The Bulletin CONTRACT 4 SUBWAY CONTROVERSY
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ERA BULLETIN — MARCH, 2016 The Bulletin Electric Railroaders’ Association, Incorporated Vol. 59, No. 3 March, 2016 The Bulletin CONTRACT 4 SUBWAY CONTROVERSY Published by the Electric by Bernard Linder Railroaders’ Association, Incorporated, PO Box (Continued from February, 2016 issue) 3323, New York, New York 10163-3323. We have been publishing excerpts from shops available in which to equip such cars, BMT’s Chairman Gerhard Dahl’s book, and, therefore to maintain equipment.” For general inquiries, Transit Truths, in which he urged the City (Editor’s Note: The following is an interesting contact us at bulletin@ to complete the construction specified in excerpt from Mr. Dahl’s August 26, 1924 article, erausa.org. ERA’s Contract 4. which was published in the newspapers.) website is Following are excerpts from his July 12, “The B.M.T. today is operating 950 steel www.erausa.org. 1924 letter to the Board of Transportation. cars. To appreciate the significance of this Editorial Staff: “It is useless, however, to buy additional statement it should be pointed out that in Editor-in-Chief: new cars if there is no place to equip or 1913 when the Dual Contracts were signed it Bernard Linder maintain them. If there is inadequate mainte- was estimated that only 600 steel cars would Tri-State News and be required after the construction work was Commuter Rail Editor: nance or inadequate equipment, it is be- Ronald Yee cause of the default on the part of the City for fully completed. But to date the City has not North American and World eleven years in its obligation to supply us completed this work. It has not finished the News Editor: with shops and yards. 14th Street-Eastern line. It has not even start- Alexander Ivanoff “Under our Contract with the City made in ed the Nassau-Broad Streets extension. It Contributing Editor: Jeffrey Erlitz 1913, we included shops and yards as a part has not built the shops and yards. Thus the of the entire system to be operated on one Company today is operating 350 more steel Production Manager: fare, but the City was obligated to supply cars than it was estimated would be neces- David Ross new shops and yards required as the system sary. Furthermore, these 950 steel cars now tax the capacity of the shops and yards. Only might develop after 1913. Since that time we ©2016 Elect ric have purchased 950 steel cars at a total cost recently the Company spent $150,000 on its Railroaders ’ of $20 million. For the maintenance of these shops because, in the public interest, it could Association, cars the City has not spent one dollar in sup- not wait for the City to live up to its contact Incorporate d plying shops and yards. and build the shops and yards agreed upon “The Company is now completing the in 1913.” equipment of fifty new steel cars at an ex- To accommodate the expanding fleet, the pense of $1.2 million. These were purchased Company enlarged and rearranged the In This Issue: since the reorganization took place in June, shops and yards. Fresh Pond Shop was con- From 1923. The work on these new cars is pro- verted from an elevated to a trolley inspec- ceeding under the grave handicap of shops, tion shop. It was closed and razed after the Recognition to inadequate even for routine work. It is plain Richmond Hill trolley was converted to bus Dominance— that there is no use in buying new cars if on April 26, 1950. A new Fresh Pond Bus The New York there is no place to which to keep them in Depot was opened on July 27. 1960. The Connecting efficient operating condition. entrance to the East New York Elevated Railroad “So serious is the situation that the Compa- Shop was originally near the main line as ny cannot consider the purchase of new cars shown on page 4, The entrance was relocat- (Continued) for use on any part of the system, unless, by ed to the opposite end and the shop was ex- …Page 2 the time such cars are ready for delivery by tended closer to the main line at an unknown the car builders the City shall have adequate (Continued on page 4) NEXT TRIP: GRAND CENTRAL TOUR1 — SATURDAY, MARCH 19 NEW YORKERA DIVISION BULLETIN BULLETIN — MARCH, OCTOBER, 2016 2000 FROM RECOGNITION TO DOMINANCE: THE NEW YORK CONNECTING RAILROAD (BRIDGING THE BAY AND CONNECTING THE PIECES) by George Chiasson (Continued from February, 2016 issue) (Continued on page 3) 2 ERA BULLETIN — MARCH, 2016 From Recognition to Dominance (Continued from page 2) (Continued on page 7) 3 NEW YORKERA DIVISION BULLETIN BULLETIN — MARCH, OCTOBER, 2016 2000 Contract 4 Subway Construction Controversy (Continued from page 1) 39th Street Elevated Yard and Shop, around 1910. 