Interborough Rapid Transit Company

“ At each station there is a down grade of 2.1 per cent., to assist in the acceleration of the cars when they start. In order to make time on roads running trains at frequent intervals, it is necessary to bring the trains to their full speed very soon after starting. The electrical equipment of the Rapid Transit Railroad will enable this to be done in a better manner than is possible with steam locomotives, while these short acceleration grades at each station, on both up and down tracks, will be of material assistance in making the starts smooth. ”

“ The to-and-fro movement of a dense traffic on a four-track railway requires a large amount of switching, especially when each movement is complicated by junctions of two or more lines. Practically every problem of trunk line train movement, including two, three, and four-track operation, had to be provided for in the switching plants of the subway. Further, the problem was complicated by the restricted clearances and vision attendant upon tunnel construction. ”

“ The work of construction has been greatly facilitated by the broad minded and liberal policy of the Rapid Transit Board and its Chief Engineer and Counsel, and by the coöperation of all the other departments of the City Government, and also by the generous attitude of the Metropolitan Street Railway Company and its lessee, the New York City Railroad Company, in extending privileges which have been of great assistance in the prosecution of the work. ”

“ The system of electrical supply chosen for the subway comprises alternating current generation and distribution, and direct current operation of car motors. Four years ago, when the engineering plans were under consideration, the single-phase alternating current railway motor was not even in an embryonic state, and notwithstanding the marked progress recently made in its development, it can scarcely yet be considered to have reached a stage that would warrant any modifications in the plans adopted, even were such modifications easily possible at the present time. ”

“ In determining the electrical equipment of the trains, the company has aimed to secure an organization of motors and control apparatus easily adequate to operate trains in both local and express service at the highest speeds compatible with safety to the traveling public. For each of the two classes of service the limiting safe speed is fixed by the distance between stations at which the trains stop, by curves, and by grades. ”

“ In lighting the subway between passenger stations, it is desirable, on the one hand, to provide sufficient light for track inspection and to permit employees passing along the subway to see their way clearly and avoid obstructions; but, on the other hand, the lighting must not be so brilliant as to interfere with easy sight and recognition of the red, yellow, and green signal lamps of the block signal system. ”

“ The two exciter engines are each direct connected to a 250 kilowatt direct current generator. Each engine is a vertical quarter-crank compound engine with a 17-inch high pressure cylinder and a 27-inch low-pressure cylinder with a common 24-inch stroke. The engines will be non-condensing, for the reason that extreme reliability is desired at the expense of some economy. They will operate at best efficiency when indicating 400 horse power at a speed of 150 revolutions per minute with a steam pressure of 175 pounds at the throttle. Each engine will have a maximum of 600 indicated horse power. ”

“ Five types of construction have been employed in building the road: (1) the typical subway near the surface with flat roof and "I" beams for the roof and sides, supported between tracks with steel bulb-angle columns used on about 10.6 miles or 52.2 per cent. of the road; (2) flat roof typical subway of reënforced concrete construction supported between the tracks by steel bulb-angle columns, used for a short distance on Lenox Avenue and on the Brooklyn portion of the Brooklyn Extension, also on the Battery Park loop; (3) concrete lined tunnel used on about 4.6 miles or 23 per cent. ”

“ As an example, it may be stated that an express train of eight cars in the subway to conform to the schedule speed adopted will require a nominal power of motors on the train of 2,000 horse power, with an average accelerating current at 600 volts in starting from a station stop of 325 amperes. This rate of energy absorption which corresponds to 2,500 horse power is not far from double that taken by the heaviest trains on trunk line railroads when starting from stations at the maximum rate of acceleration possible with the most powerful modern steam locomotives. ”

“ The location of each chimney in the center of the boiler house between sets of six boilers divides the coal bunker construction into separate pockets by which trouble from spontaneous combustion can be localized, and, as described later, the divided coal bunkers can provide for the storage of different grades of coal. The unit basis on which the economizer and flue system is constructed will allow making repairs to any one section without shutting off the portions not connected directly to the section needing repair. ”

