Brooklyn - NYC Transit Museum: BMT Q Car Number 1612
BMT Q Car Number 1612C (1908, Rebuilt 1938)
Car Manufacturer: Jewett Car Company (Newark, Ohio), 1908
Service: 1908-1969
Routes: Brooklyn elevated lines, 1908-1923; Astoria and Flushing lines, 1923-1949; Third Avenue Elevated, Manhattan, 1950-1955; Myrtle Avenue Elevated, Brooklyn, 1957-1969
City officials never considered wooden cars safe for subway tunnel operation and removed them from underground service after a 1918 accident involving wooden cars at Malbone Street, Brooklyn, killed 93 passengers. But more than 2000 open-platform elevated cars, such as 1612C (originally BRT car 1417), remained in use on elevated lines, which could not support the weight of new all-steel subway cars. In 1938 Car 1417 was rebuilt (and renumbered 1612C) to run with 1612A and 1612B; cars A and C were motorized, while car B was a trailer. Under the Dual Contracts, the IRT and BRT jointly operated new elevated sections, such as the Astoria (R) and Flushing (7) lines.
As the city prepared for the 1939 World’s Fair in Flushing Meadows, Queens, the BMT faced a quandary. The company was not content to use outdated cars to take passengers to a fair dubbed “The World of Tomorrow,” but was unwilling to spend money on new cars that could be used only on IRT-width lines. Instead, the BMT compromised by rebuilding 90 open-platform cars, including 1612C, into closed vehicles and repainting the cars in the World Fair’s official blue and orange color scheme. The resulting cars were used on the Myrtle Avenue Elevated line (built in 1888) until 1969–providing 60 years of service in Manhattan, Brooklyn, and Queens. They were the last wooden elevated cars to run in North America.
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: BMT Q Car Number 1612
BMT Q Car Number 1612C (1908, Rebuilt 1938)
Car Manufacturer: Jewett Car Company (Newark, Ohio), 1908
Service: 1908-1969
Routes: Brooklyn elevated lines, 1908-1923; Astoria and Flushing lines, 1923-1949; Third Avenue Elevated, Manhattan, 1950-1955; Myrtle Avenue Elevated, Brooklyn, 1957-1969
City officials never considered wooden cars safe for subway tunnel operation and removed them from underground service after a 1918 accident involving wooden cars at Malbone Street, Brooklyn, killed 93 passengers. But more than 2000 open-platform elevated cars, such as 1612C (originally BRT car 1417), remained in use on elevated lines, which could not support the weight of new all-steel subway cars. In 1938 Car 1417 was rebuilt (and renumbered 1612C) to run with 1612A and 1612B; cars A and C were motorized, while car B was a trailer. Under the Dual Contracts, the IRT and BRT jointly operated new elevated sections, such as the Astoria (R) and Flushing (7) lines.
As the city prepared for the 1939 World’s Fair in Flushing Meadows, Queens, the BMT faced a quandary. The company was not content to use outdated cars to take passengers to a fair dubbed “The World of Tomorrow,” but was unwilling to spend money on new cars that could be used only on IRT-width lines. Instead, the BMT compromised by rebuilding 90 open-platform cars, including 1612C, into closed vehicles and repainting the cars in the World Fair’s official blue and orange color scheme. The resulting cars were used on the Myrtle Avenue Elevated line (built in 1888) until 1969–providing 60 years of service in Manhattan, Brooklyn, and Queens. They were the last wooden elevated cars to run in North America.
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.