R27 (New York City Subway car)
| R27 (New York City Subway car) | |
|---|---|
| Manufacturer | St. Louis Car Company |
| Replaced | BMT Standard, and BMT ex-Staten Island ME-1 units, BMT Bluebirds, and BMT Multi's, and many older BMT elevated equipment |
| Constructed | 1960-1961 |
| Entered service | 1960–1961 |
| Scrapped | 1990 |
| Number built | 230 |
| Number preserved | 0 |
| Number scrapped | 230 |
| Formation | Married Pairs |
| Fleet numbers | 8020-8135 (WH), 8136-8249 (GE) |
| Capacity | 56 (seated) |
| Operator(s) | New York City Subway |
| Specifications | |
| Car body construction | LAHT Carbon steel |
| Car length | 60 ft (18.29 m) |
| Width | 10 ft (3.05 m) |
| Height | 12.08 ft (3.68 m) |
| Platform height | 3.76 ft (1.15 m) |
| Doors | 8 |
| Maximum speed | 55 mph (89 km/h) |
| Weight | 80,600 lb (36,560 kg) |
| Traction system | Westinghouse XCA248 and General Electric MCM 17KG192A |
| Power output | 100 hp (75 kW) per traction motor |
| Electric system(s) | 600 V DC Third rail |
| Current collection method | Top running Contact shoe |
| Braking system(s) | WABCO ME42B SMEE |
| Coupling system | WABCO H2C |
| Track gauge | 4 ft 8 1⁄2 in (1,435 mm) |
The R27 was a New York City Subway car built by the St. Louis Car Company for the New York City Transit Authority in 1960 and 1961. The R27s were a continuation of the R16 style, except for the use of IRT R26 style pink hard fiberglass all longitudinal seating instead of the mixed combination seating found on the older R16s.
About
The cars were "Protestant" married pairs, which means that they were coupled together as pairs. Their initial assignment was on the BMT Brighton QT & QB lines on November 6, 1960, where they ushered in letter markings on the BMT. These cars along with their identical R30 and R30A sister cars replaced the oldest BMT Standards including all 50 of the trailer cars, the ME-1s that came from the SIRT, MS Multi-section cars, and the IRT Lo-Vs that were modified to be used on shuttles on the BMT division.
An omen of the future was seen on the route signs on these cars when they were delivered: The numerical route designations formerly used on the BMT were not used; the letter designations for routes were continued where the IND designations ended. The IND routes either then or previously in use ran from A thru HH; the BMT designations were now to begin with J and run thru TT. After the merger in late 1967 many IND and BMT routes were joined.
Eventually, once they had arrived in sufficient numbers, they provided all weekend service on the BMT Southern Division. The R27s were primarily BMT Eastern Division cars after November 1967, although they would appear in the northern and southern divisions as well as on IND routes.
In the 1980s, 24 selected GE R27s were painted in the fox red paint scheme similar to the 162 GE R30s and other Redbird trains in the subway system as part of the Clean Car Program.[1]
Retirements and scrapping
Retirement of the R27s started with the arrival of the R68 and R68As from 1988-1990. Car 8145 was the last surviving R27, retained as a school car until 2011, when it was stored at Pitkin Yard. The car was finally stripped at 207th Street Yard and then sent to Sims Metal Management in Newark, New Jersey to be scrapped on October 22, 2013.
See also
- R30/R30A - a very similar model also built by St. Louis Car Company.
References
- ↑ "Showing Image 4549". nycsubway.org.
Further reading
- Sansone, Gene. Evolution of New York City subways: An illustrated history of New York City's transit cars, 1867-1997. New York Transit Museum Press, New York, 1997 ISBN 978-0-9637492-8-4
External links
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