“ The street is a wide one with a 22-foot parkway in the center, an electric conduit railway on either side, and outside each track a wide roadway. The subway excavation extended about 10 feet outside each track, leaving between it and the curb ample room for vehicles. The construction problem, therefore, was to care for the car tracks with a minimum interference with the excavation. This was accomplished by temporary bridges for each track, each bridge consisting of [Pg 46] a pair of timber trusses about 55 feet long, braced together overhead high enough to let a car pass below the bracing. ”

“ The determination of the builders of the road to improve upon the best devices known in electrical railroading and to provide an equipment unequaled on any interurban line is nowhere better illustrated than in the careful study given to the types of cars and trucks used on other lines before a selection was made of those to be employed on the subway. ”

“ Starting with the six boilers for one main engine, the steam piping may be described as follows: A cross-over pipe is erected on each boiler, by means of which and a combination of valves and fittings the steam may be passed through the superheater. In the delivery from each boiler there is a quick-closing 9-inch valve, which can be closed from the boiler room floor by hand or from a distant point individually or in groups of six. Risers with 9-inch wrought-iron goose necks connect each boiler to the steam main, where 9-inch angle valves are inserted in each boiler connection. ”

“ Just what are the rights of the owners of property abutting upon a street or avenue, the fee in and to the soil underneath the surface of which has been acquired by the city of New York, so far as the same is not required for the ordinary city uses of gas or water pipes, or others of a like character, has never been finally determined. ”

“ In an eight-car multiple-unit express train, the first, third, fifth, sixth, and eighth cars will be motor cars, while the second, fourth, and seventh will be trail cars. An eight-car train can be reduced, therefore, to a six-car train by uncoupling two cars from either end, to a five-car train by uncoupling three cars from the rear end, or to a three-car train by uncoupling five cars from either end. In each case a motor car will remain at each end of the reduced train. ”

“ The sample car naturally embodied some faults which only experience could correct, the principal one being that the car was not only too heavy for use on the elevated lines of the company, but attained an undesirable weight for subway operation. From this original design, however, a second design involving very original features has been worked out, and a contract has been given by the Interborough Company for 200 all-steel cars, which are now being constructed. ”

“ Within the area between the boiler house and operating room there is placed, for each engine, its respective complement of pumping apparatus, all controlled by and under the operating jurisdiction of the engineer for that engine. Each engineer has thus full control of the pumping machinery required for his unit. Symmetrically arranged with respect to the center line of each engine are the six boilers in the boiler room, and the piping from these six boilers forms a short connection between the nozzles on the boilers and the throttles on the engine. ”

“ A number of interesting features should be noted in the methods of construction adopted on the Brooklyn Extension.
The types of construction on the Brooklyn Extension have already been spoken of. They are (1) typical flat-roof steel beam subway from the Post-office, Manhattan, to Bowling Green; (2) reinforced concrete typical subway in Battery Park, Manhattan, and from Clinton Street to the terminus, in Brooklyn; (3) two single track cast-iron-lined tubular tunnels from Battery Park, under the East River, and under Joralemon Street to Clinton Street, Brooklyn. ”

“ Where the power to be controlled is so great, the potential so high, and the speed requirements in respect to synchronous operation so exacting, it is obvious that the perfection of control attained in some of our modern plants is not their least characteristic. ”

“ Insulation is necessarily combustible, and in burning evolves much smoke; occasional accidents to the apparatus, notwithstanding every possible precaution, will sometimes happen; and in the subway the flash even of an absolutely insignificant fuse may be clearly visible and cause alarm. The public traveling in the subway should remember that even very severe short-circuits and extremely bright flashes beneath the car involve absolutely no danger to passengers who remain inside the car. ”

“ The main hoist is directly connected to a 200 horse-power motor with a special system of control. The trolley engine for hauling the bucket along the boom is also direct coupled to a multipolar motor.
The receiving hopper has a large throat, and a steel grizzly in it which sorts out coal small enough for the stokers and bypasses it around the crusher. The crusher is of the two-roll type, with relieving springs, and is operated by a motor, which is also used for propelling the tower. The coal is weighed in duplex two-ton hoppers. ”

