"Enjoying the RFW One Last Time"
A small kid takes video out of the famed "Rail Fan Window" (aka RFW) of R32 #3360 as fans photograph from the 86th Street Second Ave Line platform on January 9th, 2022. The "R32 Retirement Extra", consisting of eight Budd Company R32 "Brightliner" railcars, was on it's first of 4 round trips between 96th Street and Brighton Beach. The R32s are the last fleet of New York City Subway cars to feature single cabs allowing passengers to look directly out the front of the train.
The R32 fleet entered service in 1964 and would run in service up until January of 2022, making them the oldest surviving subway cars in North America. About half of the fleet was retired in the late 2000s with the arrival of the R160 cars leaving the rest to cover services mainly on the Eighth Avenue Line routes (A & C) during the winter season and BMT Jamaica Line routes (J & Z) during the summer season. During the month of October, 2020, the rest of the fleet was finally placed into storage/ work service after 2 reactivations and the securement of the R179 fleet in revenue service. The R32s were officially retired on January 9th, 2022 with a farewell celebration that featured a special train making several trips throughout the day along the Brighton, Broadway and Second Avenue Lines.