The Arnines were the 1,703 similar New York City Subway cars built between 1930 and 1940 for the Independent Subway System. All were built by the American Car and Foundry Company, the Pressed Steel Car Company, and Pullman Standard. The name comes from the literal spelling out of the final contract under which these 1,703 cars were ordered - contract "R9". The complete listing of contract numbers for cars referred to as “Arnines” include: R1, R4, R6, R7/A and R9. Also in the Arnine family was the R8A, which was a revenue collection car, or Money train. The Arnines entered service between 1930 and 1940, and remained in service until they were replaced between 1970 and 1977 with R42, R44, and R46 cars. 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 museums and private collections.
Preservation
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 are:
R1 100 - Operable
R1 103 - Operable
R1 381 - Operable
R4 401 - Operable
R4 484 - Operable
R6 923 - Inoperable
R6 925 - Inoperable
R6 1000 - Operable
R6 1300 - Operable
R7A 1575 - rebuilt to an R10 prototype in 1947 - Operable
R9 1802 - Operable
R6 1208 was previously preserved by the New York Transit Museum. However, it was scrapped during the 1980s, along with several other museum cars. The other cars are located at the following locations:
R6 978 was used as a dining room at Golden's Deli in the Staten Island Mall until the deli closed in January 2012. The car was later sold to a private owner.
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 has been restored to operating service for their museum. The car uses trucks from scrapped R32s.
R9 1801 is at the New York State Museum, used as a static exhibit in the museum's Metropolis Hall.
R1 175 is at the Seashore Trolley Museum. However, is used only for storage and as a source of spare parts. It does not have trucks, and two of its side doors were donated to R4 401, which has been preserved by Railway Preservation Corp. and restored.
