Anonymous - The New York Subway
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Anonymous >> The New York Subway
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(3.) The anti-telescoping car bulkheads and platform posts.
This construction is similar to that in use on Pullman cars,
and has been demonstrated in steam railroad service to be an
important safety appliance.
(4.) The steel underframing of the car, which provides a
rigid and durable bed structure for transmitting the heavy
motive power stresses.
(5.) The numerous protective devices against defects in the
electrical apparatus.
(6.) Window arrangement, permitting circulation without
draughts.
(7.) Emergency brake valve on truck operated by track trip.
(8.) Emergency brake valve in connection with
master-controller.
The table on page 133 shows the main dimensions of the car, and
also the corresponding dimensions of the standard car in use on the
Manhattan Elevated Railway.
The general arrangement of the floor framing is well shown in the
photograph on page 132. The side sills are of 6-inch channels,
which are reinforced inside and out by white oak timbers. The center
sills are 5-inch I-beams, faced on both sides with Southern pine. The
end sills are also of steel shapes, securely attached to the side
sills by steel castings and forgings. The car body end-sill channel is
faced with a white-oak filler, mortised to receive the car body
end-posts and braced at each end by gusset plates. The body bolster is
made up of two rolled steel plates bolted together at their ends and
supported by a steel draw casting, the ends of which form a support
for the center sills. The cross-bridging and needle-beams of 5-inch
I-beams are unusually substantial. The flooring inside the car is
double and of maple, with asbestos fire-felt between the layers, and
is protected below by steel plates and "transite" (asbestos board).
The side framing of the car is of white ash, doubly braced and heavily
trussed. There are seven composite wrought-iron carlines forged in
shape for the roof, each sandwiched between two white ash carlines,
and with white ash intermediate carlines. The platform posts are of
compound construction with anti-telescoping posts of steel bar
sandwiched between white ash posts at corners and centers of
vestibuled platforms. These posts are securely bolted to the steel
longitudinal sills, the steel anti-telescoping plate below the floor,
and to the hood of the bow which serves to reinforce it. This bow is a
heavy steel angle in one piece, reaching from plate to plate and
extending back into the car 6 feet on each side. By this construction
it is believed that the car framing is practically indestructible. In
case of accident, if one platform should ride over another, eight
square inches of metal would have to be sheared off the posts before
the main body of the car would be reached, which would afford an
effective means of protection.
[Illustration: EXTERIOR VIEW--STEEL CAR FRAMING]
The floor is completely covered on the underside with 1/4-inch
asbestos transite board, while all parts of the car framing, flooring,
and sheathing are covered with fire-proofing compound. In addition,
all spaces above the motor truck in the floor framing, between sills
and bridging, are protected by plates of No. 8 steel and 1/4-inch roll
fire-felt extending from the platform end sill to the bolster.
[Sidenote: _Car Wiring_]
The precautions to secure safety from fire consists generally in the
perfected arrangement and installation of the electrical apparatus and
the wiring. For the lighting circuits a flexible steel conduit is
used, and a special junction box. On the side and upper roofs, over
these conduits for the lighting circuits, a strip of sheet iron is
securely nailed to the roof boards before the canvas is applied. The
wires under the floor are carried in ducts moulded into suitable forms
of asbestos compound. Special precautions have been taken with the
insulation of the wires, the specifications calling for, first, a
layer of paper, next, a layer of rubber, and then a layer of cotton
saturated with a weather-proof compound, and outside of this a layer
of asbestos. The hangers supporting the rheostats under the car body
are insulated with wooden blocks, treated by a special process, being
dried out in an oven and then soaked in an insulating compound, and
covered with 1/4-inch "transite" board. The rheostat boxes themselves
are also insulated from the angle iron supporting them. Where the
wires pass through the flooring they are hermetically sealed to
prevent the admission of dust and dirt.
At the forward end of what is known as the No. 1 end of the car all
the wires are carried to a slate switchboard in the motorman's cab.
