Consistency at NYP?

5009 and 5010 were formerly Metro-North (west of Hudson) cars, and if you look closely, you can see where the Metro-North logo and the old numbers were located.

mcmannors wrote:5009 and 5010 were formerly Metro-North (west of Hudson) cars, and if you look closely, you can see where the Metro-North logo and the old numbers were located.

Yep, that is why I want to photograph 09 and 10. I already have shots of 09. Both cars have the oversized NJT logo on the door to cover the old MTA one. But both of these cars unlike the rest of the C3s have the numbers on the front on the left side of the cab. The rest have it on the door. 5009's number is literally right on or next to the ditch light but 5010's is above it. I find the dark numbers over the tiger stripe to be unusual and interesting.

nick11a wrote:

F40 wrote:I guess one shouldn't lean on the doors.

Btw. I also saw C3 #5010 on the NEC this week. That makes 3 C3 cabs on the NEC at least when I saw them.

I've been meaning to get a shot of 5010. It has an interesting number placement on the front of the cab.

That's because it is former MNCR 5180.

Why do some Comet cabs have tiger stripes? Any other interesting designs on these cars? Also, aren't 5009 and 5010 MNR Comet IV's?

5009 and 5010 were originally Comet IV cars. 5009 was owned by MTA and 5010-5029 was NJT. Then MTA sold their two Comet III cars (5179 and 5180) and their one Comet IV car (5009) to NJT. As a result, former MTA Comet IV cab car 5009 and NJT cab car 5010 became 5030 and 5031 (5030 being the MTA car.) This was done to make room for the two Comet III cavs so all of the Comet III cabs could be together in one number block. So thus, former MTA Comet III cabs 5179 and 5180 became NJT Comet III cabs 5009 and 5010. That is why 5009 and 5010 have the numbers on differently and the oversized NJT logo in front as to cover the MTA logo. Also, on current NJT Comet IV cabs 5030 and 5031, if you look at the lighted number board on the side near the cab on both sides, you can see that the numbers are of a different font than the other Comet IV cars. This is because the numbers had to be changed and they used a different font.

And also, all Comet III cabs and all Comet IV cabs have the tiger stripes. This is to make the cab more visible. Some Comet I cabs also have the stripes. The stripes were first introduced on the ACL. I believe the story goes that on the first NJT trip on the NJCL, there was a terrible accident with a car. So, at the time, Comet Is were being used on the ACL so a handful of them were painted with the stripes to make the cabs more visible. I personally like the stripe scheme on the Comet I cabs. Makes them look a lot more interesting. After that, NJT chose to purchase the Comet IIIs and IVs with stripes. The Comet Vs orignal design showed them having stripes but as you can see, they didn't get the stripes.

EDIT: You can also see where the MTA markings were on the side of the car on current NJT C3 cabs 5009 and 5030. I don't think though that current NJT C4 car 5030 (which originally was owned by MTA as 5009) has any MTA markings visible on the side. Could be wrong about that though. And also, my current avatar is NJT Comet IV cab 5031. This car was orignally NJT car 5010. I know, it isn't easy to understand all of this at first site.

Here is another avatar of mine I sometimes use of 5009:


You can see the oversized NJT logo and that the number not on the door like 5000-5008 but rather by the left ditch light. 5010's cab though has the number on the left but a about a foot above the ditch light.

I think I've seen (A3?) cabs with high ditch lights as opposed to the low (normal) ones. Why were the lights repositioned for some?

The Arrow IIIs didn't originally have ditch lights. They were installed after the fact. I think some were installed higher and some lower. This also explains for the various positions of the NJT logo on the Arrow IIIs because they too had to be repositioned for the installing of the ditch lights.

Lots of C3's yesterday in Long Branch and Bay head - I saw 4 different ones, including 5010, and had 5001 all night

Jtgshu wrote:Lots of C3's yesterday in Long Branch and Bay head - I saw 4 different ones, including 5010, and had 5001 all night

Looks like they're making a comeback now on the electrified lines. Back in early May, I remember most of the 10-car long branch trains had C3 cabs on them.