36th Street Shop. Bernard Linder collection Bernard Linder collection 36th Street Yard, January 4, 1916. East New York Shop before rebuilding. Bernard Linder collection Bernard Linder collection East New York Yard, circa 1916. Alabama Yard, bounded by Pitkin Avenue, Williams Avenue, Bernard Linder collection Alabama Avenue, and Belmont Avenue, circa 1910. Bernard Linder collection (Continued on page 5) 4 ERA BULLETIN — MARCH, 2016 Contract 4 Subway Construction Controversy (Continued from page 4) Fresh Pond Elevated Inspection Shop, circa 1910. Fresh Pond Depot, September 25, 1950. Bernard Linder collection Bernard Linder photograph Two vintage views of Fresh Pond Yard. Bernard Linder collection Fresh Pond Yard, September 25, 1950. Fresh Pond Yard, looking west, November, 1968. Bernard Linder photograph Larry Linder photograph (Continued on page 6) 5 NEW YORKERA DIVISION BULLETIN BULLETIN — MARCH, OCTOBER, 2016 2000 Contract 4 Subway Construction Controversy On July 23, 1925, the first train operated on the Bright- on Line. On September 22, 1928, D-Types appeared on (Continued from page 5) the Sea Beach Line. Meanwhile, steel cars were trans- date. Your Editor-in-Chief’s supervisor told him about ferred, replacing the wooden cars on Centre Street, as this alteration, but he was never able to find any pub- shown in the following table: lished information. DATE WOODEN CARS The 36th Street Shop was no longer needed when the Fifth Avenue “L” ceased operating at Unification, June 1922 250 cars 1, 1940 The huge Coney Island Shop and Yard, which 1924 20 “L” trains was opened in the 1920s, provided adequate space for storage and repairs. 1925 10% on Myrtle-Chambers At about the same time, the Company ordered the August 22, 1927 None following D-Types: With the opening of the Nassau Loop and the 14th CAR NUMBERS DATE BUILT BY Street Extension on May 30, 1931, Contract 4 construc- 6000-3 1925 Pressed Steel tion was completed. The new Mayor was not hostile and the Company was able to give frequent and reliable ser- 6004-70 1927 Pressed Steel vice. 6071-6120 1928 Pressed Steel AN ELECTRIC TRACTION TREASURE: HENRY RAUDENBUSH MARKS 50 YEARS WITH LEADING FIRM by Julien Wolfe and Jack May When we normally hear about national treasures, we LTK, Henry worked for the New York City Transit Au- think of authors or composers, or perhaps some famous thority in its car department, but in 1966 left New York ballet dancer. Few who ride public transit ever consider City and moved to the Philadelphia area, joining the firm that behind the cars and trains they ride has been the of Louis T. Klauder and Associates, where he greatly hand of a national treasure, but one truly exists today at contributed to the creation of the revolutionary M-1 EMU the firm of Louis T. Klauder and Associates — namely car design that quickly yanked the Long Island Rail ERA member Henry (Hank) Raudenbush. Road out of the World War I era and into the modern On February 1, 2016 George Dorshimer, President of era of electric railroading. For the next 50 years he con- LTK, announced that Henry had completed a half- tinued to offer his know-how to scores of other electric century of service to that company, describing him as "a traction projects — and still does so as his LTK career human encyclopedia of the rail passenger industry" and continues. a "positive role model for another generation of future His technical expertise ranges from the esoteric to the leaders." sublime, from modern complex electrical engineering Those with long memories can remember the good techniques to practical problem-solving. For example, old days of New York Division ERA meetings held at the when traveling with him aboard a sleeping car in 1963, old New York Penn Station YMCA auditorium and how he demonstrated how to stop the annoying squeaks and sometimes raging arguments erupted over some item of rattles in the roomette by forcing strips of cardboard into electric transit history or technology. Generally, after the gaps between wall panels. Never one to guard his several of the more vocal members continued to expertise, he has always enjoyed educating all of us by scream at each other, someone would say, “…let’s ask sharing his vast knowledge of all things rail, and now, at Henry,” after which he would stand up and quietly say the age of 80, continues to use his knowledge and ex- something like, “…in 1917 the Third Avenue ‘L’…,” and perience to improve the lot of the transit rider. that would end the discussion. Prior to his service with Congratulations, Hank, and keep up the good work. 6 ERA BULLETIN — MARCH, 2016 From Recognition to Dominance (Continued from page 3) (Continued next issue) 7 NEW YORKERA DIVISION BULLETIN BULLETIN — MARCH, OCTOBER, 2016 2000 Commuter and Transit Notes No.