This board is 44 x 27 inches, and is mounted directly back of the
motorman. The window space occupied by this board is ceiled up and the
space back of the panels is boxed in and provided with a door of steel
plate, forming a box, the cover, top, bottom, and sides of which are
lined with electrobestos 1/2-inch thick. All of the switches and
fuses, except the main trolley fuse and bus-line fuse, which are
encased and placed under the car, are carried on this switchboard.
Where the wires are carried through the floor or any partition, a
steel chute, lined with electrobestos, is used to protect the wires
against mechanical injury. It will be noted from the above that no
power wiring, switches, or fuses are placed in the car itself, all
such devices being outside in a special steel insulated compartment.
A novel feature in the construction of these cars is the motorman's
compartment and vestibule, which differs essentially from that used
heretofore, and the patents are owned by the Interborough Company. The
cab is located on the platform, so that no space within the car is
required; at the same time the entire platform space is available for
ingress and egress except that on the front platform of the first car,
on which the passengers would not be allowed in any case. The side of
the cab is formed by a door which can be placed in three positions.
When in its mid-position it encloses a part of the platform, so as to
furnish a cab for the motorman, but when swung parallel to the end
sills it encloses the end of the platform, and this would be its
position on the rear platform of the rear car. The third position is
when it is swung around to an arc of 180 degrees, when it can be
locked in position against the corner vestibule post enclosing the
master controller. This would be its position on all platforms except
on the front of the front car or the rear of the rear car of the
train.
The platforms themselves are not equipped with side gates, but with
doors arranged to slide into pockets in the side framing, thereby
giving up the entire platform to the passengers. These doors are
closed by an overhead lever system. The sliding door on the front
platform of the first car may be partly opened and secured in this
position by a bar, and thus serve as an arm-rest for the motorman. The
doors close against an air-cushion stop, making it impossible to
clutch the clothing or limbs of passengers in closing.
[Illustration: INTERIOR VIEW--SKELETON FRAMING OF STEEL CAR]
Pantagraph safety gates for coupling between cars are provided. They
are constructed so as to adjust themselves to suit the various
positions of adjoining cars while passing in, around, and out of
curves of 90 feet radius.
On the door leading from the vestibule to the body of the car is a
curtain that can be automatically raised and lowered as the door is
opened or closed to shut the light away from the motorman. Another
attachment is the peculiar handle on the sliding door. This door is
made to latch so that it cannot slide open with the swaying of the
car, but the handle is so constructed that when pressure is applied
upon it to open the door, the same movement will unlatch it.
Entering the car, the observer is at once impressed by the amount of
room available for passengers. The seating arrangements are similar to
the elevated cars, but the subway coaches are longer and wider than
the Manhattan, and there are two additional seats on each end. The
seats are all finished in rattan. Stationary crosswise seats are
provided after the Manhattan pattern, at the center of the car. The
longitudinal seats are 17-3/4 inches deep. The space between the
longitudinal seats is 4 feet 5 inches.
The windows have two sashes, the lower one being stationary, while the
upper one is a drop sash. This arrangement reverses the ordinary
practice, and is desirable in subway operation and to insure safety
and comfort to the passengers. The side windows in the body of the
car, also the end windows and end doors, are provided with roll shades
with pinch-handle fixtures.
[Illustration: INTERIOR VIEW OF PROTECTED WOODEN CAR]
The floors are covered with hard maple strips, securely fastened to
the floor with ovalhead brass screws, thus providing a clean, dry
floor for all conditions of weather.
Six single incandescent lamps are placed on the upper deck ceiling,
and a row of ten on each side deck ceiling is provided. There are two
lamps placed in a white porcelain dome over each platform, and the
pressure gauge is also provided with a miniature lamp.
[Illustration: EXTERIOR VIEW--PROTECTED WOODEN CAR, SHOWING COPPER
SIDES]
The head linings are of composite board. The interior finish is of
mahogany of light color. A mahogany handrail extends the full length
of the clerestory on each side of the car, supported in brass sockets
at the ends and by heavy brass brackets on each side. The handrail on
each side of the car carries thirty-eight leather straps.
