PROTO 1000 MTA Class R-17 Subway Cars - 1 Powered & 3 Unpowered -- NYC R-17 Red Bird (red) #6805 - Powered (#'s 3801, 6803 & 6808: Unpowered)

The R17 class of cars was one of three fleets purchased in the mid-1950's to replace many of the pre-WWII Interboro Rapid Transit cars. There were 4000 cars in this class, all built by St. Louis Car Company. Among them were cars 6800-6809 which had air conditioning when delivered. The Air Conditioning experiment was considered a failure and the cars were refitted with the standard axiflow fans. As was the practice, the electrical components were split between General Electric (6500-6699) and Westinghouse Electric (6700-6899). The cars came equipped with low running lights at the ends. In 1957 headlights were added to the cars. During the course of their careers, two cars (6673 & 6786) were wrecked in 1957 and three cars were destroyed by fire (6595, 6597, & 6601) in 1964. The last car was removed from service February 29, 1988.