The small remaining portion of the R42 fleet still in service on the J line was finally retired on December 30th, 2019, after over 50 years of service. A good portion of the fleet was removed from service in late December, leaving only 18, and soon after, only ten cars available for service. These ten cars (enough for one 8-car J Line consist and a spare 2 cars) soldiered on for a week or so before finally being retired after the AM rush hour. Here we see some clips of these cars in operation in their very final days of operation. These cars have the distinction of being one of the few car types to make it to 50 years of age, a testament to excellent maintenance work performed by the MTA and an overhaul by Morrison-Knudsen in the late 1980s.
Thanks as always to DJ Hammers for posting this!
Mitch