Each ventilator sash is secured on the inside to a brass operating
arm, manipulated by means of rods running along each side of the
clerestory, and each rod is operated by means of a brass lever, having
a fulcrum secured to the inside of the clerestory.
All hardware is of bronze, of best quality and heavy pattern,
including locks, pulls, handles, sash fittings, window guards, railing
brackets and sockets, bell cord thimbles, chafing strips, hinges, and
all other trimmings. The upright panels between the windows and the
corner of the car are of plain mahogany, as are also the single post
pilasters, all of which are decorated with marquetry inlaid. The end
finish is of mahogany, forming a casing for the end door.
[Illustration: FRAMING OF PROTECTED WOODEN CAR]
[Sidenote: _Steel Cars_]
At the time of placing the first contract for the rolling stock of the
subway, the question of using an all-steel car was carefully
considered by the management. Such a type of car, in many respects,
presented desirable features for subway work as representing the
ultimate of absolute incombustibility. Certain practical reasons,
however, prevented the adoption of an all-steel car in the spring of
1902 when it became necessary to place the orders mentioned above for
the first 500 cars. Principal among these reasons was the fact that no
cars of this kind had ever been constructed, and as the car building
works of the country were in a very congested condition all of the
larger companies declined to consider any standard specifications even
for a short-time delivery, while for cars involving the extensive use
of metal the question was impossible of immediate solution. Again,
there were a number of very serious mechanical difficulties to be
studied and overcome in the construction of such a car, such as
avoidance of excessive weight, a serious element in a rapid transit
service, insulation from the extremes of heat and cold, and the
prevention of undue noise in operation. It was decided, therefore, to
bend all energies to the production of a wooden car with sufficient
metal for strength and protection from accident, i. e., a stronger,
safer, and better constructed car than had heretofore been put in use
on any electric railway in the world. These properties it is believed
are embodied in the car which has just been described.
[Illustration: METAL UNDERFRAME OF PROTECTED WOODEN CAR]
The plan of an all-metal car, however, was not abandoned, and
although none was in use in passenger service anywhere, steps were
immediately taken to design a car of this type and conduct the
necessary tests to determine whether it would be suitable for railway
service. None of the car-building companies was willing to undertake
the work, but the courteous cooeperation of the Pennsylvania Railroad
Company was secured in placing its manufacturing facilities at Altoona
at the disposal of the Interborough Rapid Transit Railway Company.
Plans were prepared for an all-metal car, and after about fourteen
months of work a sample type was completed in December, 1903, which
was in every way creditable as a first attempt.
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. While the
expense of producing this new type of car has obviously been great,
this consideration has not influenced the management of the company in
developing an equipment which promised the maximum of operating
safety.
[Illustration: END VIEW OF MOTOR TRUCK]
[Sidenote: _The General
Arrangements_]
The general dimensions of the all-steel car differ only slightly from
those of the wooden car. The following table gives the dimensions of
the two cars, and also that of the Manhattan Railway cars:
Wooden All-Steel Manhattan
Cars. Cars. Cars.
