The R30s were primarily
BMT Southern Division cars, although they would appear in the Eastern Division from time to time. Like the R27s, the R30s wore several paint schemes over the course of their career. The cars were delivered in a dark olive green paint scheme, and many were repainted bright red in the late 1960s before receiving the MTA corporate silver and blue scheme in 1970. Cars 8293, 8392, and 8521 were delivered with a rough surface paint. The R30s were rebuilt beginning in late 1985 under the General Overhaul (GOH) program as a result of deferred maintenance in the transit system during the 1970s and 1980s. 162 cars, which were GE-powered, were rebuilt in-house at the
Coney Island Overhaul Shop in
Coney Island, Brooklyn. The 162 cars were painted in a fox red color with black trim and silver roofs, similar to the
R33S and
R36s used on the line, and were colloquially known as the
Redbirds of the
B Division. The rebuilt cars were assigned to the line in an effort to keep only graffiti-free cars on that line. By August 1986, 92 overhauled cars had already been accepted into service; by this time, eight of the overhauled cars had Fuji door operators installed. The non-rebuilt R30s, which were Westinghouse cars numbered 8412–8569, were also painted fox red in the mid-1980s.
Retirement The WH-powered R30s, which were not rebuilt, were replaced by the
R68As and the rebuilt R30s, which were transferred from the
BMT Eastern Division. The last non-rebuilt train ran on December 14, 1990. In January 1990, all rebuilt R30s were removed from passenger service due to a failure in a converter bracket that resulted in a train of R30s derailing near the
Bedford Park Boulevard station. The rebuilt cars were slowly placed back into service following the incident, but two years later, the MTA made the decision to retire the 162 overhauled cars. A risk assessment analysis was performed in 1991 to either put the cars in long-term storage or to retire them. The fleet suffered from poor reliability and lack of air conditioning; budget concerns and a decline in subway ridership further solidified the decision to prematurely retire the fleet. Installing air conditioning would have been a difficult procedure and would have added extra weight to the cars. In addition, when the fleet was pulled from service in 1990, passenger service managed to continue uninterrupted without any cuts to service despite their absence. On May 30, 1993, the Electric Railroaders' Association sponsored a
Farewell to the R30 fan trip. The last of the overhauled R30s were retired from passenger service on June 25, 1993, on the line after the last of the
R46s returned from
Morrison–Knudsen undergoing overhaul. Despite the retirement of the fleet, the spare factor in the B Division was only lowered by 12%, which did not cause an adverse effect on service. After retirement, most cars were sent to what is now
Sims Metal Management's Newark facility to be scrapped and processed. Some cars were retained as movie props, but many were ultimately scrapped as well. The new parts used for the rebuilding of the cars (including cam control groups and braking systems) were salvaged and re-installed on GE-powered
R36 cars 9558–9769 between 1992–1993 to improve their reliability. Some R30 cars were saved for various purposes throughout the New York City Subway system. The full list includes: • 8429 and 8558 – converted to
rail adhesion cars, based at
Coney Island Yard and
Pitkin Yard, respectively. • 8506 – preserved at the
New York Transit Museum in Brooklyn, New York since 1975 after an accident wrecked its mate. This car is painted in the R30s' original dark olive paint scheme. • 8481 and 8522 – Currently stored at
207th Street Yard in Upper Manhattan. Other R30s that had been retained or preserved before February 2019 included: • 8265 and 8336 – used as school cars in
Concourse Yard until 2009. They were replaced by
R40A cars 4442–4443 (since scrapped) and reefed on April 17, 2010. • 8289–8290 – used as police training cars in Coney Island Yard until January 2008, when they were reefed. • 8337 – used as a training car at the
Transit Tech High School until 2009, when it was replaced by
R42 cars 4736–4737 and reefed later that year. • 8392 and 8401 – used as fire training cars in Coney Island Yard until July 2004. They were replaced by
R110B cars 3004 and 3006 and reefed in July 2007. • 8394 – placed in an
Asics store in
Times Square in late October 2014. The car was previously used for filming scenes in the
Mojave Desert. Part of the car was cut away to allow the car to fit in the building. The store was closed in mid-October 2015, but a temporary pop-up store opened at the site in late fall 2017. Afterwards, the car sat in the unused space until it was finally cut up in late January 2019. • 8424–8425 – used as school cars in Coney Island Yard until October 21, 2013, when they were trucked to New Jersey to be scrapped at Sims Metal Management. • 8463 – used as a school car in Pitkin Yard until October 22, 2013, when it was also trucked to New Jersey to be scrapped at Sims Metal Management (along with
R27 car 8145). == In popular culture ==