Brooklyn - NYC Transit Museum: IRT 'Low Voltage' Trailer 4902
IRT 'Low Voltage' Trailer 4902 (1917)
Manufacturer: Pullman Company, Pullman, Illinois (1917)
Service: 1917-1964
Routes: All IRT Lines
Like other subway cars, low voltage (or Lo-V) cars draw 600 voltes of direct electric current from the third rail for power, but they use a much lower current--32 volts coming from btteries--to operate the motor controller and door controls. By sending a lower voltage of electricity into the interior of the cars, the motorman was protected from electrocution. In addition, low voltage cars allowed for automatic car acceleration.
When the IRT subway first opened, it ran "composite" cars--wooden bodies sheathed in copper. These were eventually replaced by all-steel cars. The low voltage cars resembled the IRT standard all-steel car design developed in 2901 by George Gibbs.
The design, modified in 2904, was altered again in 1910 to include a center door. Car number 4902 was part of the second series of low-voltage motor and trailer cars delivered to the IRT in 1917. These cars had a few cosmetic alterations from the first series delivered in 1916. For example, car numbers once painted on the window glass now appeared on steel plates, and brass window sashes replaced wooden ones.
The New York Transit Museum, located in the decommissioned Court Street subway station at Boerum Place, was opened 1976 by the New York City Transit Authority and taken over in the mid-1990s by the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA). The museum includes subway, bus, railway, bridge, and tunnel memorabilia; and other exhibits including vintage signage and in-vehicle advertisements; and models and dioramas of subway, bus, and other equipment.
Brooklyn - NYC Transit Museum: IRT 'Low Voltage' Trailer 4902
IRT 'Low Voltage' Trailer 4902 (1917)
Manufacturer: Pullman Company, Pullman, Illinois (1917)
Service: 1917-1964
Routes: All IRT Lines
Like other subway cars, low voltage (or Lo-V) cars draw 600 voltes of direct electric current from the third rail for power, but they use a much lower current--32 volts coming from btteries--to operate the motor controller and door controls. By sending a lower voltage of electricity into the interior of the cars, the motorman was protected from electrocution. In addition, low voltage cars allowed for automatic car acceleration.
When the IRT subway first opened, it ran "composite" cars--wooden bodies sheathed in copper. These were eventually replaced by all-steel cars. The low voltage cars resembled the IRT standard all-steel car design developed in 2901 by George Gibbs.
The design, modified in 2904, was altered again in 1910 to include a center door. Car number 4902 was part of the second series of low-voltage motor and trailer cars delivered to the IRT in 1917. These cars had a few cosmetic alterations from the first series delivered in 1916. For example, car numbers once painted on the window glass now appeared on steel plates, and brass window sashes replaced wooden ones.
The New York Transit Museum, located in the decommissioned Court Street subway station at Boerum Place, was opened 1976 by the New York City Transit Authority and taken over in the mid-1990s by the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA). The museum includes subway, bus, railway, bridge, and tunnel memorabilia; and other exhibits including vintage signage and in-vehicle advertisements; and models and dioramas of subway, bus, and other equipment.