R33 World's Fair (New York City Subway car)

Retirement and after-life service

In 1998, New York City Transit announced that it would phase out its Redbird cars - R26, R28, R29, R33 and R36 - with modern R142 and R142A cars. While the Redbirds on the IRT Main Line were beginning to be retired starting in early 2001, the 7 service was still provided by R36WFs and R33WFs. In January 2002, a set of R62As arrived from the IRT mainline. As more R142s and R142As were delivered, R62As were gradually transferred from the 3 and 6 to the 7, in turn replacing the R36WFs. There were still many R36WFs the vast majority of Subway cars on the 7 in 2002, since delivery of the R142s and R142As was slow that year. However, by mid-2003 R33WF/R36WF trains were dwindling on the 7 service. Only a few sets were running by fall. The last car, 9309, made its final trip on November 3, 2003 on the 7 service with ten R36WF cars, marking the end of the Redbirds and non-stainless steel cars in the subway.

Most R33 World's Fair cars were converted to work motors in the early 2000s, and handle such tasks as providing traction for B-Division rail adhesion cars and refuse trains. The number "1" was placed before the former number (i.e. car 9345 became 19345) of some cars. The work cars are based out of various yards around the system and handle such tasks as providing traction for A-Division rail adhesion cars and refuse trains, and hauling cars during car moves between different subway yards. The cars that were not converted were 9306 and 9327, which were preserved as heritage cars after their retirement from revenue service, and 9321, which was stripped and sunken as an artificial reef in 2001.

Recently, the remaining R33 World's Fair cars have been decommissioned as they experience structural or mechanical issues. Car 9339 was retired, stripped, and then sunken as an artificial reef in 2010 after it suffered fire damage that year. Then, in 2013, a handful of cars were stripped of parts before being scrapped to keep other IRT SMEE cars running. Most recently, four cars were sidelined in 2017, two of which were preserved.

Four cars have been preserved:

• Car 9306 has been preserved by the New York Transit Museum in Brooklyn since 1976. This car is the only R33 World's Fair car to not be rebuilt, and bears the World's Fair paint scheme. It is fully operational and runs periodically on museum sponsored "Nostalgia Trains," specifically on the Train of Many Colors.
• Cars 9307 and 9310 have been preserved by the New York Transit Museum since 2017. These cars were previously used as work motors based out of Corona Yard, before being sidelined in 2017. Car 9307 is painted in the World's Fair scheme, while car 9310 is painted in the "Redbird" scheme. Both cars are fully operational and run periodically on museum sponsored "Nostalgia Trains," specifically on the Train of Many Colors.
• Car 9327 is preserved at the Seashore Trolley Museum in Kennebunkport, Maine. This car is painted in the Subway Series livery. It is fully operational, though modified with trolley poles, and makes occasional runs around the museum, often coupled to R22 car 7371.