The R33 was a New York City Subway car model that was built by St. Louis Car Company in 1962 and 1963. The cars are a "follow-up" or supplemental stock for the A Division’s R29s and closely resembled them. The cars were also referred to as R33MLs to distinguish them from the R33S's. A total of 500 cars were built, numbered 8806–9305 and arranged in pairs. The R33s entered service on November 15, 1962, and were the first A Division fleet to be retrofitted with air conditioning, being retrofitted between 1972 and 1982. The R33 fleet was overhauled between 1987 and 1991. The R33s were replaced in the early 2000s with the delivery of the R142 and R142A cars, with the last train running on April 20, 2003. After being retired, most R33s were sunk into the ocean as artificial reefs, but several cars have survived.
History
The first set of R33 cars was placed in service on the train on November 15, 1962. Five hundred cars were built and served on all IRT subway lines. In 1972 they became the first A Division cars to be retrofitted with air conditioning when cars 9086/7, 9118/9, 9162/3, 9226/7, 9282/3, & 9294/5 were retrofitted at the 239th Street Yard with a modified version of the Stone Safety Air conditioning unit designed to fit on the smaller IRT cars, and by 1982 all R33 cars had received air conditioning. The cars were also rebuilt between 1986 and 1991. Before they were rebuilt, the R33 cars were grouped as follows:
Cars #9076–9305 had Westinghouse electrical equipment
From 1987 until early 1991, the R33 cars were overhauled and rebuilt by the MTA's 207th Street and Coney Island Overhaul Shops. All cars were refitted with General Electric equipment. Existing General Electric cars received New York Air Brake Newtran brake packages; the former Westinghouse cars received an updated brake package from the Westinghouse Air Brake Company. After rebuilding, R33 cars served on the,, and trains, and occasionally on the train.
Retirement
In 1996, New York City Transit announced that it would begin phasing out all Redbirds with the arrival of the R142 and R142As, which entered service in 2000. The last train of R33s consisting of pairs 8842-8843, 9090-9091, 9240-9241, 9294-9295, 9302-9303, made its last trip on the route on April 20, 2003. Most of the retired cars were stripped and dumped into the Atlantic Ocean to form artificial reefs. However, many R33 cars were saved for various purposes throughout the New York City Subway system. The full list includes:
8912–8913 - used as a static display at the Tiffany Street Iron Shops, a training facility for elevated structure workers in Hunts Point, Bronx. This pair was previously involved in a derailment at the 239th Street Yard.
9010–9011, 9016–9017, 9068–9069 and 9206–9207 - preserved for the New York Transit Museum. They were repainted into various vintage paint schemes and used for various purposes since retirement, specifically on the Train of Many Colors.
9075 – on display outside Queens Borough Hall in Kew Gardens, Queens. The car was retrofitted with swinging doors and converted into a tourist center, but was closed in 2015 due to low patronage. Since then, the car is now used as a landmark and for movie shoots.
21 pairs were painted yellow and black and converted to work service as R161 rider cars RD400-RD441 from 1999 to 2004, allowing the retirement of the older R71 rider cars. RD407 was damaged in a derailment and was scrapped in 2013. RD440-RD441 were further converted into de-icer cars.
Other cars were retained for work service until 2013, when they were scrapped. The full list includes:
Pairs 8812–8813, 8834–8835, 8996–8997, and 9000–9001 – used to haul refuse trains until being scrapped in 2013. It was based from the 38th Street Yard, and was replaced with R32s restricted to work service.
Pair 8888–8889 – used to haul refuse trains until being scrapped in 2013. It was based from the Westchester Yard, but in 2011 was mothballed when Westchester Yard stopped using subway cars for work service.
Pair 9156–9157 – used for police training at Floyd Bennett Field until late 2013, when the pair was replaced by R110B 3001. The cars were moved to Linden Yard, and then up to the 207 Street Yard in 2014 for disposal.
