R30 (New York City Subway car)

R30/A
R30 car 8506 on display at the New York Transit Museum.
Interior view of R30 car 8506.
Manufacturer	St. Louis Car Company
Replaced	BMT Standard, and BMT ex-Staten Island ME-1 units, BMT Bluebirds, and BMT Multi's, and many older BMT elevated equipment
Constructed	1961–1962
Entered service	1961
Refurbishment	1985-1988
Scrapped	1991-1993, 2013
Number built	320
Number in service	(2 in work service)
Number preserved	2 (2 stored out of service)
Number scrapped	314
Formation	Married Pairs
Fleet numbers	8250-8351, 8412-8567 (R30) 8352-8411 (R30A)
Capacity	56 (seated)
Operator(s)	New York City Subway
Specifications
Car body construction	LAHT Carbon steel
Car length	60 ft (18.29 m)
Width	10 ft (3.05 m)
Height	12.08 ft (3.68 m)
Platform height	3.76 ft (1.15 m)
Doors	8
Maximum speed	55 mph (89 km/h)
Weight	80,600 lb (36,560 kg)
Traction system	General Electric (GE) 1257
Transmission	Westinghouse XCA248 and General Electric MCM 17KG192A and SCM propulsion system
Auxiliaries	WH 1447 JR; GE 1257F1
Electric system(s)	600 V DC Third rail
Current collection method	Contact shoe
Braking system(s)	WABCO ME42B SMEE
Track gauge	4 ft 8 1⁄2 in (1,435 mm)

The R30 was a New York City Subway car model built by St. Louis Car Company for the New York City Transit Authority in 1961 and 1962 for the IND/BMT B Division. The cars were a "follow-up" or supplemental stock for the B Division's R27s and closely resemble them.

The R30s were coupled together as pairs. These cars, along with their identical R27 sister cars, replaced the oldest BMT Standards (including all 50 of the trailer cars), the ME-1s purchased, and transferred from the SIRT, the MS Multi-section cars, and the IRT Lo-Vs that were modified to be used on B-division shuttles, and also permitted all borrowed IND equipment such as the R1/9's used on the #2 Fourth Avenue Local's extension to Astoria-Ditmars Blvd, and the R10 cars used on the #15 Jamaica Line to be returned to their respective lines on the IND division, and also helped to stabilized the BMT division to a certain extent until the R32 cars were delivered to the BMT lines in 1965.

There were three versions of the R30. The two R30 types were Westinghouse XCA248-powered equipped cars (8412–8569) and General Electric MCM-powered cars (8250-8351). Cars 8352–8411 were R30As and were equipped with a newer more modern solid-state GE SCM controllers instead. The R30As were the first New York City Subway cars to be equipped with this system.

The R30s were primarily BMT Eastern Division cars, although they would appear in the northern and southern divisions from time to time.

Like their R27 sister units, the R30s wore several paint schemes over the course of their career. The cars were delivered in a dark olive green paint scheme, and many were repainted bright red in the late 1960s before receiving the MTA corporate silver and blue scheme in 1970.

The rebuilt R30s were finished in a fox red color and were called the BMT Redbirds. The unrebuilt R30s, which were Westinghouse cars numbered 8412-8569, were also painted red in the mid-1980s.

From 1985 until 1989, R30s 8250-8351 and all R30As were rebuilt and painted in the fox red paint scheme, similar to the 27 R27s and other Redbird trains in the subway system, as part of the Clean Car Program.