NY Subway Christmas Nostalgia Train

[Jcarlton]

Every year for the last seven or eight years or so, Bill Wall and the NY Transit museum bring out the 1930's vintage R1-9s and run them on the "M" line from 2nd Ave to Queens Plaza.  I was down there last weekend and here is what I got:

[Bernard]

Wow that must have have been fun to ride on......you know it was special because there was no grafitti and it was clean. Since it was from the 30s how was it with the electrical 3rd rail?

Thanks for posting your video.

[Jcarlton]

It's a great ride, but it gets exhausting after the fourth round trip or so.  they are going to run this Sunday for one more day.  Here's the timetable if you are in NYC.:

http://www.mta.info/metrocard/promos/Vintagetrain/index.html

They do a great job with this every year.

[bill937ca]

I rode trains like those as a child on a family vacation in the late 1950s.  Does the guard controlling the doors still ride between the cars?

[Jcarlton]

I rode trains like those as a child on a family vacation in the late 1950s.  Does the guard controlling the doors still ride between the cars?

That's where the door controls are on these cars, so, yes.  You can see him at about 4:20 or so.

[Jace]

Since it was from the 30s how was it with the electrical 3rd rail?

 

You'd be surprised how little the power distribution system has changed. The rotary converters may be gone but the system is otherwise pretty much the same. The important things like voltage ranges, steps, and spikes, the third rail voltage characteristics in other words, are all the same.

[Eisenbahn]

What a great video.  Just look at those rivetts on the side of the car. This was metal fabrication at its best. Forget about trains made in dust free factories with  carbon fibre composties and with software controlled acceleration and brakes. This was made by rivetters, welders from plans drawn by an engineering draftsman with a Tsquare and a pencil.  Drivers worked rheostats with big levers. Brakes needed two hands and one foot on the wall to get leverage.

 

A bit of nostalgia is fun once and a while.

 

On a related note.....I was on a NY Subway train in 2008 and I noticed a guard(Conductor in US terminology) go into a tiny compartment put his head out the window and give some sort of signal. I am a bit hazy about the detail now but he seemed to operate something in there , then he came out and went to another part of the train in a hurry.

 

WOuld this be a door close lever?

 

At the time I thought it was a very physical  and busy job and almost like sweatshop labour for the poor guard. No offence intended to NewYorkers but I thought that a big capital injection was needed to buy some new hitech subway  trains that would be easier for staff to operate. The particular line was probably the one from a station near JFK Airport into Manhattan. On subsequent trips into the city that time  I used the surface LIRR which seemed to be populated by people in suits reading newspapers. Although the subway does have fun aspects to it for a foreign visitor!!

 

cheers....Eisenbahn

[cteno4]

Eisenbahn,

 

Sounds like you need a little steam punk in your life!

 

It is nice to get a taste of that old look and feel!

 

Cheers,

 

Jeff

[Eisenbahn]

Exactly!

 

Actually when I first saw the video, the gun metal grey colour of the train & the rivetted metal sides  made me first think of an old style Soviet military train.

 

But you are right, I probably could do with some footplate action but  in a cold climate country. One line in Poland (Wallstein??) offers "Driver for a day"  steam footplatre rides for a few hundred euros!

 

On the other hand , perhaps the new Entrepreneurial Russia might offer tourist rides on their old missile launch trains!!!

 

cheers...eisenbahn

[Jace]

Eisenbahn, yes you saw a conductor closing the doors. Most subways in New York are still run by two people: a train operator and a conductor. The older cars in the system are married pairs with driving cabs on one end of the car and conductor cabs on the other. Both cabs are not even half the width of the car so the conductor has to switch from one cab to the other when platforms are on different sides of the train. Door control is simple push buttons.

 

There have been attempts to reduce crew sizes - one line has trains that can run in ATO but the union has been very resistant to such moves. There was a strike right before Christmas a few years ago over this with the MTA backing down in its attampts to make this an OPTO line (one person train operation).

 

The thing I like best about those old cars are the sounds especially when the DC motors start to wind up! As for that line in Poland, it's Wolsztyn.

[Eisenbahn]

Thanks Jace

 

Those cabs where the conductor went to operate the doorclose button were very tiny , about the size of a broom cupboard. I remember the conductor looked busy & stressed out on the day!

 

OPTO is a good sounding acronym I had never heard before.  Here  In Australia, Melbourne is the only city that has gone OPTO. 

 

I think Paris has made ( or is planning to make) one or more of its subway lines driverless. Thus a new acronym..NOPTO... No Person Train Operation!

 

Wolsztyn was the place.  Correct spelling of place names in the local language is always a challenge for me...... although Wallstein sounded about right.

[marknewton]

G'day Eisenbahn,

 

Apart from Melbourne, Perth's suburban EMUs are OPTO as well. And Sydney will probably follow... 

 

All the best,

 

Mark.

[Eisenbahn]

Hi Mark,

 

Perth as well eh.  As I remember, the latest Perth 3ft6 gauge  suburban EMUs were built in Maryborough Queensland and look like the 2x3carEMUs we run in Brisbane.

 

Hm, in that case, someone in Government here or QldRail headquarters  might get the idea to do it here if it works in Perth and probably has a plan (yet to be announced) for the Citytrain Network here to go OPTO.

 

Curiously over the past couple of years QR has been building a workforce of "Customer Service" people who wander through suburban  trains and appear to do nothing when services are normal.  They are a different category of employee than the ticket inspectors and the en-route cleaners who board trains in pairs. I think they do "crowd control" when there is a breakdown and people are herded onto buses or other trains. Perhaps their role will become clearer if/when gaurds are phased out and the system goes OPTO.

In Brisbane , guards currently help people in Wheelchairs onto trains. In Melbourne/Perth? I suppose the driver does that.

 

cheers....Eisenbahn