Length over body corner posts, 42' 7" 41' 1/2" 39' 10"
Length over buffers, 51' 2" 51' 2" 47' 1"
Length over draw-bars, 51' 5" 51' 5" 47' 4"
Width over side sills, 8' 8-3/8" 8' 6-3/4" 8' 6"
Width over sheathing, 8' 10" 8' 7" 8' 7"
Width over window sills, 8' 11-7/8" 9' 1/2" 8' 9"
Width over battens, 8' 10-3/4" 8' 7-1/4" 8' 7-7/8"
Width over eaves, 8' 8" 8' 8" 8' 9-1/2"
Height from under side of sill
to top of plate, 7' 3-1/8" 7' 1" 7' 3"
Height of body from under side
of center sill to top of roof, 8' 9-7/8" 8' 9-7/8" 9' 5-7/8"
Height of truck from rail to
top of truck center plate
(car light), 2' 8" 2' 8" 2' 5-3/4"
Height from top of rail to
underside of side sill at
truck center (car light), 3' 1-1/8" 3' 2-1/8" 3' 3-1/4"
Height from top of rail to
top of roof not to exceed
(car light), 12' 3/4" 12' 0" 12' 10-1/2"
The general frame plan of the all-steel car is clearly shown by the
photograph on page 128. As will be seen, the floor framing is made
up of two center longitudinal 6-inch I-beams and two longitudinal 5 x
3-inch steel side angles, extending in one piece from platform-end
sill to platform-end sill. The end sills are angles and are secured to
the side and center sills by cast-steel brackets, and in addition by
steel anti-telescoping plates, which are placed on the under side of
the sills and riveted thereto. The flooring is of galvanized,
corrugated sheet iron, laid across the longitudinal sills and secured
to longitudinal angles by rivets. This corrugated sheet holds the
fireproof cement flooring called "monolith." On top of this latter are
attached longitudinal floor strips for a wearing surface. The platform
flooring is of steel plate covered with rubber matting cemented to the
same. The side and end frame is composed of single and compound posts
made of steel angles or T's and the roof framing of wrought-iron
carlines and purlines. The sides of the cars are double and composed
of steel plates on the outside, riveted to the side posts and belt
rails, and lined with electrobestos. The outside roof is of fireproof
composite board, covered with canvas. The headlinings are of fireproof
composite, faced with aluminum sheets. The mouldings throughout are of
aluminum. The wainscoting is of "transite" board and aluminum, and the
end finish and window panels are of aluminum, lined with asbestos
felt. The seat frames are of steel throughout, as are also the cushion
frames. The sash is double, the lower part being stationary and the
upper part movable. The doors are of mahogany, and are of the sliding
type and are operated by the door operating device already described.
[Illustration: SIDE VIEW OF MOTOR TRUCK]
[Sidenote: _Trucks_]
Two types of trucks are being built, one for the motor end, the other
for the trailer end of the car. The following are the principal
dimensions of the trucks:
Motor Truck. Trailer Truck.
Gauge of track,............................. 4' 8-1/2" 4' 8-1/2"
Distance between backs of wheel flanges,.... 4' 5-3/8" 4' 5-3/8"
Height of truck center plate above rail,
car body loaded with 15,000 pounds,....... 30" 30"
Height of truck side bearings above rail,
car body loaded,.......................... 34" 34"
Wheel base of truck,........................ 6' 8" 5' 6"
Weight on center plate with car body
loaded, about............................. 27,000 lbs.
Side frames, wrought-iron forged,........... 2-1/2" x 4" 1-1/2" x 3"
Pedestals, wrought-iron forged,.........................
Center transom, steel channel,..........................
Truck bolster,.............................. cast steel. wood and iron.
Equalizing bars, wrought iron,..........................
Center plate, cast steel,...............................
Spring plank, wrought iron,................. 1" x 3" white oak.
Bolster springs, elliptic, length, ......... 30" 32"
Equalizing springs, double coil,
outside dimensions,................... 4-7/8" x 7-1/2" 3-5/8" x 6"
Wheels, cast steel spoke center,
steel tired, diameter,.................... 33-3/4" 30"
Tires, tread M. C. B. Standard,......... 2-5/8" x 5-1/4" 2-5/8" x 5-1/4"
Axles, diameter at center,.................. 6-1/2" 4-3/4"
Axles, diameter at gear seat,............... 7-13/16"
Axles, diameter at wheel seat,.............. 7-3/4" 5-3/4"
Journals,................................... 5" x 9" 4-1/4" x 8"
Journal boxes, malleable iron,
M. C. B. Standard,....................................
Both the motor and the trailer trucks have been designed with the
greatest care for severe service, and their details are the outcome of
years of practical experience.
CHAPTER IX
SIGNAL SYSTEM
Early in the development of the plans for the subway system in New
York City, it was foreseen that the efficiency of operation of a road
with so heavy a traffic as is being provided for would depend largely
upon the completeness of the block signaling and interlocking systems
adopted for spacing and directing trains. On account of the importance
of this consideration, not only for safety of passengers, but also for
conducting operation under exacting schedules, it was decided to
install the most complete and effective signaling system procurable.
