RearOfSignal wrote:Now I've been riding the subway a long time. I've lived in New York my whole life 2+ decades and have been on many a subway rides. But this is the first time I've ever seen this. On the shuttle last night going from 42nd Street GCT to Times Square one of the door leaves in the rear car was locked out, it didn't open while the adjoining leaf did open. When it happened I realized I had never seen this before on the NYC subway. I don't ride the subway as much now as I used to but, I've never seen this before, not that I recall. Anyone one else?
In my whole life (a bit over 5 decades getting close to 6) I have seen this happen many times. The technical term is "door cut-out" or "cut-out door". Occasionally the motor on a door will burn out or something else will prevent a door panel from operating properly. Rather than take the whole car (or train) out of service the door panel can be cut-out or turned off.
Prior to the R62/62A cars, with the exception of the end doors all cars R1 thru R36 had side doors that operated in pairs with one motor between each pair (under the seats). A problem with one door panel that required it be cut-out would mean that two door panels would not open.
Example: lets use an IRT car with 3 door openings on one side of the car . On one side the door panels are 1 2---3 4---5 6. If door panel 2 malfunctioned then door panel 3 would not work either.
Starting with the R62/62A cars each door panel has its own motor.
