#SubwaySunday π The corrugated stainless-steel R32 "Brightliner" subway car - first introduced in 1964. The new cars were 4,000 pounds lighter than previous models, featured improved rollsigns, clearer intercoms, plastic seats (previously they were wicker), with a more open feel for passengers. The cars were manufactured by Budd Company in Philadelphia who built 600 cars in '64 and '65 at a cost of $69 million. When the R32 was first released it looked completely different than its predecessors, paving the way for future all-steel designs. Today the R32s are the oldest subway cars in service, more than extending their 35-year lifespan, older than any metro system in the country and one of the oldest in the world. Most of the cars were replaced in the late 2000s with only 222 remaining in 2017 which, today are limited to the A/C line. Retired cars were scrapped for steel or stripped and sunk as artificial reefs, a program which ended in 2010. Once a shining example of modern engineering, today the cars break down more often than any other in the system averaging only 33,527 miles between failures. The average subway car can last 400,000 miles with the newest pushing more than 750,000 miles before breaking down. The R32 is the only car that predates the MTA, as it was first ordered for the NYC Transit Authority. The @nytransitmuseum has a pair of R32's from their inaugural 1964 trip into Grand Central in their vintage train collection. #subway #r32 #r32brightliner #brightliner #railfan #nycsubway #r32subway #transithistory #atrain #ctrain #neworksubway #nychistory #urbanism #brooklyn #manhattan #nyc #nycurbanism (at New York Transit Museum) https://www.instagram.com/p/BtJtrzulZ6n/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=1gjvi378uhplv
