Anonymous - The New York Subway
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Anonymous >> The New York Subway
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Interborough Rapid Transit
THE NEW YORK SUBWAY
Its Construction and Equipment
[Illustration: OPERATING ROOM OF POWER HOUSE]
[Illustration: (I.R.T. symbol)]
New York
Interborough Rapid Transit Company
ANNO. DOMI. MCMIV
Copyright, 1904, by
Interborough Rapid Transit Co.
New York
Planned and Executed by The
McGraw Publishing Co.
[Illustration: (McGraw Publishing Company New York logo)]
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Page No.
INTRODUCTION, 13
CHAPTER I. THE ROUTE OF THE ROAD--PASSENGER STATIONS
AND TRACKS, 23
CHAPTER II. TYPES AND METHODS OF CONSTRUCTION, 37
CHAPTER III. POWER HOUSE BUILDING, 67
CHAPTER IV. POWER PLANT FROM COAL PILE TO SHAFTS OF
ENGINES AND TURBINES, 77
CHAPTER V. SYSTEM OF ELECTRICAL SUPPLY, 91
CHAPTER VI. ELECTRICAL EQUIPMENT OF CARS, 117
CHAPTER VII. LIGHTING SYSTEM FOR PASSENGER STATIONS
AND TUNNEL, 121
CHAPTER VIII. ROLLING STOCK--CARS, TRUCKS, ETC., 125
CHAPTER IX. SIGNAL SYSTEM, 135
CHAPTER X. SUBWAY DRAINAGE, 145
CHAPTER XI. REPAIR AND INSPECTION SHED, 147
CHAPTER XII. SUB-CONTRACTORS, 151
INTERBOROUGH RAPID TRANSIT COMPANY
_Directors_
August Belmont
E. P. Bryan
Andrew Freedman
James Jourdan
Gardiner M. Lane
John B. McDonald
Walter G. Oakman
John Peirce
Morton F. Plant
William A. Read
Alfred Skitt
Cornelius Vanderbilt
George W. Young
_Executive Committee_
August Belmont
Andrew Freedman
James Jourdan
Walter G. Oakman
William A. Read
Cornelius Vanderbilt
_Officers_
August Belmont, President
E. P. Bryan, Vice-president
H. M. Fisher, Secretary
D. W. McWilliams, Treasurer
E. F. J. Gaynor, Auditor
Frank Hedley, General Superintendent
S. L. F. Deyo, Chief Engineer
George W. Wickersham, General Counsel
Chas. A. Gardiner, General Attorney
DeLancey Nicoll, Associate Counsel
Alfred A. Gardner, Associate Counsel
_Engineering Staff_
S. L. F. Deyo, Chief Engineer.
_Electrical Equipment_
L. B. Stillwell, Electrical Director.
H. N. Latey, Principal Assistant.
Frederick R. Slater, Assistant Engineer in charge of Third Rail
Construction.
Albert F. Parks, Assistant Engineer in charge of Lighting.
George G. Raymond, Assistant Engineer in charge of Conduits and Cables.
William B. Flynn, Assistant Engineer in charge of Draughting Room.
_Mechanical and Architectural_
J. Van Vleck, Mechanical and Construction Engineer.
William C. Phelps, Assistant Construction Engineer.
William N. Stevens, Ass't Mechanical Engineer.
Paul C. Hunter, Architectural Assistant.
Geo. E. Thomas, Supervising Engineer in Field.
_Cars and Signal System_
George Gibbs, Consulting Engineer.
Watson T. Thompson, Master Mechanic.
