Arnines

An R7A car on display at the New York Transit Museum

A Transit Museum set of Arnines on an excursion trip

Arnines is a casual term used to refer to 1,703 similar New York City Subway cars built between 1930 and 1940 for the Independent Subway System. The name comes from the literal spelling out of the final contract under which these 1,703 cars were ordered - contract "R9". The last of the cars in this broad grouping were removed from passenger service in 1977. Many pieces of memorabilia, including rollsigns and car number plates, exist today in private collections.

The complete listing of contract numbers for cars referred to as “Arnines” include: R1, R4, R6, R7, R7A and R9.

The grouping of these 1,703 cars can also be referred to as R1–9s (pronounced “R one nines” or “R one through nines”).

They were replaced, along with the R16s, between 1970 and 1977,^[1] with the delivery of new R46 subway cars.

Preserved Cars

Today, twenty of these cars remain, preserved by various museums, businesses, organizations, and private individuals.

The cars that remain on New York City Transit Authority property (and their owners) are:

• R1 100 (New York Transit Museum)
• R1 103 (Railway Preservation Corp.) - Inoperable, undergoing restoration
• R1 381 (Railway Preservation Corp.)
• R4 401 (Railway Preservation Corp.)
• R4 484 (New York Transit Museum)
• R6 923 (Railway Preservation Corp.) - Inoperable
• R6 925 (Railway Preservation Corp.) - Inoperable
• R6 1000 (Railway Preservation Corp.)
• R6 1300 (Railway Preservation Corp.)
• R7A 1575 - rebuilt to an R10 prototype in 1947 (New York Transit Museum)
• R9 1802 (Railway Preservation Corp.)

The other cars are located at the following locations:

• R1 175 is at Seashore Trolley Museum
• R4 800 is at Seashore Trolley Museum
• R4 825 is at the Trolley Museum of New York
• R6 978 was sent to Golden's Deli in the Staten Island Mall and used as a dining room. Its future is unknown, as the deli is now closed permanently.
• R6 983 was on private property in Jacksonville, FL for over 35 years after being purchased from the scrapyard in 1975 for use as a sidefront in a disco. It was purchased by the Craggy Mountain Line based in North Carolina in early 2013 and will be restored to operating service for their museum.
• R6 1144 is at Buckinghamshire Railway Centre, England, United Kingdom
• R7 1440 is at Seashore Trolley Museum
• R9 1689 is at Shore Line Trolley Museum and is in operable condition
• R9 1801 is at the New York State Museum, whose parts were used to restore 1802

References

1. http://www.nycsubway.org/wiki/The_Independent_Fleet_(1932-1939)