The R62 Rollsign: Almost There, but Not Quite

One of the aspects of being a fan of urban transportation is learning not just the various destinations a transit vehicle fleet did go, but where it could go. This is why some of them are also collectors of what are called "rollsigns." Rollsigns, also known called "blinds" or "curtains," are essentially long scrolls on which are printed destinations, route numbers, or other symbols, intended to identify the route on which the vehicle is traveling, and in many instances, its destination.

Back in the early days of my presence on the Internet, I had a little website where I had virtual roll signs, primarily belonging to New York City subway cars in service at the time.



Above is the rollsign for the R62 and R62A subway cars which I had on the website, scaled down to 25% of its original size. Currently, R62 and R62A subway cars run on the 1, 3, and 7 lines, and on the 42nd Street Shuttle. They might occasionally appear on the 4, but I haven't seen that in a while.

As you can see, this virtual rollsign has space between each indication to allow for a blank space to be displayed. I had often seen R62 subway cars, usually mid-train, with a blank displayed on their rollsign, though sometimes, the blank sometimes appears at the end of the train! Anyway, I had thought that there was a blank space in between each indication, to allow for a person changing the sign to easily blank it, in preparation for placing the car mid-train. However, what I'm about to show you will blow that idea out of the water.

As a consequence of there being numerous railfans, and many collectors of transit-related paraphernalia, it is not uncommon to find rollsigns available for sale on sites like eBay. That's where I happened to be what I encountered a curious listing.

Someone was actually selling an R62 rollsign on eBay! Now, this wasn't a part for a vintage subway car no longer in service. This is something that you could go into a subway station and likely see on a train as it passes through! There are only 11 out of a total of 1,150 cars (1366-1370, 1435-1437 1439, 1440, and 1909) that have been retired prematurely, due to damage beyond repair (the ones in the 1435-1440 range were involved in the gruesome Union Square derailment of 1991). This means that a maximum of 22 could theoretically be made available, and they would most likely be used to replace rollsigns that have been broken on other cars. These would be extremely difficult to obtain, unless the MTA puts them up for sale as surplus materials. That's why it's such a surprise to see one for sale on eBay.

With that surprise aside, let's go to the other thing that surprised me about this piece. One of the pictures included with the eBay listing shows something very peculiar.

All of the usual suspects are in this lineup, but there's something peculiar between the diamond 5 and the circle 6. It's a blank space. Not only that, it's one of two blank spaces that I thought was between every indication. The other is to the left of the 1. Those blank spaces have their own positions on the sign. And now that I think about it, it makes sense to put them there. If there were many blank spaces, the length of the curtain would be well over the 50 feet that the eBay listing lists it as, probably somewhere between 75 and 100 feet.

Oh, in case you're wondering, those white circles, squares, and diamonds above each of the indications is actually for the person changing the sign inside the car. Inside the car, there is a miniature display where the backside of the curtain appears. This miniature display represents what is being shown on the exterior display. The person changing the sign scrolls it until the desired reading appears in the miniature display. This ensures that the exterior display is properly aligned.

So anyway, here is the corrected R62A rollsign, based on the rollsign pictured in the eBay listing.