J. N. Waldron, Signal Engineer.
RAPID TRANSIT SUBWAY CONSTRUCTION COMPANY
_Directors_
August Belmont
E. P. Bryan
Andrew Freedman
James Jourdan
Gardiner M. Lane
Walther Luttgen
John B. McDonald
Walter G. Oakman
John Peirce
Morton F. Plant
William A. Read
Cornelius Vanderbilt
George W. Young
_Executive Committee_
August Belmont
Andrew Freedman
James Jourdan
Walter G. Oakman
William A. Read
Cornelius Vanderbilt
_Officers_
August Belmont, president
Walter G. Oakman, vice-president
John B. McDonald, contractor
H. M. Fisher, secretary
John F. Buck, treasurer
E. F. J. Gaynor, auditor
S. L. F. Deyo, chief engineer
George W. Wickersham, general counsel
Alfred A. Gardner, attorney
_Engineering Staff_
S. L. F. Deyo, Chief Engineer.
H. T. Douglas, Principal Assistant Engineer.
A. Edward Olmsted, Division Engineer, Manhattan-Bronx Lines.
Henry B. Reed, Division Engineer, Brooklyn Extension.
Theodore Paschke, Resident Engineer, First Division, City Hall to 33d
Street, also Brooklyn Extension, City Hall to Bowling Green; and
Robert S. Fowler, Assistant.
Ernest C. Moore, Resident Engineer, Second Division, 33d Street to
104th Street; and Stanley Raymond, Assistant.
William C. Merryman, Resident Engineer, Third Division, Underground
Work, 104th Street to Fort George West Side and Westchester Avenue
East Side; and William B. Leonard, W. A. Morton, and William E.
Morris, Jr., Assistants.
Allan A. Robbins and Justin Burns, Resident Engineers, Fourth
Division, Viaducts; and George I. Oakley, Assistant.
Frank D. Leffingwell, Resident Engineer, East River Tunnel Division,
Brooklyn Extension; and C. D. Drew, Assistant.
Percy Litchfield, Resident Engineer, Fifth Division, Brooklyn
Extension, Borough Hall to Prospect Park; and Edward R. Eichner,
Assistant.
M. C. Hamilton, Engineer, Maintenance of Way; and Robert E. Brandeis,
Assistant.
D. L. Turner, Assistant Engineer in charge of Stations.
A. Samuel Berquist, Assistant Engineer in charge of Steel Erection.
William J. Boucher, Assistant Engineer in charge of Draughting Rooms.
[Illustration: (INTERBOROUGH RAPID TRANSIT)]
INTRODUCTION
The completion of the rapid transit railroad in the boroughs of
Manhattan and The Bronx, which is popularly known as the "Subway," has
demonstrated that underground railroads can be built beneath the
congested streets of the city, and has made possible in the near
future a comprehensive system of subsurface transportation extending
throughout the wide territory of Greater New York.
In March, 1900, when the Mayor with appropriate ceremonies broke
ground at the Borough Hall, in Manhattan, for the new road, there were
many well-informed people, including prominent financiers and
experienced engineers, who freely prophesied failure for the
enterprise, although the contract had been taken by a most capable
contractor, and one of the best known banking houses in America had
committed itself to finance the undertaking.
In looking at the finished road as a completed work, one is apt to
wonder why it ever seemed impossible and to forget the difficulties
which confronted the builders at the start.
The railway was to be owned by the city, and built and operated under
legislation unique in the history of municipal governments,
complicated, and minute in provisions for the occupation of the city
streets, payment of moneys by the city, and city supervision over
construction and operation. Questions as to the interpretation of
these provisions might have to be passed upon by the courts, with
delays, how serious none could foretell, especially in New York where
the crowded calendars retard speedy decisions. The experience of the
elevated railroad corporations in building their lines had shown the
uncertainty of depending upon legal precedents. It was not, at that
time, supposed that the abutting property owners would have any legal
ground for complaint against the elevated structures, but the courts
found new laws for new conditions and spelled out new property rights
of light, air, and access, which were made the basis for a volume of
litigation unprecedented in the courts of any country.
