R40

• Cab Arrangement: Half-width driving cab at "A" end, half-width conductor control cab at "B" end
• Coupling/Numbering Arrangement: All married pairs.
• Stainless steel
• 60' long, 10' wide
• The futuristic front end of the R40 cars, as delivered, was designed by Raymond Loewy. The slant front end soon proved to be impractical and dangerous for passengers to pass from car to car. Attempts to improve the safety of the slanted ends immediately resulted in disastrous changes to their appearance. Throughout 1968 and the course of the cars' delivery, the simple handholds were first augmented with larger protruding handhelds, pantograph gates, and finally, even larger (higher) handholds. (The metalwork and chains did not age well during the life of the R40 car, turning the once futuristic cars into ugly ducklings.) By April 1968 it had already been decided that even such modifications were not a solution, and the 100 remaining cars on the order were redesigned. The modified ends were designed by the design firm of Sundberg-Ferar, which also designed the MTA "Metropolitan" (M1) cars for the MTA commuter railroads, and the R44/R46 front ends. The R40 "M" cars retained their smooth front, blue belt rail paint, and large rollsigns until circa 1979-1980 when the signs were changed (to the MTA color bullets) and pantograph gates were installed. "R40M" was not an official designation, although it is now in common use to distinguish the R40 cars with the modified (non-slant) end design.

  Slanted grab irons only (1968)	Low handholds (1968)	Low handholds and pantograph gates (1968)	High handholds (1969)
  High handholds and chains, but still relatively clean (1969)	The low point (1981)	R40M as delivered (1969)	R40M after gates were installed (1981)

• 4150-4249, 4350-4449 (present numbers 4150-4349) were built under Contract R40, and 4250-4349, 4450-4549 (present numbers 4350-4549) under Contract R40A. The fleets were renumbered in 1971 such that all of the slant-end cars were numbered in order (with the side effect at the time of also numbering the cars without, and with, air conditioning in order too).
• Cars rebuilt 1987-1989 by Sumitomo. During the overhaul, air conditioning was added to the slant-end cars that did not have it (4150-4249, 4250-4349).
• Mismatched pairs: 4426 & 4429, 4258 & 4261, 4460 (R40M) & 4665 (R42)
• NOTE: Due to the R40 and R40M cars having been renumbered, the photos indicate the car number when the photo was taken. So some of the photos will show R40 and R40M cars with the same numbers, taken before and after the renumbering. Where known, the original number of the car is indicated in the photo caption.
• Last Run of the R40 Slant-front Cars: 6/12/2009, cars: N-4425-4424-4415-4414-4398-4399-4257-4256-4433-4432-S, on the "A" line.
• R40 (Slant) Datasheet from NYCT Revenue & Non-Revenue Car Drawings
• R40M Datasheet from NYCT Revenue & Non-Revenue Car Drawings

Car Notes

R40 MDBF

Roster/Images by Car Number