The problem involved the prime consideration of:
Safety and reliability.
Greatest capacity of the lines consistent with the above.
Facility of operation under necessarily restricted yard and
track conditions.
In order to obtain the above desiderata it was decided to install a
complete automatic block signal system for the high-speed routes,
block protection for all obscure points on the low-speed routes, and
to operate all switches both for line movements and in yards by power
from central points. This necessarily involved the interconnection of
the block and switch movements at many locations and made the adoption
of the most flexible and compact appliances essential.
Of the various signal systems in use it was found that the one
promising entirely satisfactory results was the electro-pneumatic
block and interlocking system, by which power in any quantity could be
readily conducted in small pipes any distance and utilized in compact
apparatus in the most restricted spaces. The movements could be made
with the greatest promptness and certainty and interconnected for the
most complicated situations for safety. Moreover, all essential
details of the system had been worked out in years of practical
operation on important trunk lines of railway, so that its reliability
and efficiency were beyond question.
The application of such a system to the New York subway involved an
elaboration of detail not before attempted upon a railway line of
similar length, and the contract for its installation is believed to
be the largest single order ever given to a signal manufacturing
company.
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.
The New York subway operation, however, contemplated traffic of
unprecedented density and consequent magnitude of the electric
currents employed, and experience with existing track circuit control
systems led to the conclusion that some modification in apparatus was
essential to prevent occasional traffic delays.
The proposed operation contemplates a possible maximum of two tracks
loaded with local trains at one minute intervals, and two tracks with
eight car express trains at two minute intervals, the latter class of
trains requiring at times as much as 2,000 horse power for each train
in motion. It is readily seen, then, that combinations of trains in
motion may at certain times occur which will throw enormous demands
for power upon a given section of the road. The electricity conveying
this power flows back through the track rails to the power station and
in so doing is subject to a "drop" or loss in the rails which varies
in amount according to the power demands. This causes disturbances in
the signal-track circuit in proportion to the amount of "drop," and it
was believed that under the extreme condition above mentioned the
ordinary form of track circuit might prove unreliable and cause delay
to traffic. A solution of the difficulty was suggested, consisting in
the employment of a current in the signal track circuit which would
have such characteristic differences from that used to propel the
trains as would operate selectively upon an apparatus which would in
turn control the signal. Alternating current supplied this want on
account of its inductive properties, and was adopted, after a
demonstration of its practicability under similar conditions
elsewhere.
[Illustration: FRONT VIEW OF BLOCK SIGNAL POST, SHOWING LIGHTS,
INDICATORS AND TRACK STOP]
After a decision was reached as to the system to be employed, the
arrangement of the block sections was considered from the standpoint
of maximum safety and maximum traffic capacity, as it was realized
that the rapidly increasing traffic of Greater New York would almost
at once tax the capacity of the line to its utmost.
The usual method of installing automatic block signals in the United
States is to provide home and distant signals with the block sections
extending from home signal to home signal; that is, the block sections
end at the home signals and do not overlap each other. This is also
the arrangement of block sections where the telegraph block or
controlled manual systems are in use. The English block systems,
however, all employ overlaps. Without the overlap, a train in passing
from one block section to the other will clear the home signals for
the section in the rear, as soon as the rear of the train has passed
the home signal of the block in which it is moving. It is thus
possible for a train to stop within the block and within a few feet of
this home signal. If, then, a following train should for any reason
overrun this home signal, a collision would result. With the overlap
system, however, a train may stop at any point in a block section and
still have the home signal at a safe stopping distance in the rear of
the train.
Conservative signaling is all in favor of the overlap, on account of
the safety factor, in case the signal is accidentally overrun. Another
consideration was the use of automatic train stops. These stops are
placed at the home signals, and it is thus essential that a stopping
distance should be afforded in advance of the home signal to provide
for stopping the train to which the brake had been applied by the
automatic stop.
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