Allow me to reintroduce myself. With the mechanical problems that have plagues the recently arrived Bombardier built R-179s, the MTA New York City Transit Subway 1969-70 St. Louis Car Company R-42s have been "unretired" and placed back into service on the B1 Divison/BMT's J/Z lines. The last of the original generation of "SMEEs" (Straight Air Motor Car Electric-Pneumatic Emergency - S - Straight Air [brake pressure controlled directly by operator], M - Motorman's Valve present on car, E - Electric Control, E - Emergency Braking) these cars were rebuilt by Morrison-Knudsen and the MTA's Coney Island Overhaul Shop in the late 1980s, and have now served far longer after their rebuild than before.
R-42 4794 sits on the middle track at Chauncey Street on the Z awaiting a signal to cross over and lay up in East New York Yard after the rush hour on the morning of Wednesday, January 22, 2020. This shot was taken out the back window of an R-42, one of the few remaining classes of cars with the operator’s half cab.