“ From Bowling Green, south along Broadway, State Street and in Battery Park, where the subway is of reinforced concrete construction, the "open cut and cover" method is employed, the elevated and surface railroad structures being temporarily supported by wooden and steel trusses and finally supported by permanent foundations resting on the subway roof. From Battery Place, south along the loop work, the greater portion of the excavation is made below mean high-water level, and necessitates the use of heavy tongue and grooved sheeting and the operation of two centrifugal pumps, day and night. ”

“ The elements of the coal handling equipment comprise a movable electric hoisting tower with crushing and weighing apparatus—a system of horizontal belt conveyors, with 30-inch belts, to carry the crushed and weighed coal along the dock and thence by tunnel underground to the southwest corner of the power house; a system of 30-inch belt conveyors to elevate the coal a distance of 110 feet to the top of the boiler house, at the rate of 250 tons per hour or more, if so desired, and a system of 20-inch belt conveyors to distribute it horizontally over the coal bunkers. ”

“ The employment of water-proofing to the exterior surfaces of the masonry shell of the tunnel, which is applied to the masonry, almost without a break along the entire subway construction, has made it unnecessary to provide an extensive system of drains, or sump pits, of any magnitude, for the collection and removal of water from the interior of the tunnel. ”

“ Each engine unit is supplied with its own condenser equipment, consisting of two barometric condensing chambers, each attached as closely as possible to its respective low-pressure cylinder. For each engine also is provided a vertical circulating pump along with a vacuum pump and, for the sake of flexibility, the pumps are cross connected with those of other engines and can be used interchangeably. ”

“ The design of the engine dynamo unit eliminates the auxiliary fly wheel generally used in the construction of large direct-connected units prior to the erection of the Manhattan plant, the weight and dimensions of the revolving alternator field being such with reference to the turning moment of the engine as to secure close uniformity of rotation, while at the same time this construction results in narrowing the engine and reducing the engine shafts between bearings. ”

“ In the application of an automatic block system to an electric railway where the rails are used for the return circuit of the propulsion current, it is necessary to modify the system as usually applied to a steam railway and introduce a track circuit control that will not be injuriously influenced by the propulsion current. This had been successfully accomplished for moderately heavy electric railway traffic in the Boston elevated installation, which was the first electric railway to adopt a complete automatic block signal system with track circuit control. ”

“ To secure the city against loss, this company must necessarily be required to give a sufficient bond for the completion of the work and be willing to enter into a contract for its continued operation under a rental which would pay the interest upon the bonds issued by the city for the construction, and provide a sinking fund sufficient for the payment of the bonds at or before maturity. ”

“ All attempts to build a road under the early special charter and later under the general laws having failed, the city secured in 1891 the passage of the Rapid Transit Act under which, as amended, the subway has been built. As originally passed it did not provide for municipal ownership. It provided that a board of five rapid transit railroad commissioners might adopt routes and general plans for a railroad, obtain the consents of the local authorities and abutting property owners, or in lieu of the consents of the property owners the approval of the Supreme Court ”

“ The motors are controlled by rheostatic controllers, one for each motor. The hoist motor is also fitted with an electric brake by which, when the power is cut off, a band brake is applied to the hoisting drum. There is also an automatic cut-out, consisting of a lever operated by a nut, which travels on the threaded extension of the hoisting drum shaft, and by which the current on the motor is cut off and the brake applied if the chain hook is wound up too close to the hoist. ”

“ They retained the most experienced experts for every part of the work and, perfecting an organization in an incredibly short time, proceeded to surmount and sweep aside difficulties. The result is one of which every citizen of New York may feel proud. Upon the completion of the road the city will own the best constructed and best equipped intraurban rapid transit railroad in the world. The efforts of the builders have not been limited by the strict terms of the contract. ”

“ A controller is mounted upon the platform at each end of each motor car, and the entire train may be operated from any one of the points, the motorman normally taking his post on the front platform of the first car. The switches which open and close the power circuits through motors and rheostats are called contactors, each comprising a magnetic blow-out switch and the electro magnet which controls the movements of the switch. ”