MTA: New York City Transit 9327

Car #9327 is one of 40 subway cars known as “World’s Fair Cars.” The New York City Transit Authority acquired this car as part of the R-33s contract and placed it service carrying passengers on the Flushing Line between Manhattan and the 1964 New York World’s Fair at Willets Point, Queens. The Transit Authority designed the “World’s Fair Cars” with large picture windows and a distinctive white and turquoise blue paint scheme. Car #9327 continued operating on the Flushing line for its entire service life. In the 1980s, this car received the red, Teflon-coated paint scheme. Over 1400 New York subway cars, known as “Redbirds,” received this paint as part of a successful effort to combat graffiti. In 2000, the baseball World Series was a match between the New York Yankees and the New York Mets. Because the home stadiums of both teams were served by New York subway lines, this was popularly called a “subway series” – the first since 1956. Car #9327, then serving the Mets’ Shea Stadium on the Flushing line, was one of 11 cars to sport the “Subway Series” paint scheme. After retirement, #9327 came here while almost 1300 of the “Redbirds” were sunk in the Atlantic Ocean to create artificial reefs. The R-33s cars, such as #9327, were “single” cars but otherwise similar to the 500 R-33 cars built at the same time as married pairs for operation on New York’s IRT lines other than the Flushing Line. Soon after buying the R-33 and R-33s cars, the New York City Transit Authority bought 34 more similar cars (contract R-36) for IRT main line service and 390 R-36WF cars for the Flushing Line. The R-36WF cars had the white and turquoise “World’s Fair” paint scheme, but were built as married pairs. So, the Transit Authority usually coupled #9327 or another R-33s car to ten R-36WF cars to make an eleven car train. Car #9327 received a silver and blue paint scheme in the 1970s and then a white paint scheme in the early 1980s before its red paint scheme. The R-33s cars, including #9327, were the last New York subway cars operating without air conditioning. Museum Ownership: After retirement in 2004, #9327 went to the New York Transit Museum before coming to the Seashore Trolley Museum in 2005.