R28 (New York City Subway car)
The R28 was a New York City Subway car model built by American Car and Foundry from 1960 and 1961. The cars were a "follow-up" or supplemental stock for the A Division's R26s and closely resemble them. The average car cost per R28 was $114,495. A total of 100 cars were built, arranged in married pairs.
The R28s entered service on October 12, 1959, and received air conditioning by 1982. The fleet was rebuilt by Morrison Knudsen between 1985 and 1987. The R28s were replaced in the early 2000s with the delivery of the R142 and R142A cars, with the last train running in October 2002. After being retired, most R28s were sunk into the ocean as artificial reefs, but several cars have survived.
Description
The R28s were numbered 7860-7959. They were the last ever passenger cars built by ACF, with the closure of the Berwick assembly plant following the delivery of the final cars delivered in January 1961. ACF has since focused solely on freight rolling stock.The first set of R28/R26s was placed in service on the train on October 12, 1959. By 1982, all cars in this series had received air conditioning as part of a retrofitting program. Rebuilt by Morrison Knudsen in Hornell, New York between 1985 and 1987, the R28s were repainted as Redbirds and were the first cars to be repainted in the scheme. They re-entered service particularly on the and trains.
Retirement
As time wore on, heavy service took their toll on these cars. The R142 and R142A car orders replaced the entire R28 fleet. They were gradually phased out from May 2001, until the last two pairs 7862-7863, and 7938-7939, along with the last of the R26s made their final trip on the 5 on October 7, 2002.After retirement, all but two pairs were stripped to help create the Redbird Reef. The two pairs that were not scrapped were preserved:
- Cars 7924-7925 are still on the New York City Subway property; this pair was previously used for work service at the Unionport Yard until July 2013, when they were moved to the Concourse Yard for storage, along with R26s 7774-7775 and R29s 8678-8679.
- Cars 7926-7927 are preserved by the Illinois Railway Museum. They were modified with trolley poles and are sometimes operated on the museum's electrified mainline.
Route assignment history
| Service | Years In Service | Cars |
| All cars | ||
| ,, | 1966–1976 | General Electric cars |
| , | 1976–1985 | General Electric cars |
| 1966–1985 | Westinghouse cars | |
| 1978–1985 | some General Electric and Westinghouse cars as a temporary replacement for cars being sent out for air conditioning, overhaul and rebuilding | |
| / | 1985–2002 | All cars after overhaul and rebuilding |