History Of The R10 Subway Cars - The First SMEEs For A Unified System

Update as of 9/3/2022: R10 car 3189 has been FULLY restored into the 1965-1966 Bluebird paint scheme for the September 17th-18th Parade of Trains Event

I rode on them many, many times on the A. They were tailor-made for the CPW express dash, thundering and blazing past those seven local stops. If you stood on the n/b platform at 81st St., you got an earful as they ripped past. By that point they were at full gallop.

1575 is still around and intact to this day as well. It has long been in the New York Transit Museum's collection, and occasionally goes out in service on fan trips.

It would have been nice if the MTA preserved a good hand full of R10s to be use for special occasions like the Holiday Train.

1983. I'm a new C/R, drumming up an R-10 for C service in Pitkin Yard. The fans(two on the pole), the burning grids, the screeching iron brakes(I got to operate light 10s, they can almost stop on a dime!). The pneumatic doors were fun, the riding between cars was not. A local trip from Rockaway Park to Bedford Park was close to two hours, in the snow and cold, but a summer run was good.

When I started, they gave us the "R-10 and Up Manual". Most educational thing was the chapter "Tracing of the Air", where we followed the process in which the dual-pipe brake system filled (and backfilled) itself. The book itself was a final reprint from 1953. If there's a video on the R-16(of which my friend has Car#6398 on display in the Kingston Trolley Museum), that's a weird car, with levers and all.

In 1978-79 I was riding the GG regularly with R-10 equipment. The car shortage was so severe (due to R-44 and 46 problems) that a train which could only run in 'series' (meaning speed limited to about 15 MPH) was allowed to remain in service on an occasion I observed. The Thunderbirds nickname was not known among younger railfans. The R-38s were the fast cars back then. Also PA systems were retrofitted on cars older than R-26 (delivered without PAs) in the early 80s as a result of the Clark tube smokey incident in which the crew was unable to communicate with riders experiencing confusion and discomfort.

funny how some older cars can live longer than some of the newer ones

Most importantly, you didn’t mention the new interior fluorescent lighting. The first class to incorporate these lights.

I recall reading that since car 1575 retained the workings of an R7 beneath the prototype R10 carbody it could and did run in mixed consists with older equipment. I also recall R10s in their last years of service on the C Line painted dark green (greenbirds?) at the end of the 1980s.

Another great video. The IRT R12 and R14 fleets were scaled down versions of the R10. However, the IRT cars had electrically operated doors. They were also delivered in 1948 for the IRT Queens lines, and were the last IRT cars to serve the Astoria line.

Very well produced video. I was always interested in the R-10s. Still my favorite is the R 1-9s. Each car has itit"s own personality. Keep up the great work !!!!!

Great Info. Thx for posting!

I used to ride the R10s on the C and G lines on my way to school way back in the late 1970s.

You presented a great and excellent report that I never knew about the R10 railcars. They were good cars, except for the door controls (triggers), at the end of each car. I intend to review this show again.

8:09; The Concourse Yard is a site in the Bronx before Norwood which is the last stop on the "D" train, and the Jerome Avenue Yard is a site that is used for Woodlawn on the "4" line.

Awesome video bro

cool video on the r10 and cool subway cars

Nice editing and good video

An excellent video of the R10s.