial barrier and diving reefs.
Since then, some of the remaining R36s have been converted for work service. One pair (9564-65) was transferred to Coney Island in December 2004 for conversion of 9565 to a visitor center at Queens Borough Hall in Kew Gardens, Queens, but R33 ML 9075 was used instead. 9564-65 were subsequently reefed in 2008.
Eight WH cars (9356-57, 9360-61, 9394-95, 9412-13) and two GE cars (9712-13) in addition to one R33 WF (9327) were wrapped and painted in New York Mets colors on October 24, 2000 prior to Game 3 of the 2000 World Series between the Yankees and Mets.
In addition, the R36 cars have made cameo roles in various TV shows and movies. They appear in several scenes in Spider-Man (2002), on The King of Queens and the opening credits of "NYPD Blue". Nicolas Cage rides the 7 in It Could Happen to You (1994). In the 1988 movie Cocktail, Tom Cruise gets off R36 9700 at Vernon-Jackson station. In Willard, Willard is seen boarding a Redbird.
The R36 cars have worn many paint schemes since 1964.
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