NYCTA has steeple cabs?

[Tadman]

I just found this pic of a red steeple cab at what appears to be an NYCTA fan site. Does NYCTA have/had work motors? This is really cool, you rarely see steeple cabs anywhere now.

[railfan365]

That would be a one time work engine. While the steeple cab is now a museum piece, there aretwo others, variations on standard swtchers, the N1 and N2, doing service as work engines, under the aegis of SBK. They're oline for work that requires non-third rail power.

[Kamen Rider]

NYCTA own's three steeple cabs, #5 #6 and #7.

They were purchased for the South Brooklyn Railway by the BMT. 5 remains in the museum basicly all the time, while the other two stay in the yards.

Two SBK box motors are at Shore Line.

[R36 Combine Coach]

In addition to the SBK units and NYCT's diesel fleet (GE switchers), the R127/R134 are used as "box motors" along with a variety of Redbirds (mainly R33s) and converted R17/21/22s.

[Tadman]

That's really cool, guys, thanks for the update.

We used to have two yellow steeple cabs moving freight on the north end here, but one's AWOL and the other is in Indiana behind a fence. Our work trains are now also "box motored" between sets of 2400-series cars. You can spot them easily because they are normally used in regular service but have red reflective belt-line decals and end-cap decals. I'm not sure what happens when the 2400s are retired, which is happening soon, but not soon enough if you're a regular rider.