Three Generations in Corona Yards

Corona Yards is the largest trainyard in Queens devoted entirely to the care and maintenance of subway cars, servicing equipment used on the Flushing #7 line, which was built in stages beginning in 1915. The line used tunnels under the East River that were originally meant to carry trolley cars belonging to William Steinway’s New York and Queens Railroad Company, which ran extensively in Queens but was never expanded to Manhattan. Eventually, the trolley line shuttered in 1937 and was replaced by bus lines. The Flushing Line was extended to Corona by 1925 and to Main Street, Flushing in 1928. There has been periodic talk of extending the line to the city line via Northern Boulevard, but it’s been just talk.

In this photo we see three generations of subway cars that have been used on the line since 1964. At left is a new R-188 car, part of a new fleet that will be introduced on the Flushing Line gradually in 2014 and 2015. Uniquely among subway lines, Flushing Line trainsets use 11 cars instead of the 10  cars used on most other subway lines (though the G train in Brooklyn and Queens uses just four cars).

In the center is an R-33 car, introduced on the line during the World’s Fair held in Flushing Meadows-Corona Park for two years, 1964-1965; the now-demolished Shea Stadium also opened in 1964. In the Fair years the R-33s had a two-tone blue paint job, with World’s Fair signage. Some cars had states’ names on the sides of the cars; some states that had exhibits at the Fair chose to purchase space on the cars on which their names would be listed. R-33s were the workhorses of the Flushing Line until the early 2000s. In their later years, a dark red paint scheme lent them the nickname “Redbirds.”

On the right is the R-62A, introduced on IRT lines in 1984 and gradually becoming a part of the Flushing Line beginning in 2002. The R-188s will eventually force them into retirement.

Kevin Walsh’s website is Forgotten NY. His new book, Forgotten Queens, can be purchased via the Greater Astoria Historical Society.