Вагон метро R30: История и вывод из эксплуатации

Retired class of New York City Subway car

The R30 was a New York City Subway car model built by St. Louis Car Company from 1961 to 1962. The cars were a "follow up" or supplemental stock for the B Division's R27s and closely resembled them. A total of 320 cars were built, arranged in married pairs. Three versions were manufactured: Westinghouse (WH) powered cars, General Electric (GE) powered cars, and R30As. The first R30s entered service in 1961. Various modifications were made over the years to the R30 fleet, and most of the fleet was refurbished in 1985–1989 with a "Redbird" paint scheme. The WH powered cars were not rebuilt, being replaced by the R68A fleet, and the last train of WH powered cars ran in passenger service on December 14, 1990. The overhauled R30s and the R30As were planned to run until 1997, but the cars were prematurely phased out starting in 1992 due to the difficulty of installing air conditioning; the last overhauled R30s ran in passenger service on June 25, 1993. Some R30 cars were saved for various purposes, but most were scrapped.

The R30s were numbered 8250–8569. The R30s were coupled together as pairs. These cars, along with their identical R27 sister cars, replaced the oldest BMT A/B Standards (including all 50 of the trailer cars), the ME 1s purchased and transferred from the SIRT, the MS Multi section cars, and the IRT Lo Vs that were modified to be used on B division shuttles. They helped to stabilize the BMT Division to a certain extent until the R32 cars were delivered to the BMT lines in 1965. There were three versions of the R30: Westinghouse (WH) XCA248 powered equipped cars (8412–8569), General Electric (GE) MCM powered cars (8250–8351), and R30As (8352–8411), which were equipped with newer solid state GE SCM controllers instead.

The R30s were primarily BMT Southern Division cars, although they would appear in the Eastern Division from time to time. Like the R27s, the R30s wore several paint schemes over the course of their career. The cars were delivered in a dark olive green paint scheme, and many were repainted bright red in the late 1960s before receiving the MTA corporate silver and blue scheme in 1970. Cars 8293, 8392 and 8521 were delivered with a rough surface paint. The rebuilt R30s were finished in a fox red color and were called the BMT Redbirds. The unrebuilt R30s, which were Westinghouse cars numbered 8412–8569, were also painted red in the mid 1980s. From 1985 until 1989, all GE powered R30s and R30As were rebuilt and painted in the fox red paint scheme, similar to 27 select R27s and other Redbird trains in the subway system, as part of the Clean Car Program.

The following movie appearances depict the R30 cars in the Redbird paint scheme. A train of R30s was featured in the film Ghost running as a train. In the 1993 film Carlito's Way with Al Pacino, R30s were used during the chase scene near the end of the film. Cars 8275, 8277, 8330, 8332, 8335, 8340, and 8351 were seen among others. These trains displayed the Broadway Local rollsigns. For the 1995 film Money Train, two 3 car sets of GE R30s were retrofitted with extra bright lights at the bottom of the car. They were 8294, 8298, 8394–8395, 8397, and 8408. A single four car set also appeared in the movie. This four car set included cars 8463, 8510, 8558, and 8569, which were filmed running on New York City Transit property. In the 1995 film Die Hard with a Vengeance, a set of GE R30s, which were the same cars use for Money Train (8294, 8298, 8394–8395, 8397, and 8408) was used for the scene when the rear car of a Brooklyn bound 3 train is derailed at Wall Street station. In the 1998 movie Godzilla, a partially destroyed R30 car, 8401, was used for an underground scene. A simulated version of the R30 interior was featured in the opening credits of Season 2 of the television show Everybody Hates Chris. Various R30s were shown in the 1982 made for TV film Dreams Don't Die, depicting the R30s in the MTA Silver/Blue livery and the beige and orange interiors filmed near Fresh Pond Road station. A scene in the 1977 movie Saturday Night Fever shows a train of R30As running on the train.