R33 World's Fair (New York City Subway car)

The R33 World's Fair (R33 WF) was a New York City Subway car that was built in late 1963 by St Louis Car Company for the "A" Division before the 1964 New York World's Fair.

Description

The R33 World's Fair cars were numbered 9306–9345. The cars were very similar to the R33s, save for differently shaped side windows (three-piece curved windows on the R33 World's Fair cars as opposed to three-sectioned rectangular windows on the R33s), and the fact that the R33 World's Fair cars were single cars with a cab at both ends. The cars were built as single cars to make 11-car trains with the R36 WF cars, which were built as two-car sets (pairs).^[1]

Although the R33/36 World's Fair cars were referred to as Redbirds, the cars were originally painted in a light turquoise blue and white upon delivery. This paint color scheme was used until the mid-1970s when they were painted in the silver/blue MTA livery. Then they were painted a full white (roof, bonnets, sides were all painted white) from 1981 to 1982 to combat graffiti; since the white paint was a Teflon-based paint, the graffiti did not stick to it very well. The look was abandoned for the famous Redbird style. The Redbirds were painted between 1984 and 1989 to a deep maroon red body, black front bonnets and anti-climbers, and a silver roof.

History

Cars 9333 (R33 World's Fair) and 9533 (R36 Main Line) are visible on the service at Hunts Point Avenue in 2002, shortly before their retirement

The first R33 World's Fair cars were placed in service on the 7 train on September 26, 1963. The cars were solely assigned to the 7 (IRT Flushing Line) and were based out of Corona Yard.

The R33 World's Fair cars were rebuilt in-house in 1985 by the Coney Island Shop. However, they were not retrofitted with air conditioning system and instead retained their original Axiflow ceiling fans. For this reason, they were not used during the summer months due to poor air circulation or air flow and high humidity.

Retirement

R33 WF 9309 at Corona Yard

The R33 World's Fair cars were eventually replaced by the R142s and R142As. The last car, 9309, made its final trip on November 3, 2003 on the 7 service with ten R36WF cars, marking the end of the Redbirds.

Several cars have been preserved, including 9306, which has been part of the New York Transit Museum in Brooklyn since 1976 (the only R33 WF car to not be rebuilt), and 9327, which is at the Seashore Trolley Museum in Kennebunkport, Maine.

Most other R33 World's Fair cars were converted to work motors in the early 2000s, and handle such tasks as providing traction for B-Division rail adhesion cars and refuse trains. The cars that were not converted were 9306 and 9327, which are preserved as heritage cars, and 9321, which was retired and reefed in 2001.

The number "1" was placed before the former number (i.e. car 9345 became 19345) of some cars. The work cars are based out of various yards around the system and handle such tasks as providing traction for A-Division rail adhesion cars and refuse trains, and hauling cars during car moves between different subway yards.

Recently, however, the remaining R33 World's Fair cars have been decomissioned as they experience structural or mechanical issues. Retirement started with the reefing of 9339 in 2010 after it suffered from fire damage, and then the scrapping of a handful of cars for parts to keep other IRT SMEE cars running.

A detailed list of the statuses of the 40 R33 World's Fair cars is below, where bolded numbers indicate an active car (in work service):

See also

• R36 World's Fair - a married pair version and a very similar model also built by St. Louis Car Company.

References

External links

• Media related to R33 (New York City Subway car) at Wikimedia Commons

New York City Subway revenue rolling stock
Current	B Division / SIR: R32 R42 R44 R46 R68 R68A NTT R143 R160 R179 A Division: R62 R62A NTT R142 R142A R188
Future	B Division / SIR: R211
Retired (R-type)	IND / BMT (B Division): Arnines R1 R4 R6 R7 R7A R9 R10 R11/R34 R16 Redbirds R27 R30/A R38 R40 R40A R110B (experimental) IRT (A Division): R12 R14 R15 R17 R21 R22 Redbirds R26 R28 R29/R99 R33 R33 WF R36 R36 WF R110A (experimental) Train of Many Colors
Retired (private operators)	BMT / SIR Elevated: BU cars C-type Q-type Queens car Subway: AB Standard Bluebird Compartment Car D-type Triplex MS Multi-section car SIRT ME-1 IRT Composite Gibbs Hi-V Deck Roof Hi-V Hedley Hi-V Steinway Lo-V "Flivver" Lo-V Standard Lo-V World's Fair Lo-V
Work trains	R8A R65 R127/R134 R156
Never built	R39 R55 R83
See also: R-type contracts