Bay Area Rapid Transit retiring "legacy cars" from routine service

[BCL]

Today is the last day, although BART is saying that they will be kept in reserve and used if needed. I think these including the A cars with the sloped nose and the replacement C cars. The new cars are frankly much nicer.

https://www.bart.gov/about/projects/legacy
https://www.nbcbayarea.com/news/local/bart-begins-retiring-legacy-trains/3314193/

 

[joelkfla]

Today is the last day, although BART is saying that they will be kept in reserve and used if needed. I think these including the A cars with the sloped nose and the replacement C cars. The new cars are frankly much nicer.

Maybe now, but the original cars were beautiful when new. The seats were exceptionally comfortable for transit or commuter service.

 

[GDRRiley]

We will see how they do running shorter trains at longer headways on most lines, it may not last. Yellow will be nice to have the 10 min headways on.
this is a good deep dive into the new timetable
Podcast: Learn what BART’s new, reimagined schedule means for your ride | Bay Area Rapid Transit

 

[BCL]

Maybe now, but the original cars were beautiful when new. The seats were exceptionally comfortable for transit or commuter service.

I remember when they were new. I was a kid. And what I remember the most was that more often than not, a train would stop for some sort of mechanical issue. But after a while those fabric seats got really nasty since they were hard to clean.

 

[Metra Electric Rider]

I remember when they were new. I was a kid. And what I remember the most was that more often than not, a train would stop for some sort of mechanical issue. But after a while those fabric seats got really nasty since they were hard to clean.

I remember them being pretty grotty myself in this century (not meant as an age dig, just that they kept the fabric for eons).

 

[BCL]

I remember them being pretty grotty myself in this century (not meant as an age dig, just that they kept the fabric for eons).

The fabric was durable as heck. I'm pretty sure there were still some original seats in service after 45+ years. But it also seemed nearly impossible to clean.

The nastiest thing I saw was what looked like an empty seat, but I decided not to sit there because someone had left raw meat on the seat.

 

[Willbridge]

The fabric was durable as heck. I'm pretty sure there were still some original seats in service after 45+ years. But it also seemed nearly impossible to clean.

The nastiest thing I saw was what looked like an empty seat, but I decided not to sit there because someone had left raw meat on the seat.

They were very proud of having hired an automobile design firm (Sundberg-Ferrar?) to do their interiors. (Not to mention trying to do everything else differently, as well.)

 

[cirdan]

I hope at least one can be kept in a museum. They were a really iconic design, truly futuristic when new, with a lot of attention payed to details.

 

[JamesWhitcombRiley]

The BART history department has a few articles. Some legacy cars have gone to odd museum-like installations. The original seats were foam inside, which proved not be as flame-retardant as thought. The upholstery was changed twice, since removing it for dry cleaning started to seem a little crazy. Etc.

BART history says it was the first new transit system since the early 20th century, so they went for space age, adjusted:

• Sundberg-Farar out of Detroit designed it inside and out, with legendary Syd Mead (Star Trek, Blade Runner) consulting for drawings and concepts. He wanted the front to look like transit, not streamlined. Inside it was to be human-centered and better than an automobile or jet plane. Mead's interview, at an advanced age, is fairly loopy, and does not say what was not human-centered about a NYC subway car.
• Aluminum, so wide gauge for stability. The aerospace industry is great on the West Coast. Big windows.
• So many early problems. Ordered the wrong mix of middle cars and cab cars.
• Not as far out as Braniff airline interiors and uniforms, in Texas. But Braniff did not design the airframe.

The cornucopia of Bay Area transit shows people prefer rail (or cable car) to even the best buses. I never heard anyone there say they preferred a bus.

 

[AmtrakMaineiac]

The cornucopia of Bay Area transit shows people prefer rail (or cable car) to even the best buses. I never heard anyone there say they preferred a bus.

That is true outside of the Bay Area as well

 

[joelkfla]

I hope at least one can be kept in a museum. They were a really iconic design, truly futuristic when new, with a lot of attention payed to details.

At least one will be on display at the Western Railway Museum, on SR-12 between Fairfield & Rio Vista in Solano County, about an hour's drive northeast of SF.

The operating museum highlights streetcars and transit from the greater SF Bay Area.

 

[Metra Electric Rider]

Illinois Central, when designing the original highliners, sensibly went with the finest in yellow and orange naugahide around the same time (when Pontiac went with Morrokide, expanded). Luckily naugas are not endangered....

 

[BCL]

Aluminum, so wide gauge for stability. The aerospace industry is great on the West Coast. Big windows.

They're quite lightweight compared to typical steel transit cars. But it turned into a huge headache trying get bids for new equipment contracts. But the width was meant to make it more stable in high winds, where there might not be enough weight.