An underground railroad was a new condition. None could say that the
abutting property owners might not find rights substantial enough, at
least, to entitle them to their day in court, a day which, in this
State, might stretch into many months, or even several years. Owing to
the magnitude of the work, delay might easily result in failure. An
eminent judge of the New York Supreme Court had emphasized the
uncertainties of the situation in the following language: "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. We have now
the example of the elevated railroad, constructed and operated in the
city of New York under legislative and municipal authority for nearly
twenty years, which has been compelled to pay many millions of dollars
to abutting property owners for the easement in the public streets
appropriated by the construction and maintenance of the road, and
still the amount that the road will have to pay is not ascertained.
What liabilities will be imposed upon the city under this contract;
what injury the construction and operation of this road will cause to
abutting property, and what easements and rights will have to be
acquired before the road can be legally constructed and operated, it
is impossible now to ascertain."
It is true, that the city undertook "to secure to the contractor the
right to construct and operate, free from all rights, claims, or other
interference, whether by injunction, suit for damages, or otherwise on
the part of any abutting owner or other person." But another eminent
judge of the same court had characterized this as "a condition
absolutely impossible of fulfillment," and had said: "How is the city
to prevent interference with the work by injunction? That question
lies with the courts; and not with the courts of this State alone, for
there are cases without doubt in which the courts of the United States
would have jurisdiction to act, and when such jurisdiction exists they
have not hitherto shown much reluctance in acting.... That legal
proceedings will be undertaken which will, to some extent at least,
interfere with the progress of this work seems to be inevitable...."
Another difficulty was that the Constitution of the State of New York
limited the debt-incurring power of the city. The capacity of the city
to undertake the work had been much discussed in the courts, and the
Supreme Court of the State had disposed of that phase of the situation
by suggesting that it did not make much difference to the municipality
whether or not the debt limit permitted a contract for the work,
because if the limit should be exceeded, "no liability could possibly
be imposed upon the city," a view which might comfort the timid
taxpayers but could hardly be expected to give confidence to the
capitalists who might undertake the execution of the contract.
Various corporations, organized during the thirty odd years of
unsuccessful attempts by the city to secure underground rapid transit,
claimed that their franchises gave them vested rights in the streets
to the exclusion of the new enterprise, and they were prepared to
assert their rights in the courts. (The Underground Railroad Company
of the City of New York sought to enjoin the building of the road and
carried their contest to the Supreme Court of the United States which
did not finally decide the questions raised until March, 1904, when
the subway was practically complete.)
Rival transportation companies stood ready to obstruct the work and
encourage whomever might find objection to the building of the road.
New York has biennial elections. The road could not be completed in
two years, and the attitude of one administration might not be the
attitude of its successors.
The engineering difficulties were well-nigh appalling. Towering
buildings along the streets had to be considered, and the streets
themselves were already occupied with a complicated network of
subsurface structures, such as sewers, water and gas mains, electric
cable conduits, electric surface railway conduits, telegraph and
power conduits, and many vaults extending out under the streets,
occupied by the abutting property owners. On the surface were street
railway lines carrying a very heavy traffic night and day, and all the
thoroughfares in the lower part of the city were congested with
vehicular traffic.
Finally, the city was unwilling to take any risk, and demanded
millions of dollars of security to insure the completion of the road
according to the contract, the terms of which were most exacting down
to the smallest detail.
The builders of the road did not underestimate the magnitude of the
task before them. 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. They have striven, not to equal the best devices, but to
improve upon the best devices used in modern electrical railroading,
to secure for the traveling public safety, comfort, and speedy
transportation.
The road is off the surface and escapes the delays incident to
congested city streets, but near the surface and accessible, light,
dry, clean, and well ventilated. The stations and approaches are
commodious, and the stations themselves furnish conveniences to
passengers heretofore not heard of on intraurban lines. There is a
separate express service, with its own tracks, and the stations are so
arranged that passengers may pass from local trains to express trains,
and vice versa, without delay and without payment of additional fare.
