R38

The R38 was a New York City Subway car model built by the St. Louis Car Company from 1966 to 1967 for the IND/BMT B Division. Two hundred were built in twins. The R38s were built to supply extra trains for service changes resulting from the 1967 opening of the Chrystie Street Connection. The R38 was the second subway car order to be built with stainless steel exteriors, after the R32, and the first subway car fleet to have air conditioning installed.
The first R38s entered service on August 23, 1966. In 1987–1988, all R38s were rebuilt by General Electric, and the original head blinds for the indication of train's destination and express/local marker lights at the end of each car were replaced with flipdot signs. The first R38s to be sent out for rebuilding was sent out in early January 1987. The first train of rebuilt R38s entered service on May 28, 1987. The last unrebuilt R38s were removed from service on July 11, 1988. By December 28, 1988 all R38s have been rebuilt and were back in service. The R160 order replaced the entire fleet of R38s, the last of which ran on March 18, 2009. After retirement, all cars but one pair, which is preserved by the New York Transit Museum, were stripped and sunken as artificial reefs.
Category:Rolling stock