Replaced 1973 Number preserved 2 | Constructed 1925-1926 Number scrapped 98 | |
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Manufacturer Standard Steel Car Company Number built 100 (90 Motors, 10 Trailers) | ||
The ME-1 was a rapid transit car built from 1925 to 1926 by the Standard Steel Car Company for the Staten Island Railway and later also used in the New York City Subway. They were the first electric cars to run in revenue service on the SIRT. They are also frequently referred to as MU-1s or MUE-1s. The 25 cars purchased by the New York City Transit Authority to run in the subway were nicknamed B-29s, a reference to a large aircraft of the same name. This nickname was derived from the cars' large size (67 feet or 20.42 meters) and the fact that the cars had been renumbered for subway service into the 2900's.
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Service history
A total of 100 cars were purchased from the Standard Steel Car Company - 90 motors and 10 trailers. The 90 motors were built in 1925, and the 10 trailers in 1926.
Purchased by the Staten Island Rapid Transit's former operator, the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad, the cars were built to replace steam-powered equipment on the railroad, and in preparation for the Staten Island Tunnel connection to the BMT Fourth Avenue Line in Brooklyn. Because of this, the cars were built to Brooklyn–Manhattan Transit Corporation (BMT) subway specifications, and strongly resembled the BMT's AB Standard. The cars debuted in 1925, shortly after the electrification of the railroad. They ran continuously on the three SIRT lines (North Shore Line, South Shore Line, South Beach Branch) until 1953, when the South Beach Branch and North Shore Line closed. In 1953-54, 25 of these cars were purchased from the SIRT by the New York City Transit Authority to run over former BMT lines and did so until 1961. The remaining 48 cars (many had been lost in several fires) soldiered on the remaining SIRT main line (the South Shore or Tottenville Line; now the Main Line) until their last revenue service in 1973. Due to the shortage of equipment, all but four cars would be used in peak operation.
Following their 1973 retirement from service on Staten Island, they were replaced by the original 52 R44 SI fleet of cars. A total of 63 R44s (some transfers from the subway system) are currently in use as of 2015.
Preservation
In recent years, a railroad historian from Staten Island named Peter Giunta has been searching for vintage SIRT equipment for a possible museum display on Staten Island. He hopes to locate either an ME-1 or one of its earlier non-electrified counterparts.