⁴ᴷ MTA Staten Island Railway: 1973 St. Louis Car Company SIR One-Take Express Ride (8/1/23)

Due to the impending debut of the Kawasaki R211S cars set to replace the R44"M" railcars, called by some as the ME-2's, these last few years come to be the final few that the SIR operate a strict fleet of purely R44 cars, which happen to be the oldest R types in the entirety of the MTA, as well as the final revenue service fleet built by the long-defunct company St. Louis Car Company. St. Louis was defunct immediately after the R44's manufacturing period had ended, making these cars the final fleet from the well-known company that many subway cars had been built by, many coming before the unification of the BMT, IND and IRT. All R44's from the subway, which had been built from 1971-1973 have been retired since late 2010, with these SIR R44's having outlasted them a maximum of 13 years as of this recording, and 14 years as of this upload. They have remained in service a maximum of 50+ years at this point, which had been widely commemorated by the R32's and R42's for this feat of having such great longevity, acting as a testament to the R44's especially given the fact they are the first cars bought by the MTA that are a length of 75 feet, instead of 60 feet. As for the subway side of the fleet, just 1 A car had been preserved since 2013, sitting non-operational in the NYTM due to the lack of being in a full set, as well as the concerns and dangers of an NYCT R44 operating in this time period, due to their own issues that the SIR ones do not have. #mtasubway #statenisland
Video Clip Taken: August, 1st, 2023.
Enjoy!