AB Standard (New York City Subway car)

The AB Standard was a New York City Subway car class built by the American Car and Foundry Company and Pressed Steel Car Company between 1914 and 1924. It ran under the operation of the Brooklyn Rapid Transit Company and its successors, which included the Brooklyn–Manhattan Transit Corporation, the New York City Board of Transportation, and the New York City Transit Authority. The cars were designed following the signing of the Dual Contracts, which called for a major expansion of the BRT. A total of 950 cars were built.
In their earliest days of service, operating crews frequently called them Steels to distinguish them from the wooden BU elevated cars. However, these cars were most commonly referred to as BRT Standards, BMT Standards, or simply Standards. For their time, the cars introduced a significant number of improvements to urban rapid transit. The AB Standards were slowly retired in the 1960s, last running in 1969. Several AB Standards have been preserved.

Background

When the BRT was to begin operating new subway lines that had been planned under the Dual Contracts of 1913, it marked the BRT's entry into providing subway service in New York. Previously, the BRT had only provided passenger rail service on elevated or surface routes. Expansion into the subway meant the BRT had to design a subway car suitable to run underground in tunnels. This also meant the new cars would have to be very different from the BRT's elevated fleet, and significantly stronger. The BRT was a forward-thinking company and sought to design a car that improved upon those already in use on the IRT subway.
To do this, the BRT hired engineer Lewis B. Stillwell to design the cars, based on his work in the railway industry. It was known ahead of the actual signing of the Dual Contracts that the BRT was to operate subway routes, so the engineering effort actually began prior to 1913. Stillwell completed his initial designs for the new 67-foot Standard cars by 1912. In September 1913, a wooden mockup of Stillwell's Standard design was placed on display in Brooklyn for the public and received generally positive reviews. This was enough to go ahead with an order of the new cars.

Service history

952 A/B Standards were purchased between 1914 and 1924, 2 of them being replacements for 2 others that were damaged in a collision. 100 motorized cars were ordered every year from 1914 to 1922, and 50 unpowered trailer cars were ordered in 1924. 2 additional cars were delivered as part of the 1919 order to replace 2 cars that had been damaged the previous year. As delivered, all 902 motor cars were "singles", meaning that each could be run entirely by itself if so desired. Trains would be made up of singles coupled together. However, many cars as delivered in later years were immediately coupled into units as indicated below.
The first run of the cars was not until early 1915 when several units specially equipped with trolley poles test operated on the Sea Beach Line prior to its formal opening as a subway line, which took place on June 22, 1915. The poles were also used to move the cars around the 39th Street Shops where they had been originally delivered in 1914. Cars so equipped were 2000, 2001, 2010, 2021, 2042, 2050, 2051, 2054, 2060, 2071, 2087, and 2092. After June 22, 1915, the A/B Standards operated regular subway service. Trolley poles were removed from those cars which had been specially equipped.
During their service lives, the A/B Standards saw service on all four routes serving Coney Island: the West End Line, Culver Line, Sea Beach Line, and Brighton Line. They also ran in the Fourth Avenue Subway, the Broadway Subway, and on the Astoria Line, as well as parts of the BMT's Eastern Division, which includes the Broadway–Brooklyn/Jamaica Line, Broadway–Myrtle Avenue Line, Nassau Street Subway, and the 14th Street–Canarsie Line. Beginning December 1, 1955, well into their service lives, the cars also saw service on the IND Queens Boulevard Line once the 60th Street Tunnel Connection was completed and BMT Brighton Local service was extended to Forest Hills–71st Avenue in Queens. In 1958, a brief test was conducted using a train of these cars in IND F service between Jamaica–179th Street and Broadway–Lafayette Street.
Image:AB Standard in Shop in 1918.jpg|thumb|left|200px|alt=Women in a car shop clean and repaint an AB Standard c. 1917–1918|Female shop workers clean and repaint an AB Standard c. 1917–1918. Women often took jobs in car shops during this time as many men were fighting in World War I.Several significant modifications were made during the cars' period of service. In approximately 1919 and 1920, the passenger compartment of the oldest cars was upgraded to add fans, additional lighting, and more places for standees to hold on. Also at that time, the cars were modified to operate in new arrangements. In addition, the cars were also modified to allow an entire train's doors to be opened or closed from one point on the train. Prior to this modification, it had been necessary to station a conductor in every car of a train to operate doors prior to the advent of MUDC. Following the modification, one conductor could operate the doors for an entire train. This allowed the BRT to reduce operating costs. The modification involved connecting 9-point jumpers between cars to pass along electric door control signals from the conductor's position. Exterior guard lights had to be added to all cars on all divisions equipped with MUDC. On these cars, these were placed on the same fuse that operated the Empty and Load feature. This was done to save on battery current.
In 1927, platforms along the Southern Division stations were being extended to allow for the operation of full length, 8-car trains. Such trains still required the use of two conductors; it was not until September 1958 that they began operating using only one conductor.
Further modifications were made in the late 1950s. As the A/B Standards were nearing the end of their useful service life, the New York City Transit Authority set up a plan to retire the cars by the end of the 1960s. Trailers were to be retired first, in the early part of the 1960s. This was a matter of practicality since all trailer cars in the New York City Subway were being phased out. Motor cars would be retired next, starting with the oldest cars. The rest of the fleet would need to serve longer until new car orders could replace them, so cars 2400–2799 were to receive a light overhaul to allow them to serve through the 1960s. Car 2899 was also overhauled, as it was part of a three-car set with two cars that fell within the scope of the program. Cars 2800–2898 were not overhauled as they had a non-standard group box switch. The remaining 2300s and the 2800s were retired during the mid-1960s; and the overhauled cars continued in service until the last train operated on August 4, 1969, in Myrtle–Chambers service. Overhauled cars received sealed beam headlights to illuminate tunnels. In addition, their interiors were revitalized with enhanced lighting and seat cushions. Overhauled cars also received a more modern General Electric propulsion control package during this time, which was believed by the Transit Authority to be an upgrade over the older Westinghouse packages. About half the overhauled cars were so equipped.

