Retirement

The BMT AB Standards were slowly retired through the 1960s and replaced by R27s, R30s, R32s,^[3] R40s, and R42s. Retirement began with the trailer cars, progressed to older motor cars that were not overhauled, and finally progressed to the rest of the fleet. The last of the cars were retired from passenger service in 1969, making a final run on the BMT Myrtle Ave. Line on August 4, 1969.

Following their removal from service, all but five AB Standards were scrapped. The five cars that were not scrapped have been preserved:

• Car 2204 has been preserved by the New York Transit Museum in Brooklyn, NY. It is currently a static display, as it is not operational.
• Cars 2390, 2391 and 2392 have been preserved by Railway Preservation Corp. They were restored to operating condition in 2015 and have operated on New York Transit Museum-sponsored excursions since then.
• Car 2775 has been preserved by the Shore Line Trolley Museum in East Haven, Connecticut. It is not in operating condition, due to a flood at the museum site.

It has also been reported that car 2321, when retired, survived integrally and intact. The current status of this car remains unclear.

Construction and design

The A/B Standards, when ordered, were a noticeable upgrade in the quality of New York's urban transportation. Their longer (67 feet) and wider size (10 feet) distinguished them from smaller IRT subway cars. There would be more room in each car and more space for seats. Unlike the IRT cars, end side doors were offset from the ends of the cars to aid better passenger flow. This design is covered under U.S. Patent 1,142,263, with Mr. William S. Menden (chief engineer, and later general manager of the BRT) as the inventor. In addition, there was also a set of center side doors, making for a total of three sets of doors per side. Each door set consisted of two leaves separated by a center post, which allowed more than one person to use it at once. This arrangement proved superior to all previous designs.

The cars were built with a very strong frame that utilized truss construction and allowed thin metal to be used for the side plating. This made the A/B Standards, foot for foot, lighter than similar all-steel IRT subway cars, but with a body twice as strong. Therefore, A/B Standards were considerably safer than any previous design, as they would not telescope in a collision. The strength of the design proved itself over and over again. Even in the 1960s, when the A/B Standards were at or approaching 50 years of age, a couple of cars were involved in minor yard collisions with newer cars. Yet in each case, the older cars appeared to have gotten the better of the collision afterward.

Motorized A/B Standards (motor cars 2000–2899) were built with 2 "maximum traction" type trucks where wheels closest to the center of the car were 34¹/₄ inches in diameter, while wheels closest to the ends of the car were just 31 inches in diameter. The motors were attached to the axles that bore the larger wheels. This design was believed to better distribute the car's weight to provide the best adhesion between the wheels and the rails to prevent wheelslip. Unpowered BX trailer cars 4000–4049 used more conventional trucks where all wheels were 31 inches in diameter.

Innovations for riders

Seating was designed to be comfortable and spacious. The A/B Standards had short rattan benches arranged in both transverse (forward- or rear-facing) and longitudinal (sideways-facing) positions. Two to three people could fit comfortably on each bench. This gave each rider more legroom and personal space. Supplemental seats located by each side door could be folded down for rider use at a conductor's discretion. When lowered, these seats would block side door leaves, so they were protected by lock to ensure only a conductor could lower them. Many of these latter were removed in later years. On the outer side doors, these were situated toward the center of the cars on cars 2000–2299 and toward the end of the cars on cars 2300–2899 and 4000–4049. Under regular conditions, 78 seats were available for riders in each car. During the 1950s, many (but not all) of the rattan seats were replaced by sprung leather or a plastic compound (velon) that replicated the feel of rattan.

For standees, the cars featured four poles by each side door and small handles on the ends of transverse seats (in later years, two of those poles per doorway were removed on many cars). Due to higher than anticipated ridership, metal straps were added above longitudinal seats to improve standee accommodations in 1919–1920. All orders of these cars delivered later (cars 2600–2899, 4000–4049) came with metal straps already in place. During the late 1930s, many (but not all) of the cars saw the metal straps replaced with horizontal steel bars. These accommodated even more riders than the straps had, further improving the cars. With the earlier ACF built cars, all but around 93 of these cars underwent this conversion; of the later Pressed Steel cars, just under half were converted.

As delivered, the A/B Standards were particularly luxurious for a subway car. Each window came with a shade that could be drawn down to block out sunlight, or raised if a rider desired more natural light. Soft white glass globes served as enclosures for the car's incandescent lighting, to soften the harsh glare of the bulbs and redistribute light evenly throughout the car. However, the globes were ultimately removed from the cars between 1925 and 1927 and the shades between 1927 and 1938. In car 2221, the shade boards were altogether removed as well.

