In 1964, the R-32 “Brightliner” cars manufactured by the Budd Company (in business as a contractor from 1912-2014) were placed in service on BMT and IND lines in the NYC subways. At this remove it’s easy to underestimate how different they looked back then with their stainless steel corrugated exteriors. Previously subway cars had a gun metal to dark gray appearance with ironclad exteriors; of course, interiors were more interesting, with rattan seats, ceiling fans and exposed incandescent lightbulbs.
In the 1980s, R-32s got a major overhaul with the main feature being front roll signs replaced by electronic displays of what letter line the train was running on. Far as I know this was the first time electronic displays were used to identify trains. Side windows on the R-46 and R-68 trains also used electronic displays, though those models kept roll signs in the front and rear.
The R-32s ran from 1964 to late 2020 in regular service and pop up occasionally on nostaglia rides run by the NYC Transit Museum. By 2016, when I got this photo on Broadway in Williamsburg, R-32s were found on the J/Z lines and almost all A trains in use then, as well as occasionally on the C and E. The J in particular served as a de facto train museum, featuring R-32 (1964) trains and R-42 (1969-1970) units. All have since been replaced by newer cars.
Despite its venerable status. the R-32 was never my favorite subway car, as it featured longitudinal bench seating. I preferred, and still prefer, R46 and R-68 (BMT and IND cars that have yellow and orange seats and chime two tones when the doors close (because I can sit perpendicularly to windows and look outside at platforms underground, and everything on els.
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5/19/26