Bluebird Compartment Car (New York City Subway car)

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The Bluebird, formally dubbed Compartment Car by its purchaser, the Brooklyn–Manhattan Transit Corporation (BMT), was an advanced design PCC streetcar-derived subway and elevated railway car built by the Clark Equipment Company from 1938 to 1940^[1] and used on the New York City Subway system from 1939 to 1955. A total of six units were built, with one prototype and five production units. They were among the last cars to be ordered by the BMT before the city takeover in 1940.

The cars were designed to operate on both elevated and subway lines; its lightweight design allowed it to run on the oldest elevated lines without the need to upgrade them to handle heavier cars, while its aluminum alloy body also allowed it to run in the newer subway tunnels, where wooden cars were strictly prohibited. The prototype Bluebird entered service in 1939. While the BMT ordered 50 production Bluebirds, only five were built, due to the New York City Board of Transportation cancelling the order when it took over operations of the BMT in 1940. The cars were in service until being retired in 1955. None were preserved.