Rumor has it that today *may* be the final day of service for these awesome subway cars. In fact, the R-40 Slants have always been my favorite New York City subway cars, based on their amazing modern design, penned by Raymond Loewy in the 1960’s. Over the years their appearance has been marred (see the images in the middle of the page) by the addition of safety equipment and General Overhaul (GOH). Still, their unique railfan window (tall and narrow) allowed countless hundreds of thousands of young children to see out the front of the subway train (the railfan windows of the other subway cars were situated too high for them to see out of).
Goodbye old friends.
Pingback: End of the line for the R40 slants :: Second Ave. Sagas | A New York City Subway Blog