Test Train Of Many Metals. R-11 8013 leads over the North Channel Swing Bridge over Jamaica Bay from Hamilton Beach towards Broad Channel in Queens, New York on August 7, 2023. This four-car train of Metropolitan Transportation Authority - MTA NYCT Subway/New York Transit Museum cars made a midday test run out to the Rockaways. These cars are normally residents of the New York Transit Museum’s former Court Street Station and can be seen during a regular visit, so Monday was a good day for them to stretch their legs while the museum is closed. New York City has had a long standing tradition of “Nostalgia Specials”, including both ticketed events and those free with regular subway fare, with only Chicago recently joining this club, but keeping these machines in operating condition requires a lot of work. Their regular operation allows new generations of subway fans and future employees to interpret the history of the country’s largest subway system and better understand how the technology has evolved.
The R-10s were a shift from the R-1 to R-9 order, employing an all-welded low-alloy high tensile (LAHT) steel construction, as well as dynamic brakes and other improvements.
R-11 8013 (Budd, 1949)
The Budd “stainless steel” body of the 10-car R-11 order was still experimental at the time, but would become the NYCTA standard with the R-32 order, and the industry standard as well. Presently cars like the R-211 order are constructed with a stainless steel body but fiberglass ends.
R-16 6387 (ACF, 1955)
R-16s had electrically operated door motors while the R10s had air-powered door motors, which added appreciable weight as well as the outward tilted panels next to the doors. At approximately 85,000 pounds, they tipped the scales at the high end until R-44s arrived, 15 feet longer but only 4,000 pounds heavier.
