R12 (New York City Subway car)

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R12
standard gauge

The R12 was a New York City Subway car built by the American Car and Foundry Company in 1948. A total of 100 cars were built, arranged as single units. Two versions were manufactured: Westinghouse (WH)-powered cars and General Electric (GE)-powered cars.

The R12s were the first post-war city-owned rolling stock for the

R36 World's Fair fleets were delivered in the 1960s. The R12s were retired in the early 1980s due to service reductions prior to the delivery of the R62 fleet in the mid-1980s, and the final train of R12s ran in September 1981. Two R12 cars were saved for the New York Transit Museum
, while the rest were scrapped.

Description

The R12s were numbered 5703–5802. They were the first mass-produced cars to feature electric door motors, as opposed to air-powered door motors (The R11/R34 prototypes were the very first cars with such features).

The R12 was the first series of post-war subway cars for the IRT division, and the second series of post-war rolling stock overall, following the R10s built around the same time for the IND/BMT B Division. The two car types were very similar to each other, except that the R12s were smaller since they were built to meet A Division specifications.

The R12s were the first "R" type contract order built for the A Division (referring to the practice of naming a car class by the letter "R" – which stands for rapid transit – followed by a number derived from the actual contract number). This practice originated from the R1 order built for the Independent Subway System. After the merger of the IRT, BMT, and IND in 1940, all subsequent subway car orders would follow the R contract.

There were two versions of the R12s:

Westinghouse Electric (WE)-powered cars (5703–5752) and General Electric
(GE)-powered cars (5753–5802).

The R12s bore several schemes during their service lives. The cars were delivered in two-tone gray scheme with orange stripes, then a solid bright red, and finally, repainted into the MTA's silver with blue stripe scheme. In the mid-1960s, 5707 received an interior speckled green paint scheme.

Cars 5703–5737 had a different fluorescent tubing that permitted a brighter illumination than most later cars of this series, although 5742, 5756, and 5784 also received this (as well as R14 5904).

History

Delivery of the cars began in June 1948.[1] The first R12s began service on the 7 (IRT Flushing Line) on July 13, 1948. All 100 cars were delivered by October 1948.[2]

The R12s ran on the Flushing Line until the arrival of the

Bowling Green–South Ferry Shuttle, and were so-equipped so that the center door of each car could be opened at South Ferry, while keeping the others closed. These cars were used until the shuttle was discontinued on February 12, 1977, when the cars were reassigned to the 3
, since these four shuttle cars were inspected and maintained at Livonia Barn at the time, with the 3 route.

Retirement

Car 5782 (renumbered to 35782) at the 207th Street Yard, awaiting cosmetic restoration

As newer cars started to run on the MTA's many lines, the R12s were in a state of disrepair. In the 1970s, graffiti artists vandalized many subway cars, including the R12s. Although officially replaced by the

Low-V work cars. The last R12 was pulled from passenger service in August 1981.[3]
All but two cars have since been taken off property to be scrapped, though several cars lasted as training vehicles or work cars for many years.

Two cars have been preserved:

  • Car 5760 has been preserved by the New York Transit Museum since July 1976, and was repainted into its original two-tone gray and orange striped paint scheme.[4] The car is operational and has run on museum-sponsored nostalgia trains, specifically on the Train of Many Colors.
  • Car 5782 (renumbered to 35782) is also being held for the New York Transit Museum. This car was formerly used for fire training. The car retains its MTA blue/silver livery paint scheme
    207th Street Yard for many years.[6]

References

  1. ^ "IRT SMEE delivery dates". R36 Preservation, Inc. Kevin Wong. Retrieved September 12, 2020.
  2. ^ ERA New York Division Bulletin, September 2009, Page 4
  3. ^ "nycsubway.org: A History of the IRT SMEE Cars, 1948-1964".
  4. ^ @NYTransitMuseum (July 13, 2016). "Board and explore #IRT #R12 car #5760 in #DowntownBrooklyn today from 10am - 4pm!" (Tweet). Retrieved July 13, 2016 – via Twitter.
  5. ^ "Showing Image 2730". Nycsubway.org. September 13, 1998. Retrieved February 10, 2012.
  6. ^ mtattrain (September 10, 2010). "R12 5782 & R22 7486 | Flickr - Photo Sharing!". Flickr. Retrieved February 10, 2012.

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
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