BMT 8000 was the prototype of an intended series of 50 such articulated compartment cars, intended to be built by Clark Manufacturing in Michigan for the Brooklyn-Manhattan Transit Company in 1939. They were planned for use as “fast locals” on BMT’s elevated and subway lines, that could easily keep up with older cars running in express service. However, when the City of New York purchased BMT in 1940, they cancelled the contract, only taking delivery on this prototype and the five sets that were already under construction. They were retired and scrapped in 1956, but were the first rapid transit cars that used PCC technology, and inspired the first postwar cars built for Chicago.

BMT 8000 was the prototype of an intended series of 50 such articulated compartment cars, intended to be built by Clark Manufacturing in Michigan for the Brooklyn-Manhattan Transit Company in 1939. They were planned for use as “fast locals” on BMT’s elevated and subway lines, that could easily keep up with older cars running in express service. However, when the City of New York purchased BMT in 1940, they cancelled the contract, only taking delivery on this prototype and the five sets that were already under construction. They were retired and scrapped in 1956, but were the first rapid transit cars that used PCC technology, and inspired the first postwar cars built for Chicago.