The Q-type and QX were a

New York City Subway The New York City Subway is a rapid transit system owned by the government of New York City and leased to the New York City Transit Authority, an affiliate agency of the state-run Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA). Opened on October 2 ...

car class originally built by the Osgood-Bradley,

Brill Brill may refer to: Places * Brielle (sometimes "Den Briel"), a town in the western Netherlands * Brill, Buckinghamshire, a village in England * Brill, Cornwall, a small village to the west of Constantine, Cornwall, UK * Brill, Wisconsin, an un ...

Laconia Laconia or Lakonia ( el, Λακωνία, , ) is a historical and administrative region of Greece located on the southeastern part of the Peloponnese peninsula. Its administrative capital is Sparta. The word ''laconic''—to speak in a blunt, c ...

, and Jewett car companies, and rebuilt in 1938 by the

Brooklyn–Manhattan Transit Corporation The Brooklyn–Manhattan Transit Corporation (BMT) was an urban transit holding company, based in Brooklyn, New York City, United States, and incorporated in 1923. The system was sold to the city in 1940. Today, together with the IND subway s ...

(BMT) from former BU cars. __TOC__

History

The Q-types were built for elevated railway service to the

1939 New York World's Fair The 1939–40 New York World's Fair was a world's fair held at Flushing Meadows–Corona Park in Queens, New York, United States. It was the second-most expensive American world's fair of all time, exceeded only by St. Louis's Louisiana Purchas ...

, though used in both Flushing and Astoria service. They were rebuilt from BU cars in the 1200 and 1400 series, elevated rolling stock originally built in 1903 and 1907. There were 30 three-car Q sets numbered 1600–1629 A-B-C, and 13 two-car QX sets numbered 1630–1642 A-B. The Q sets were arranged in three-car sets with the center car as a trailer, while the QX sets were arranged as married pairs with a motor car and a control trailer. Involved in this conversion were all remaining 1400 series cars that had not been rebuilt to the 1923 C-type conversion, saved for 2 cars that had been independently rebuilt following an accident in 1910. The remaining cars used were 1200 series cars. 22 1200 series cars were left over after completion of the Q-type conversion, 1 of which was converted to a trailer shortly after the city takeover. All trailer cars in these units had originally been of the 1200 series. After BMT service on the joint IRT-BMT Flushing Line and Astoria Line ended in 1949, the QX-types were all removed from service and placed in work service. The Q-types were refitted for operation on the

IRT Third Avenue Line The IRT Third Avenue Line, commonly known as the Third Avenue Elevated, Third Avenue El, or Bronx El, was an elevated railway in Manhattan and the Bronx, New York City. Originally operated by the New York Elevated Railway, an independent railwa ...

Manhattan Manhattan (), known regionally as the City, is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the five boroughs of New York City. The borough is also coextensive with New York County, one of the original counties of the U.S. state ...

. After the latter line closed in 1955, the Q-types were refitted again to operate on the

BMT Myrtle Avenue Line The Myrtle Avenue Line, also called the Myrtle Avenue Elevated, is a fully elevated line of the New York City Subway as part of the BMT division. The line is the last surviving remnant of one of the original Brooklyn elevated railroads. The rem ...

in 1958 to replace the last elevated BU gate cars in passenger service. A year before, a few trains of these freshly rehabilitated units did a one-day test in service on the Franklin Ave. Shuttle on October 10, 1957. Service on Myrtle Ave. finally got underway in July 1958. By September, all of the old convertible gate cars had been retired. The Q-types then spent the next 11 years in service on Myrtle Ave. until the lower part of the line closed on October 4, 1969, when they were finally retired.

Preservation

Today, only two Q-Type cars are preserved: * Car 1602A (ex-BU 1410) is preserved at the

Trolley Museum of New York The Trolley Museum of New York, a non-profit organization, is located at 89 East Strand Street, Kingston, New York. The museum is open to the public on a seasonal schedule, but volunteer activities relating to the preservation of historic tran ...

. It is awaiting restoration. * Car 1612C (ex-BU 1417) is preserved at the

New York Transit Museum The New York Transit Museum (also called the NYC Transit Museum) is a museum that displays historical artifacts of the New York City Subway, bus, and commuter rail systems in the greater New York City metropolitan region. The main museum is loc ...

. This car was previously used as a work car before it was restored to its original condition for the museum collection in 1979. It was painted in its original blue and orange paint scheme (the colors of the

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

flag), which it wore during the 1939 World's Fair. Q-type set 1622 A-B-C was previously preserved by the New York Transit Museum, but the set was converted back into BU gate cars 1407, 1273, and 1404 (their original numbers prior to conversion) in 1979. However, the cars are still unitized as Q units and thus retain their 1957 lowered roofs, 1950 lightweight trucks and motors, and modified marker light positions on the ends of the units. Car 1612C was subsequently restored to replace 1622 A-B-C for museum display.

References

{{NYCS rolling stock Train-related introductions in 1938 New York City Subway rolling stock Brooklyn–Manhattan Transit Corporation 1938 in rail transport