A soon to be disappearing view of the NYC Subway

There is nothing unsafe about the "railfan" window. The subway administrators decided to have full width cabs in most and eventually all cars that have a cab so that conductors won't have to change cars bwetween stops that require opening up on different sides of the train. LIRR and MNR bought cars with full width cabs for similar reasoning - so that a conductor could work the doors on either side of the train form within a given cab, and not have to lean across seats that might be occupied or go to a different car.

Same holds true at the MBTA, starting with the 1962/63-made 01400s on the Red Line, and all rolling stock thereafter so that the attendant can open doors on either side safele without going down from one end of the car to another or going car to car which last happened with the Orange Line in 1981 and Blue Line 0500s a year learlier when the 01100s and 0500s (both sporting just a corner cabs) were retired and replaced with full cab cars too. The last time a corner cab operated on the Red Line was 1970 with the 1928-built 0700s.

Now on to NYC, yes, while the RFW is fuzzy, I have no issues whatsoever with full width cabs Im glad the M8s will have the full cabs just like the R44 thru R211 and M7s so that the engineer and conductors have more flexibility and freedoms too.

Rob is right. The crew deserves the most safe and user friendly equipment design. And if they would just provide windows in the cab door and left-side partition so interested persons could see all the way thru, we'd have a win-win train design.

There you go, Ian! Just like the Washington DC Metro! and MBTA too. Since NYCTA Cars do not offer a left hand RFW to see out front or back

An addendum to my previous post - while full width cabs make a conductor's work safer and more covenient, they also expedite One Person Train Operation by allowing one person to both drive a train and convenienlt open up on either side..

Yes, thats how it works on WMATA, in Washington, DC.

And also in Boston's blue and Orange Lines, and hopefully by this fall, the Red Line, since they have TV Screens and mirrors at perpendicular angles for their operating crews.

Rob, are you saying they're eliminating the "guard" positions, or just on late night trains?

Head-end View wrote:Rob, are you saying they're eliminating the "guard" positions, or just on late night trains?

They are indeed eliminating the guard position completely. but in new York, they are still keeping conductors in addition to the train operators

Robert Paniagua wrote:

Head-end View wrote:Rob, are you saying they're eliminating the "guard" positions, or just on late night trains?

They are indeed eliminating the guard position completely. but in new York, they are still keeping conductors in addition to the train operators

yes - but not entirely. The Franklin Avenue Shuttle has OPTO all of the time. and the G line has OPTO during weekends and late nights, a conductor the rest of the time. I don't know offhand where else OPTO is done in New York - but the 42nd Street shuttle is counted as having OPTO but not really. Instead of a train operator at the front and a conductor in the middle, they have an operator at erach end and they switch off, with the one whose end is the fron driving while the one at the back works the doors.

Rob, what's happening to all the conductors or "guards" in Boston? Are they being laid off, or assigned to other MBTA jobs?

Head-end View wrote:Rob, what's happening to all the conductors or "guards" in Boston? Are they being laid off, or assigned to other MBTA jobs?

Being laid off. However, other than the Canarsie L line (unless the C/Rs are back) C/Rs in the NYC Subway will Stay.

Also, back on Topic, I saw some R32s while I was visiting the city this past weekend, but they were on the C-Line, but I got to see out front of an R46 A Train, an R68 D-Line Train, and R160 F-Line train

Rob, that sucks if they're laying off those employees in Boston.

Sounds like you had a good NYC weekend. On that R-160 F-train, did you ride over the Smith-9th St. viaduct in Brooklyn? That's the "high point" of the F-train ride. (Both height and entertainment wise)
How did you manage to see out of an R-46 and R-68? That rectangular peep-hole, even when not covered is so small............

Robert Paniagua wrote:

Head-end View wrote:Rob, what's happening to all the conductors or "guards" in Boston? Are they being laid off, or assigned to other MBTA jobs?

Being laid off. However, other than the Canarsie L line (unless the C/Rs are back) C/Rs in the NYC Subway will Stay.

Also, back on Topic, I saw some R32s while I was visiting the city this past weekend, but they were on the C-Line, but I got to see out front of an R46 A Train, an R68 D-Line Train, and R160 F-Line train

The R-32's have been exclusively on the C for some time now. The J/Z has the surviving R-42's. And some of the R-62's on the 7 have the original configuration of corner cabs, with a full head end view going to Flushing. (Every train on the Flushing Line consists of 6 single cars, coupled consecutively at the Flushing end of the train, and a 5 car group at the Manhattan end of the train.)

Head-end View wrote:Rob, that sucks if they're laying off those employees in Boston.

Sounds like you had a good NYC weekend. On that R-160 F-train, did you ride over the Smith-9th St. viaduct in Brooklyn? That's the "high point" of the F-train ride. (Both height and entertainment wise)
How did you manage to see out of an R-46 and R-68? That rectangular peep-hole, even when not covered is so small............

Yes, I did actually go thru Smith& (th Streets and I even got off to explore the area a bit.

And That window on the R46, R68/A is actually bigger the the peephole of the SIRT R44, so I had no problem even through the privacy filters

@Railfan365, they should also reassign the 50 R42s from the BMT Eastern Division (J & Z) to the B, Q, D, F and N in my opinion, since they make more sense in and out of Stillwell