BU Cars (New York City Subway Car) - BUs in The New York Transit Museum Fleet

BUs in The New York Transit Museum Fleet

Three BU cars that were converted to closed Q-type cars in 1938 and 1939 for BMT service to the 1939 New York World's Fair were converted back to BU gate cars in the Coney Island Rapid Transit Car Overhaul Shop for the transit museum. All of the cars are operational.

These cars are the oldest operational members of the New York Transit Museum fleet. They are made of wood with steel frames and date from 1903 and 1907. Those built in 1907 were the last BU cars ever built. They are occasionally used on excursions. However, when the excursion goes through underground subway tunnels, they must be towed by steel cars. New York City protocol forbids use of these wooden cars in tunnels with passengers due to the safety risk posed by such, and thus non-employees must ride only in the accompanying steel cars during the tunnel portions of the trip.

The three museum BUs are currently numbered and coupled as 1407-1273-1404. They were rebuilt from Q-type unit 1622A-B-C in the late 1970s. As a Q-type in the 1970s 1622A-B-C had been rehabilitated and repainted in the original colors used for the 1939-40 World's Fair, blue and orange, which are also the colors of the City of New York. Many other cars survive around the country, particularly at Shore Line Trolley Museum.