Transit Museum Fleet Expansion

[Lucius Ameri]

With the impending and/or current retiring of the R32s, R38s, R40s, R40Ms, R42s, R44s, and R46s, how will the Transit Museum deal with this massive influx of new equipment? Their Court Street facility seems to be at capacity and already there are cars that are awaiting restoration and don't fit (1939 IRT World's Fair, Excess Redbirds, LO-Vs). How will this be dealt with? Are there any current plans? Should the MTA follow London's example and retain a city museum but have a large, indoor yard type of facility outside of the city? Thanks in advance.

>I mentioned the R44s & R46s because the R179s are scheduled to replace them.

[jtrain22]

Most likely The R32-R42 museum cars will be stored at CI and 207th street yards.

If you have a museum outside the city, then you can't run them on fan trips in the NYC subway. So that idea goes out the window.

As for the R44's and R46's maybe only one car from those fleets will be saved for the museum, however you can't have fan trips with one 75ft car as they are in 4 car sets.

[Lucius Ameri]

Most likely The R32-R42 museum cars will be stored at CI and 207th street yards.

If you have a museum outside the city, then you can't run them on fan trips in the NYC subway. So that idea goes out the window.

As for the R44's and R46's maybe only one car from those fleets will be saved for the museum, however you can't have fan trips with one 75ft car as they are in 4 car sets.

In London, the Transport Musuem Depot where the trains are stored is located in Acton Town, nearby the Underground station. It has a connection to the mainline which can be seen in Google Maps if you search for Acton Town, switch to satellite view, and view the Underground station.

>the station is actually aboveground. The system is just called the Underground.

So what may be possible would be an expansion of the 207th St. Yards (by outside the city I meant outside the central tourist area) by building a "shed" for the musuem trains. 207th is an ideal location because when going out on excursions, trains could go on either the A(IRT) or B(IND/BMT) Divisions directly. No circuitious routing needed.

Good point with the R44s & 46s

[Gerry6309]

Yard space is becomming a factor in preservation and with property values being what they are in New York City (and the suburbs) a new location is unlikely. The R-44and R-46 cars can be reduced to back to back pairs, but they don't MU with wach other - or with anything else for that matter - resulting in their assignmrnt in solid blocks. I see one car of each series being "stuffed and mounted" somewhere as an example of the MTA's past mistakes. Where is another question as 1000 new 75 foot cars will probably replace these. Does the MTA own any spare land in NYC where they could plant a few trains within reach of operational lines and be able to display them for the public?. The tramsit museum deserves support - but it is a sideline - not the MTA's primary focus.

[R36 Combine Coach]

Coney Island holds much of the Museum and heritage fleet. Other cars (mostly Redbirds) appear in various yards including 207 Street and Unionport.