# NYers: no A/C in subways? **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [August 1, 2006, 10:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nyers-no-a-c-in-subways/366861 "2006-08-01T10:35:15Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![pseudotriton\_ruber\_ruber](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/a9a28c/32.png) [@pseudotriton\_ruber\_ruber](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pseudotriton_ruber_ruber)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2006, 10:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nyers-no-a-c-in-subways/366861/1 "2006-08-01T10:35:15Z")
Have I just been running in very bad luck these last few hot days, or is there a conscious decision to cut down on the A/C, especially on the E train? It’s been an oven in there lately. ---
**Author:** ![Wallet](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e99b99/32.png) [@Wallet](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wallet)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2006, 10:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nyers-no-a-c-in-subways/366861/2 "2006-08-01T10:46:58Z")
[QUOTE=pseudotriton ruber ruber] Have I just been running in very bad luck these last few hot days, or is there a conscious decision to cut down on the A/C, especially on the E train? It’s been an oven in there lately. [/QUOTE] According to Mr. Wallet, so far the E from 8th Ave to Spring Street has had A/C. The platforms are ovens, though (and the L train is hit and miss). With a heat index of 110 today and 115 tomorrow, I hope the A/C holds out… ---
**Author:** ![Paul\_in\_Qatar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ccd318/32.png) [@Paul\_in\_Qatar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Paul_in_Qatar)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2006, 11:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nyers-no-a-c-in-subways/366861/3 "2006-08-01T11:00:11Z")
I do not know. But air conditioning in subways is a fairly tricky engineering feat. There is no obvious place for the heat to go. The London Underground has sponsored a contest to find a solution. The winner proposes to take the heat and dump it into the water which seeps endlessly into the tunnels. Waste heat into wast water. Two great tastes that go great together. ---
**Author:** ![E-Sabbath](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/e19adc/32.png) [@E-Sabbath](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/E-Sabbath)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2006, 1:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nyers-no-a-c-in-subways/366861/4 "2006-08-01T13:22:46Z")
Confirmation on the E sucking, but I think it’s a few specific cars that do it. Man, that was nasty yesterday. ---
**Author:** ![D\_Odds](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/d_odds/32/2882_2.png) [@D\_Odds](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/D_Odds)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2006, 1:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nyers-no-a-c-in-subways/366861/5 "2006-08-01T13:24:11Z")
I had the misfortune of an unheated, packed E car for two stops yesterday evening. It was the first non-A/C car I’ve been in this year, although I’ve been in a couple of poorly heated cars. If you want to gripe about the lack of A/C, let’s talk Queens buses! ---
**Author:** ![friedo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/8edcca/32.png) [@friedo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/friedo)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2006, 2:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nyers-no-a-c-in-subways/366861/6 "2006-08-01T14:31:30Z")
All’s been good on the Q and B so far this summer. Having lots of outdoor track in Brooklyn makes the A/C units work less hard, too. The E line uses R-32 cars, some of the oldest in the whole system. They were built in 1964 and refurbished in the 1980s. The long-awaited R-160 order will replace them eventually. ---
**Author:** ![E-Sabbath](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/e19adc/32.png) [@E-Sabbath](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/E-Sabbath)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2006, 3:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nyers-no-a-c-in-subways/366861/7 "2006-08-01T15:07:02Z")
I think they’re the oldest running since they retired the Red Birds last year. ---
**Author:** ![friedo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/8edcca/32.png) [@friedo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/friedo)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2006, 4:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nyers-no-a-c-in-subways/366861/8 "2006-08-01T16:05:55Z")
[QUOTE=E-Sabbath] I think they’re the oldest running since they retired the Red Birds last year. [/QUOTE] That was more than a year ago. The last redbirds flew over Flushing in 2003. ---
**Author:** ![gigi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a587f6/32.png) [@gigi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gigi)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2006, 7:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nyers-no-a-c-in-subways/366861/9 "2006-08-01T19:20:55Z")
[QUOTE=friedo] That was more than a year ago. The last redbirds flew over Flushing in 2003. [/QUOTE] - sniff \* I took the good old red trains (number 2) from Allerton Avenue to 34th Street and back for years. \* sniff \* RIP on the bottom of the sea! Ugh, oven-like platforms. The rush of relief of a highly AC-ed car. The rush of disappointment when a car is not AC-ed, and the rush to the next one at the next stop if you didn’t feel up to walking between moving cars. ---
**Author:** ![Billdo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/billdo/32/315_2.png) [@Billdo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Billdo)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2006, 7:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nyers-no-a-c-in-subways/366861/10 "2006-08-01T19:26:57Z")
I took a 2 train (one of the new ones) from the Upper West Side to Downtown this morning. The air conditioning was working and the train was pretty cool (though the platforms – ugh!). I took also a 6 train back from Downtown to my office in Midtown around noon, again one of the new ones. Although the air conditioning seemed to be working, the car was warmish, not cool. I think that with the ambient heat in the tunnels the air conditioner units simply cannot pull enough heat of the air to get the cars cool. ---
**Author:** ![E-Sabbath](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/e19adc/32.png) [@E-Sabbath](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/E-Sabbath)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2006, 7:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nyers-no-a-c-in-subways/366861/11 "2006-08-01T19:35:36Z")
… Damn, that was '03. Man, time flies. ---
**Author:** ![Aangelica](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b2d939/32.png) [@Aangelica](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aangelica)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2006, 7:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nyers-no-a-c-in-subways/366861/12 "2006-08-01T19:40:13Z")
I don’t know about the E, but the 2 and 3 have had AC this week. The _stations_, on the other hand, not so much.