During the winter months, electric heaters under the seats provided plenty of heat. P. Smith heaters were used on cars 2400–2599 and a Gold Car Heating model for the rest of the fleet. In warmer weather, vents in the roof accommodated the influx of fresh air from outside the car. Three different vent types were used on these grill type (2000–2499), box type (2500–2599), and clerestory type (2600–2899, 4000–4049). With the earlier ACF cars, the interior ventilation grills were readjusted with each order of cars to attempt to get the ideal angle for the best ventilation. In addition, riders could open the drop sash side windows for extra ventilation. Initially made from wood (2000–2599), on later cars they were brass (2600–2899, 4000–4049). After early complaints about the summer warmth of the cars, ceiling paddle fans were added during the 1919–1920 modifications. Later cars came already equipped with fans.

Innovations for the crew

The A/B Standards introduced interior conductor's controls. Now a conductor could stand inside rather than outside and between cars when operating the doors. The button board controls only worked if the conductor activated the board by key. This prevented tampering or error. The button boards were equipped with an indication flag which told the conductor when all doors were finally closed. As mentioned above, each car as delivered required its own conductor to operate doors. During the 1919–20 modifications, the cars were unitized into new arrangements (see letter designations below) and converted to allow one conductor to control an entire train's doors. This made operation of the cars more efficient, and reduced labor costs.

Like all previously designed subway cars, A/B Standards featured end storm doors for riders to pass between cars. However, due to the car's longer 67-foot length and resultant overhang, crossing between cars was particularly dangerous on curves. Therefore, storm doors were kept locked on these cars, although in emergencies, they could be opened pneumatically by the conductor from the button board. For emergencies, the cars also featured emergency brake cords like other subway cars, but added an emergency alarm which could be activated to notify the train crew in case of emergency.

Electric tail lights and running lights were introduced to the subway with the A/B Standards. Low running lights would display white at the front of the train, while tail lights displayed red in the rear. This feature was directly connected to the motorman's reverser control. This was in contrast to the IRT practice of using kerosene lamps at the ends of trains, which had to be physically changed over when the train reversed direction at a terminal. At the time the A/B Standards were delivered, the white running lights were deemed sufficient for lighting tunnels. However, during the 1950s, the New York City Subway made a system wide shift to sealed beam headlights to improve safety. Therefore, those that received overhaul from 1959 to 1962 (cars 2400–2799 and 2899) received sealed beams.

Coupling and uncoupling of trains were simplified by new automatic couplers. The new WABCO couplers automatically made and broke electric and air connections as trains were coupled or uncoupled. This reduced the amount of work for train crews during the process. For example, IRT crews had to physically connect or disconnect high voltage jumper cables when coupling or uncoupling their trains. BRT/BMT crews on A/B Standards did not. The only jumper such a crew would ever have to connect or disconnect was the 9 point low voltage jumper introduced with the 1919–1920 modifications. Coupling and uncoupling, therefore, were much simpler on these cars than on equipment that came before them

Also introduced was the rollsign to the New York City Subway, an innovation that would be repeated on many other rolling stock orders. Older cars had metal signs which had to be physically removed and replaced to change. Rollsigns simplified the process by allowing train crews to update the sign's display by merely turning a hand crank (which would later be replaced with an allen wrench to prevent tampering in later rolling stock). Early A/B Standards (cars 2000–2499) had the smaller size rollsigns installed in the windows behind side door pockets, while later cars equipped with larger signs placed them in the upper half of side windows for better visibility. These were shifted to a different window in the 50 trailers of 1924.

During the late 20s and early 30s, the BMT installed special features on some of these cars. 2222-3-4 had a bridge/tunnel indication light at each end of that unit. 2553 had arm bars on the side seats alongside the doors opposite from where the drop seats were located. Also, the following units were furnished with gum dispensing machines: 2300-1-2 through 2357-8-9, 2375-6-7, 2400-4000-2401 through 2424-4012-2425. 2018 had elongated arms on its hand stanchions.

Shortly after unification, car 2014 was out of service long term due to some major mechanical problem. When it reappeared in service after a few years, there had been some changes - it received the larger door pocket compartments typical of the later Pressed Steel cars rather than the smaller variety that the ACF cars had. Additionally, it was equipped with longer emergency light fixtures that extended further out.

In the mid-40s, the Board of Transportation experimented with different interior paint schemes as an alternative to the more usual olive drab. All divisions had cars that were tested for different combinations. With the A/B Standards, the following cars were tested:

2333-4-5 dark, green, and gray.

2381-2-3 brown and tan.

2666 dark, red, and gray, with a red stripe running just above the windows.

2698 dark, green, and gray.

2747 dark, blue, and gray.

It was finally decided to paint the BMT cars with a light apple green and olive drab combination, and this was applied as well to the IRT Steinways, both regular and World's Fair, that were now being maintained in the Coney Island Shops.