Special precautions have been taken and devices adopted to prevent a
failure of the electric power and the consequent delays of traffic. An
electro pneumatic block signal system has been devised, which excels
any system heretofore used and is unique in its mechanism. The third
rail for conveying the electric current is covered, so as to prevent
injury to passengers and employees from contact. Special emergency and
fire alarm signal systems are installed throughout the length of the
road. At a few stations, where the road is not near the surface,
improved escalators and elevators are provided. The cars have been
designed to prevent danger from fire, and improved types of motors
have been adopted, capable of supplying great speed combined with
complete control. Strength, utility, and convenience have not alone
been considered, but all parts of the railroad structures and
equipment, stations, power house, and electrical sub-stations have
been designed and constructed with a view to the beauty of their
appearance, as well as to their efficiency.
The completion of the subway marks the solution of a problem which for
over thirty years baffled the people of New York City, in spite of the
best efforts of many of its foremost citizens. An extended account of
Rapid Transit Legislation would be out of place here, but a brief
glance at the history of the Act under the authority of which the
subway has been built is necessary to a clear understanding of the
work which has been accomplished. From 1850 to 1865 the street surface
horse railways were sufficient for the requirements of the traveling
public. As the city grew rapidly, the congestion spreading northward,
to and beyond the Harlem River, the service of surface roads became
entirely inadequate. As early as 1868, forty-two well known business
men of the city became, by special legislative Act, incorporators of
the New York City Central Underground Railway Company, to build a line
from the City Hall to the Harlem River. The names of the incorporators
evidenced the seriousness of the attempt, but nothing came of it. In
1872, also by special Act, Cornelius Vanderbilt and others were
incorporated as The New York City Rapid Transit Company, to build an
underground road from the City Hall to connect with the New York &
Harlem Road at 59th Street, with a branch to the tracks of the New
York Central Road. The enterprise was soon abandoned. Numerous
companies were incorporated in the succeeding years under the general
railroad laws, to build underground roads, but without results; among
them the Central Tunnel Railway Company in 1881, The New York & New
Jersey Tunnel Railway Company in 1883, The Terminal Underground
Railway Company in 1886, The Underground Railroad Company of the City
of New York (a consolidation of the last two companies) in 1896, and
The Rapid Transit Underground Railroad Company in 1897.
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; and then, having adopted detail plans for the
construction and operation, might sell at public sale the right to
build and operate the road to a corporation, whose powers and duties
were defined in the Act, for such period of time and on such terms as
they could. The Commissioners prepared plans and obtained the consents
of the local authorities. The property owners refused their consent;
the Supreme Court gave its approval in lieu thereof, but upon inviting
bids the Board of Rapid Transit Railroad Commissioners found no
responsible bidder.
The late Hon. Abram S. Hewitt, as early as 1884, when legislation for
underground roads was under discussion, had urged municipal ownership.
Speaking in 1901, he said of his efforts in 1884:
"It was evident to me that underground rapid transit could
not be secured by the investment of private capital, but in
some way or other its construction was dependent upon the
use of the credit of the City of New York. It was also
apparent to me that if such credit were used, the property
must belong to the city. Inasmuch as it would not be safe
for the city to undertake the construction itself, the
intervention of a contracting company appeared
indispensable. 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. It also
seemed to be indispensable that the leasing company should
invest in the rolling stock and in the real estate required
for its power houses and other buildings an amount of money
sufficiently large to indemnify the city against loss in
case the lessees should fail in their undertaking to build
and operate the railroad."
Mr. Hewitt became Mayor of the city in 1887, and his views were
presented in the form of a Bill to the Legislature in the following
year. The measure found practically no support. Six years later, after
the Rapid Transit Commissioners had failed under the Act of 1891, as
originally drawn, to obtain bidders for the franchise, the New York
Chamber of Commerce undertook to solve the problem by reverting to Mr.
