Wrecked Trains

Test Car

R1 - This car was cut in half, lengthened to 75' by a ‘bridge’, and renumbered XC675. It was run throughout the system (and SIRT) in order to find areas of tight clearance, in anticipation of ordering the R44 [seen mainly on the A train] fleet in 1971.

The Redbirds

With the forthcoming of the new R142/A trains made by the Bombardier and Kawasaki Cos. To replace these 40-year-old cars, the MTA decided to remove all equipment from the Redbirds and leaving behind only a shell, which was to be dumped into the Atlantic Ocean to serve as a barrier reef for a ‘rebirth’ of ocean life and perhaps in the local fishing economy for the states that requested them including Virginia and Delaware.

The Williamsburg Bridge Accident

 June 5, 1995, a 46-year-old motorman, Layton Gibson, in an R40M J train fell asleep at the helm and eventually rammed into the R42 M train [as seen on the right] The motorman was the only casualty.

Union Square Station Disaster

August 29, 1991, a drunken motorman, Robert Ray, at the helm of this R62 4 train sped to extremely high speeds, heading for the switching to the local tracks, the momentum of the train was so great that it carried the cars behind to crash in to the columns and killed 5 people.

Accidents at the Train yards

Side smashed in by another train leaving the yard, result: the train was dumped out at Staten Island as more trash

Hit end of tunnel wall at 179th St. on June 4, 1987. It was not rebuilt and scraped