#3315
R21 (New York City Subway car)
🇺🇸 United States ·built by St. Louis Car Company· from 1956· class of 250 New York City Subway cars
1 photo from Wikimedia Commons · credits & licences
- 1. NYCS R21 exterior tagged: JJ & Special K· CC BY-SA 2.0
what is it?
The R21 was a New York City Subway car built by St. Louis Car Company from 1956 to 1957 for the IRT A Division. A total of 250 cars were built, arranged as single units.
who runs it
base stats
Bars compare against all trains: 600 km/h (maglev), 1,700 seats; power, weight and number built on a log scale up to 20 MW, 1,000 t and 20,000 built.
fun facts
- First built 70 years ago, in 1956.
- Weighs about as much as 6 African elephants (~6 t each).
- 15.5 m long: about 3 cars parked nose to tail.
- Served for 31 years (1956–1987).
metro: Urban rapid transit: frequent, high-capacity trains, often underground.
spec sheet
- built
- 1956
- in service from
- 1956
- retired
- 1987
- status
- retired
- number built
- 250
- kind
- metro
- traction
- electric
- origin
- 🇺🇸 United States
- builders
- St. Louis Car Company
- operators
- New York City Transit Authority, New York City Subway
- top speed
- 88 km/h
- power
- 75 kW
- gauge
- 1,435 mm standard gauge
- formation
- Single unit cars
- length
- 15.5 m
- weight
- 35.2 t
- capacity
- 44 passengers
From the Wikipedia infobox and Wikidata. Blank means the sources don't say.
Sources: Wikidata Q7274450, Wikipedia: R21 (New York City Subway car) (CC BY-SA 4.0).Updated 2026-10-25.