"Subway car with carpet and soft seats tested here," declared a New York Times headline on May 14th, 1974, the day after the plush-seating subway car debuted underground. Today the report may induce cringes, but back then this news seemed to be celebrated, and the Paper of Record even called the homey new look: "handsome."
Absorbent fabrics aside, the new cars did have some good traits. And it wasn't an unusual move in the '70s to go in this direction, the Los Angeles Metro has long had upholstered seating (which they are finally abandoning).
The demo models were called the State of the Art Car (SOAC) since they were bringing, at the time, “the best in currently available technology” to our subway system. This meant air-conditioning, "low interior sound level," a less jolty ride, and large windows (which were nice for an elevated stretch of your journey). The seating layout was not what we see on trains today—some seats even faced each other and had tables in the middle. And the color scheme was a vibrant red and blue—you can see a full color photo here.
"The interior sound level of a SOAC train is as quiet as the interior of a modern office building," the brochure state.
This new design was developed by the Federal Urban Mass Transportation Administration and was being tested in a few cities, including New York, Boston, Philly, and Chicago. According to New York Subways: An Illustrated History of New York City's Transit Cars, the SOACs—which cost $350K each—could hit 80MPH in under 60 seconds, but were only allowed to get up to 50MPH here. (The cars in service at the time, the R-44s — which offered some design inspiration for the SOACs, cost around $50K less. Both were built by the St. Louis Car Division of General Steel Industries.)
In 1973, a year prior to their test runs here, there was a fatal crash that happened with a SOAC in Colorado. "Although the investigators, who work for the National Transportation Safety Board, said that the accident had not been caused by a flaw in the car, they noted that the crash did raise broader questions about transit‐car safety," the Times reported. They reported the cars had "rolled through a switch that had been left open by mistake and crashed into a parked gondola car at 30 to 35 miles an hour."
UMTA and Boeing (which helped develop the cars) maintained that they were focused on "car safety, comfort, reliability and economy."
Inside the SOAC
The big press hurrah around the first test run here took place at the 57th Street and 6th Ave station, where politicians, officials, and reporters took part in a "standing room only" inaugural ride to Lower Manhattan's old Hudson Terminal and back. The Times reported that the ride was "far smoother and quieter than what New Yorkers are accustomed to," and the motorman, Enrico Sambucini, reportedly "sat beaming in the wide 'cab,' extending the full width of the car, and pronounced the ride as 'beautiful.'" The two cars held around 500 passengers total, and the goal was to make them all comfortable.
"We call it a 'creature comfort' standard," the brochure declared, "because SOAC was designed to fulfill the needs of people."
The train cars were brought to the A, D, E and N lines over the course of a few months in 1974 , and the Times reported that straphangers loved the "futuristic" ride—they heard lots of declarations of "wow," and one man even told them: "This can't be New York City!"
A SOAC train out in the great wide open
Alas, we were not destined for such a smooth ride, and the cars were eventually abandoned— following overall mixed reviews, the UMTA didn't pursue a roll-out. Some features were brought to future car models, however.
During their test runs in the cities, reps from UMTA and Boeing handed out brochures with photos and details about the cars, which you can see here, courtesy of the Transit Museum.
Sadly, the Transit Museum isn't in possession of any of the test cars, to see those you'll need to head north—they can be found on display at the Seashore Trolley Museum in Maine.