Hewitt's idea of municipal ownership. Whether or not municipal
ownership would meet the approval of the citizens of New York could
not be determined; therefore, as a preliminary step, it was decided to
submit the question to a popular vote. An amendment to the Act of 1891
was drawn (Chapter 752 of the Laws of 1894) which provided that the
qualified electors of the city were to decide at an annual election,
by ballot, whether the rapid transit railway or railways should be
constructed by the city and at the public's expense, and be operated
under lease from the city, or should be constructed by a private
corporation under a franchise to be sold in the manner attempted
unsuccessfully, under the Act of 1891, as originally passed. At the
fall election of 1894, the electors of the city, by a very large vote,
declared against the sale of a franchise to a private corporation and
in favor of ownership by the city. Several other amendments, the
necessity for which developed as plans for the railway were worked
out, were made up to and including the session of the Legislature of
1900, but the general scheme for rapid transit may be said to have
become fixed when the electors declared in favor of municipal
ownership. The main provisions of the legislation which stood upon the
statute books as the Rapid Transit Act, when the contract was finally
executed, February 21, 1900, may be briefly summarized as follows:
(_a_) The Act was general in terms, applying to all cities in the
State having a population of over one million; it was special in
effect because New York was the only city having such a population. It
did not limit the Rapid Transit Commissioners to the building of a
single road, but authorized the laying out of successive roads or
extensions.
(_b_) A Board was created consisting of the Mayor, Comptroller, or
other chief financial officer of the city; the president of the
Chamber of Commerce of the State of New York, by virtue of his office,
and five members named in the Act: William Steinway, Seth Low, John
Claflin, Alexander E. Orr, and John H. Starin, men distinguished for
their business experience, high integrity, and civic pride. Vacancies
in the Board were to be filled by the Board itself, a guaranty of a
continued uniform policy.
(_c_) The Board was to prepare general routes and plans and submit the
question of municipal ownership to the electors of the city.
(_d_) The city was authorized, in the event that the electors decided
for city ownership, to issue bonds not to exceed $50,000,000 for the
construction of the road or roads and $5,000,000 additional, if
necessary, for acquiring property rights for the route. The interest
on the bonds was not to exceed 3-1/2 per cent.
(_e_) The Commissioners were given the broad power to enter into a
contract (in the case of more than one road, successive contracts) on
behalf of the city for the construction of the road with the person,
firm, or corporation which in the opinion of the Board should be best
qualified to carry out the contract, and to determine the amount of
the bond to be given by the contractor to secure its performance. The
essential features of the contract were, however, prescribed by the
Act. The contractor in and by the contract for building the road was
to agree to fully equip it at his own expense, and the equipment was
to include all power houses. He was also to operate the road, as
lessee of the city, for a term not to exceed fifty years, upon terms
to be included in the contract for construction, which might include
provision for renewals of the lease upon such terms as the Board
should from time to time determine. The rental was to be at least
equal to the amount of interest on the bonds which the city might
issue for construction and one per cent. additional. The one per cent.
additional might, in the discretion of the Board, be made contingent
in part for the first ten years of the lease upon the earnings of the
road. The rental was to be applied by the city to the interest on the
bonds and the balance was to be paid into the city's general sinking
fund for payment of the city's debt or into a sinking fund for the
redemption at maturity of the bonds issued for the construction of the
rapid transit road, or roads. In addition to the security which might
be required by the Board of the contractor for construction and
operation, the Act provided that the city should have a first lien
upon the equipment of the road to be furnished by the contractor, and
at the termination of the lease the city had the privilege of
purchasing such equipment from the contractor.
(_f_) The city was to furnish the right of way to the contractor free
from all claims of abutting property owners. The road was to be the
absolute property of the city and to be deemed a part of the public
streets and highways. The equipment of the road was to be exempt from
taxation.
(_g_) The Board was authorized to include in the contract for
construction provisions in detail for the supervision of the city,
through the Board, over the operation of the road under the lease.
One of the most attractive--and, in fact, indispensable features of
the scheme--was that the work of construction, instead of being
subject to the conflicting control of various departments of the City
Government, with their frequent changes in personnel, was under the
exclusive supervision and control of the Rapid Transit Board, a
conservative and continuous body composed of the two principal
officers of the City Government, and five merchants of the very
highest standing in the community.
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