R17 (New York City Subway car)

The R17 was a New York City Subway car built in 1955 as one of three car classes purchased in the mid-1950s that were intended to replace many of the pre-World War II IRT cars. There were 400 cars in this class, all built by the St. Louis Car Company. Cars 6800-6809 actually had air conditioning when delivered, but the air conditioning experiment was considered a failure and the cars were refitted with standard axiflow fans. The electrical components were split between General Electric (cars 6500-6699), and Westinghouse Electric (6700-6899). The cars came equipped with low running lights at the ends. In 1957, headlights were added to the cars.

During the course of their careers, two cars (6673 and 6786) were wrecked in 1957, and three cars (6595, 6597, and 6601) were destroyed by fire - at the 42nd Street Shuttle fire at 42nd Street–Grand Central - in 1964. The last car was removed from service February 29, 1988. Today, several survive as work cars. Car 6609 had been fully restored in 1976 and is part of the display collection at the New York Transit Museum in Brooklyn, and 6688 is at the Shore Line Trolley Museum in East Haven, Connecticut.

The major identifying characteristics of the R17 can all be found in its windows. These include the circular windows on the car end doors, similar to those found on the R15 and the B Division R11. The R17 also features large, rounded rectangle windows on its side doors, similar to those found on nearly every car in today's subway system.

Lastly, the R17, like many older New York City Subway A Division cars, also features two sets of mid-carbody passenger windows on each side. Normally arranged in two pairs of three on the R15, on the R17 one set of windows on each side contains a rollsign in lieu of a third window. This window pattern became the blueprint for the later R21 and R22, the Redbirds, and even influenced the design of trains still in service today. The R32 and R38 use similar rollsigns to those first found on the R17.

R-17 Specifications

*Car Builder: St. Louis Car Company
*Car Body: LAHT Carbon Steel
*Unit Numbers: 6500-6899
*Fleet: 400 cars (numbers 6500-6899)
*Car Length: 51 feet, 1/2 inches
*Car Width: 8 feet, 9 inches
*Car Height: 11 feet, 10inches
*Track Gauge: 4 feet, 8-1/2 inches (1.435 m)
*Propulsion System:
*Motors: General Electric 1240A4 or Westinghouse J1447C
*Power: 100 hp per motor.
*Total Seating: 44 seats
*Total Weight: 77,887 lb