I remember those fondly as well. The 44s used to be an A Line phenomenon up until 2009 or so. They had the blue stripe removed and turned patina. Very loud air releases but inside was as quiet as a library. Now they are designated to the Staten Island Railway. The R46s still dominate on the N, Q, and A lines. A lot of the cars on the 46 trains actually have disconnected motors and on one N train I was on last week, there were at least 3 cars with no propulsion. Only the air and door/AC electrical lines were on and they were literally being deadheaded with the other 5 cars pushing/pulling them along...
