R17 (New York City Subway car)

R17
R17 car 6609 on display at the New York Transit Museum.
Interior of an R17 car at the NYTM.
In service	1954-1988
Manufacturer	St. Louis Car Company
Built at	St. Louis, Missouri
Constructed	1954-1956
Number built	400
Number in service	(4 in work service)
Number preserved	2
Number scrapped	393 (+1 in storage)
Fleet numbers	6500-6699 (General Electric) 6700-6899 (Westinghouse)
Capacity	44 (seated)
Operator(s)	New York City Transit Authority
Specifications
Car body construction	LAHT Carbon steel
Car length	51 ft 0 1⁄2 in (15.56 m)
Width	8 ft 10 3⁄16 in (2,697 mm)
Height	11 ft 10 in (3,607 mm)
Floor height	3 ft 9 in (1.14 m)
Doors	6
Maximum speed	55 mph (89 km/h)
Weight	General Electric cars: 77,887 lb (35,329 kg) Westinghouse cars: 79,193 lb (35,921 kg)
Traction system	General Electric cars: GE MCM 17KG137D1, with 17KC76A1 master controller, using GE 1240-A4 motors (100 hp per axle). 4 motors per car (2 per truck). Westinghouse cars: WH Unit Switch UPC-631B, with XM-179 master controller, using WH 1447C motors (100 hp per axle). 4 motors per car (2 per truck). Air Compressor: WABCO 2-C-Y
Power output	100 hp (75 kW) per traction motor
Electric system(s)	600 V DC Third rail
Current collection method	Top running Contact shoe
Braking system(s)	WABCO Schedule SMEE with A-1 Application package, J1 relay valve, ME-42A brake stand, and A.S.F simplex unit cylinder clasp brake rigging
Coupling system	WABCO H2C
Track gauge	4 ft 8 1⁄2 in (1,435 mm)

The R17 was a New York City Subway car class built in 1954 by the St. Louis Car Company.

The R17s were numbered 6500-6899.

The R17s were one of three car classes purchased in the mid-1950s by the New York City Transit Authority to replace much of the pre-World War II IRT High Voltage (Hi-V) rolling stock, which included the Gibbs cars, the Deck Roofs, and the Hedley Hi-V cars.

The R17s were single unit cars capable of operating both independently or as part of a longer train.

There were two versions of the R17: General Electric-powered cars (6500-6699) and Westinghouse Electric-powered cars (6700-6899).

Cars 6800-6809 were factory equipped with air conditioning when delivered. However, the air conditioning experiment was considered a failure, and the cars were refitted with standard axiflow fans between 1962 and 1964.

As delivered, R17s came with low-running lights and very comfortable foam rubber seats. In 1957, sealed beam headlights were added to the cars. Additionally, vandalism and wear & tear contributed to rapid and frequent damage to the original seats, leading the Transit Authority to replace the seats with hard fiberglass benches similar in feel to the ones in use on New York City subway trains today.

While the cars received the fox red paint scheme like other cars that would go on to be later known as "Redbirds," that nickname was never given to these cars. The only nickname for the R17s was given to the GE-powered cars by shop and operating personnel: "Flat bottoms." The name was derived from the large box underneath the car that contained the switch group, resistor grids, and other propulsion control electrical equipment. Designed to simplify maintenance, in practice the heavy box proved unwieldy. Resistance grids also generate a good deal of heat, and therefore need to be cooled. Typically this is done automatically on a subway car that uses a DC propulsion system, as the grids are exposed and the train's natural movement creates a breeze that ventilates and cools the grids. But since the R17's grids were enclosed in the heavy box, ventilation and cooling would be provided by using the spinning rotor of the Motor-generator to act as a fan feeding air into the box. The GE R17s were not the only subway cars with this arrangement. The GE-powered R16s had a similar setup, and therefore the "Flat bottom" nickname applies to the GE cars in that class as well for the same reason as above. The nickname never applied to the Westinghouse cars in either class.