Propulsion and braking

Low Voltage propulsion control was coming into style around the time the earliest A/B Standards were being delivered. Therefore, it was no surprise that they arrived with this feature. On earlier high voltage propulsion control systems, 600 volts ran through the motorman's control stand, as well as through the train via the use of jumpers between cars. This had to be the case to make the electrical contacts to allow all of the motor cars of a train to draw power in a synchronized effort from the third rail. However, this could be dangerous for motormen and shop personnel alike by creating an electrocution hazard. Even unpowered trailer cars had to carry the 600 volts through these jumpers because it was necessary to pass on the voltage to motor cars behind the trailer so as to synchronize them with the lead car. However, Low Voltage propulsion control utilized battery voltage (32 volts) to control the train's motors. This battery voltage was what would pass through the motorman's control stand and between cars. Tractive effort throughout the train was synchronized by the battery voltage in this way. Meanwhile, each car would respond individually to the battery voltage, by moving its own 600 volt contacts to direct power obtained locally by each car directly from the third rail toward the motors. Using 32 volts to control the propulsion in this way was a much safer proposition than the 600 volts associated with the older high voltage setup. This also meant that an A/B Standard crossing onto a dead section of the third rail would not energize it by bridging the gap between it and the previous live section. This was especially beneficial to track workers who had requested the third rail power off in performing their duties. All told, Low Voltage propulsion control tremendously improved safety for train crews, shop crews, and track gangs. However, the conductor had a 600 volt knife switch located inside his control panel to activate the ventilation system and other accessories.

One of the drawbacks of the A/B Standard was its lack of speed. Due to its length, it was a much heavier car than the IRT steel cars of the time. But with only two motors per car at 140 horsepower each, it was actually underpowered for its size, particularly when running in a train with one or more unpowered trailers. Therefore, the top speed of this type car was somewhat low, when compared to other rapid transit equipment that has historically run in New York City.

One other interesting note about the car's propulsion concerned the placement of the motorman's controls in the cab. A/B Standards stuck with BRT tradition, which placed the train's controller nearest the right hand and the brake nearest the left. This was in contrast to IRT equipment, which placed the controller nearest the left and the brake nearest the right. The city-owned IND system would emulate the IRT's practice. Meanwhile, later BMT designs would replicate the A/B Standards. Therefore, the controls in subway cars of BRT or BMT design would appear "backwards" to motormen who were acclimated primarily to IRT or IND equipment once the subways had been unified

An electropneumatic braking system which synchronized the braking effort of every car in the train to provide a faster braking response was first introduced on the A/B Standards. This newer type of braking, WABCO schedule AMUE, would become the industry standard in New York's subways and on other systems through the 1930s and lasted in limited quantity until as late as 1977 (when the R1-9s, the last of the prewar cars, were retired from service). Additionally, a "Variable Load" feature, designated on these cars as an "Empty and Load" device, automatically adjusted each car's braking effort to compensate for uneven passenger loads in different cars throughout the train. This activated when the doors opened and shut down while the last door of a car was closed, provided that the motorman's electric brake plug was engaged. At terminals, this was customarily deactivated. It was basically a fledgling system, yet to be perfected, as other cars using this same AMUE Universal braking system that did not have this variable load feature were actually seen to have a more effective braking response, such as with the Low-Vs and Steinways on the IRT.

An interlock system was introduced on these cars between the motorman's control system and the door operation, in which a stationary train could not be moved when the doors were opened; conversely, there was a feature by which the doors could not be opened when the speed of a train was 4 MPH or higher, provided that the train was taking power at the time and not coasting.

With most cars, the door control magnets under the seats each controlled a whole panel, meaning both leaves at each door opening. Cars 2250–2299 were different in that each magnet controlled a separate door leaf.

Experimenting with new technology

A handful of A/B Standards became the first New York City subway cars to experiment with a public address system. Car 2369 was the first to be so equipped; ultimately, several cars received a loudspeaker telephone system in 1923–24 to aid conductors in making announcements. The experimental setup was removed by 1928, but the idea was ahead of its time. PA systems did not come into widespread use in New York's subway until the 1950s.

The A/B Standards were also the first New York City Subway equipment to experiment with cab signaling. The underlying rationale for the experiment was to allow trains to run safely at closer headways to provide more frequent service. An attempt was made in 1916 on car 2148 to test a GRS cab signal system using A/B Standards. While generally working as intended, the experiment did not have staying power. The equipment necessary for its use was removed by 1918. It was not until the 1990s that a similar idea would be revisited in the subway, when MTA New York City Transit installed modern CBTC signal equipment on the BMT Canarsie Line.