IRT
PRE-WAR CARS

Here is a list of the subway cars built by and for the old IRT subway.
IRT stood for the Interborough Rapid Transit Company which operated all of the
lines now called the IRT or 'A' Division of the NYCTA.
There were two main types of cars ordered through the years by the IRT:
High Voltage, in which 600 volt third rail power was connect between all of the
cars in the train and Low Voltage, in which a 32 volt battery and connections
provided power to control 600 volt circuits in each car.
Link to all of the
IRT pre-WWII fleet from the
New York Subways Resources Web
pages.
CAR NUMBERS |
COUNT |
VOLTAGE |
TYPE |
MFGR |
YEAR |
PHOTO |
2000-2059 |
60 |
H |
Composite |
Jewt |
1903 |
 |
2060-2119 |
60 |
H |
Composite |
StL |
1903 |
2120-2159 |
40 |
H |
Composite |
Wasn |
1903 |
3000-3039 |
40 |
H |
Composite |
Jewt |
1904 |
3040-3139 |
100 |
H |
Composite |
Stpn |
1904 |
3140-3279 |
140 |
H |
Composite |
StL |
1904 |
3280-3339 |
60 |
H |
Composite |
Wasn |
1904 |
Total Composite |
500 |
After 1918, wooden cars were banned
from subway service and the wood-steel composites were then assigned to the
elevated lines. |
3340 |
1 |
H |
A.Belmont |
Wasn |
1902 |
 at BERA |
3341 |
1 |
H |
JB.McDonald |
Wasn |
1902 |
3342 |
1 |
H |
First Stl |
PRR |
1903 |
3344 |
1 |
H |
Mineola |
Wasn |
1904 |
Special cars |
5 |
Inclding 5302 below Lo-V non revenue car |
3350-3516 |
167 |
H |
Gibbs |
AC&F |
1904 |
 |
3517-3649 |
133 |
H |
Gibbs MUDC |
AC&F |
1905 |
3650-3699 |
50 |
H |
Deck Roof |
AC&F |
1907 |
|
3700-3756 |
57 |
H |
|
AC&F |
1910 |
|
3757-3809 |
53 |
H |
MUDC |
AC&F |
1910 |
3810-3814 |
5 |
H |
MUDC |
StSt |
1910 |
3815 |
1 |
H |
|
StSt |
1910 |
3816-3849 |
34 |
H |
MUDC |
StSt |
1910 |
3850-3914 |
65 |
H |
MUDC |
PrSt |
1910 |
3915 |
1 |
H |
|
PrSt |
1910 |
3916-4024 |
109 |
H |
MUDC |
PrSt |
1910 |
Total Steel HV including trailers below |
967 |
|
4025-4036 |
12 |
L |
Steinway |
PCo |
1915 |
|
4037-4160 |
124 |
L |
Flivver* |
PCo |
1915 |
|
4161-4214 |
54 |
L |
Trailer |
PCo |
1915 |
4215-4222 |
8 |
L |
Steinway |
PCo |
1915 |
4223-4514 |
292 |
H |
Trailer* |
PCo |
1915 |
4515-4554 |
40 |
L |
Trailer |
PCo |
1916 |
4555-4576 |
22 |
L |
Steinway |
PCo |
1916 |
4577-4699 |
123 |
L |
|
PCo |
1916 |
4700-4770 |
71 |
L |
Steinway |
PCo |
1916 |
4771-4810 |
40 |
L |
|
PCo |
1916 |
4811-4825 |
15 |
L |
Trailer |
PCo |
1916 |
4826-4965 |
140 |
L |
Trailer |
PCo |
1917 |
4966-5301 |
336 |
L |
|
PCo |
1917 |
5302 |
1 |
L |
Pay & Revenue Collection |
PCo |
|
5303-5377 |
75 |
L |
Trailer |
PCo |
1922 |
5378-5402 |
25 |
L |
Trailer |
PCo |
1922 |
5403-5502 |
100 |
L |
|
AC&F |
1924 |
5503-5627 |
125 |
L |
|
AC&F |
1925 |
5628-5652 |
25 |
L |
Steinway |
AC&F |
1925 |
5653-5702 |
50 |
L |
World's Fr |
StL |
1938 |
|
Total Steinway |
188 |
|
|
Total other LV |
1197 |
Total IRT cars |
2857 |
Manufacturers key and subtotals:
CODE |
FULL |
COMP |
Hi Volt |
Lo Volt |
STEINWAY |
SPEC |
TOTAL |
MOT |
TRL |
MOT |
TRL |
LO-V |
WF |
AC&F |
American Car and Foundry |
|
460 |
|
225 |
|
25 |
|
|
710 |
Jwet |
Jewett Car Company |
100 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
100 |
PRR |
Pennsylvania Railroad |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
1 |
1 |
PrSt |
Pressed Steel Car Company |
|
175 |
|
|
|
12 |
|
|
187 |
Pco |
Pullman Company |
|
|
292 |
623 |
349 |
101 |
|
1 |
1366 |
StL |
St. Louis Car Company |
200 |
|
|
|
|
|
50 |
|
250 |
StSt |
Standard Steel Car Company |
|
40 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
40 |
Stpn |
Stephenson Car Company |
100 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
100 |
Wasn |
Wason Car Company |
100 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
3 |
103 |
Totals |
|
500 |
675 |
292 |
848 |
349 |
138 |
50 |
5 |
2857 |
Type Key:
- Composite - combination of wood sides on steel frame.
- Gibbs - All steel car named for the IRT Chief Engineer, George Gibbs,
who designed them with the Pennsylvania RR Altoona Shop help.
- MUDC - Multiple Unit Door Control - Hi Voltage cars not so marked had
manually operated doors. MUDC cars had automated doors. Some of the non-MUDC
cars could operate as the first or last car, the conductor or rear guard used
the MUDC to open the middle cars and levers to operate the first/last car.
There were some individual cars listed in the non-MUDC that
were retrofitted and others in the MUDC series that were not converted.
See
the
New York
Subways Resources IRT page for details.
- Steinway - Cars designed with special gearing for the steep grades in
the Steinway Tunnel (#7 Flushing Line)
- Flivver - Name given to new LV cars built at the time that the
Flivver automobiles were introduced. They also had a different power control
system and could not operate with any other type of IRT car.
- Cars without any type are regular motor cars of the voltage H or L.
- Trailer - these cars had no motors, control, or air equipment on
board. They were usually operated in trains of 7 motors and 3 trailers or 5
motors and 1 trailer.
- Trailer* - 4223-4250 in their last years were motorized as blind
motors (no controls); the motors coming from various non-MUDC cars which were
being scrapped.
- Worlds Fr - cars purchased for the 1939 World's Fair for IRT.
See information about Door
controls and Cabs on this page.
IRT Elevated Lines
In addition to the above subway cars, the IRT had a number of elevated
cars for use on the Manhattan and Bronx 'el' lines between the 1880's and 1956.
All of the el cars started as
Steam pulled
Trains on the els. Some were converted to
electric operation
retaining their end gates and others had the ends enclosed
and automatic doors
installed.
- The JoeKorNer
All photos are from the MTA New York City Transit archives. These GIF
files were scanned from offset press prints, thus the quality of the
reproduction varies with your monitor and video card capabilities.