Retirement

The BMT AB Standards were slowly retired through the 1960s and replaced by R27s, R30s, R32s, R40s, and R42s. Retirement began with the trailer cars, progressed to older motor cars that were not overhauled, and finally progressed to the rest of the fleet. The last of the cars were retired from passenger service in 1969, making a final run on the BMT Myrtle Ave. Line on August 4, 1969.
Following their removal from service, all but five AB Standards were scrapped. The five cars that were not scrapped have been preserved:

Car 2204 has been preserved by the New York Transit Museum in Brooklyn, NY. It is currently a static display, as it is not operational.
Cars 2390, 2391 and 2392 have been preserved by Railway Preservation Corp. They were restored to operating condition in 2015 and have operated on New York Transit Museum-sponsored excursions since then.
Car 2775 has been preserved by the Shore Line Trolley Museum in East Haven, Connecticut. It is not in operating condition, due to a flood at the museum site.

It has also been reported that car 2321, when retired, survived integrally and intact. The current status of this car remains unclear.

Description

Construction and design

The A/B Standards, when ordered, were a noticeable upgrade in the quality of New York's urban transportation. Their longer and wider size distinguished them from smaller IRT subway cars. There would be more room in each car and more space for seats. Unlike the IRT cars, end side doors were offset from the ends of the cars to aid better passenger flow. This design is covered under, with Mr. William S. Menden as the inventor. In addition, there was also a set of center side doors, making for a total of three sets of doors per side. Each door set consisted of two leaves separated by a center post, which allowed more than one person to use it at once. This arrangement proved superior to all previous designs.
The cars were built with a very strong frame that utilized truss construction and allowed thin metal to be used for the side plating. This made the A/B Standards, foot for foot, lighter than similar all-steel IRT subway cars, but with a body twice as strong. Therefore, A/B Standards were considerably safer than any previous design, as they would not telescope in a collision. The strength of the design proved itself over and over again. Even in the 1960s, when the A/B Standards were at or approaching 50 years of age, a couple of cars were involved in minor yard collisions with newer cars. Yet in each case, the older cars appeared to have gotten the better of the collision afterward.
Motorized A/B Standards were built with 2 "maximum traction" type trucks where wheels closest to the center of the car were 34¹/₄ inches in diameter, while wheels closest to the ends of the car were just 31 inches in diameter. The motors were attached to the axles that bore the larger wheels. This design was believed to better distribute the car's weight to provide the best adhesion between the wheels and the rails to prevent wheelslip. Unpowered BX trailer cars 4000–4049 used more conventional trucks where all wheels were 31 inches in diameter.