The Bulletin SHORT PLATFORMS EXTENDED for LONG TRAINS
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ERA BULLETIN — MARCH, 2017 The Bulletin Electric Railroaders’ Association, Incorporated Vol. 60, No. 3 March, 2017 The Bulletin SHORT PLATFORMS EXTENDED FOR LONG TRAINS Published by the Electric by Bernard Linder Railroaders’ Association, Incorporated, PO Box (Continued from February, 2017 issue) 3323, New York, New York 10163-3323. At the present time, nearly all platforms are October, 1965—Work in progress at Kings long enough to accommodate the trains that Highway, W. 8th Street, and Coney Island, are scheduled to stop there. The exceptions Brighton Line For general inquiries, or th Bulletin submissions, are 145 Street-Lenox Avenue, where doors February, 1972 — Broadway, Fourth Avenue, contact us at bulletin@ are opened on only five cars, and the original and West End Line stations nearly complet- erausa.org. ERA’s curved South Ferry station. ed; work was not started on 8th Avenue, New website is The original IND platforms are longer than Utrecht Avenue, 18th Avenue, 20th Avenue, www.erausa.org. th the 10-car trains, and most are able to ac- and 86 Street, Sea Beach Line. Platforms at Editorial Staff: commodate the 11-car trains that were oper- other Sea Beach Line stations were long Editor-in-Chief: ated in the 1950s. Eleven-car trains were in enough Bernard Linder service on E from October 3, 1955 until it The following IRT platform extensions, Tri-State News and which were omitted from the previous issue, Commuter Rail Editor: was canceled abruptly on September 8, Ronald Yee 1958. In the AM rush, ten 11-car trains from were also listed in the Bulletin: North American and World Jamaica were laid up in Brooklyn and re- April, 1961 — Livonia Avenue Line platforms News Editor: turned to Jamaica for the PM rush. Eleven- were completed; Lexington Avenue Line local Alexander Ivanoff car trains never ran to the Rockaways and platforms from Brooklyn Bridge to 116th Contributing Editor: they were also operated on , probably be- Street, Jerome Avenue Line stations, and Jeffrey Erlitz F th 149 Street-Grand Concourse and Third Av- tween the long Es. th Production Manager: We have no information about the length of enue-149 Street stations, White Plains David Ross the original BMT platforms, and we do not Road Line, were started February, 1962 — Atlantic Avenue and know whether they were extended before ©2017 Elect ric Unification. A train of eight 67-foot BMT cars Nevins Street, Brooklyn Line, were extended. Railroaders ’ was 536 feet long, but a train of ten 60-foot R Dyre Avenue Line stations were to be ex- Association, -type cars that replaced them was 600 feet tended Incorporate d Concrete platforms were gradually replac- long. Platforms were extended to 615 feet before the new cars were placed in service, ing wooden platforms. The February, 1968 except on the Broadway (Brooklyn), Myrtle Bulletin informs us that wooden platforms were still in place from Jackson Avenue to In This Issue: Avenue, and Canarsie Lines. th After checking previous Bulletins, we were 174 Street, White Plains Road Line, and From from Dyckman Street to 242nd Street, Broad- Recognition to able to compile an incomplete list of the dates that platforms were extended. way Line. Dominance— February 9, 1964 — Completed Newkirk Ave- After checking signal plans that were re- The New York nue (now Newkirk Plaza), Brighton Line vised before and after Unification, we were Connecting February, 1964—Work in progress, Atlantic able to determine the length of the Manhat- Avenue to Newkirk Avenue, Brighton Line tan elevated platforms. The 47-foot 7-car Railroad trains (except Composites) were able to (Continued) August, 1964—Started work at Avenue H and Neck Road, Brighton Line open all doors or gates if they stopped with …Page 2 September 14, 1964—Avenue M, Avenue U, their ends extending beyond the short 260- and Brighton Beach, Brighton Line, in service (Continued on page 17) 1 NEW YORKERA DIVISION BULLETIN BULLETIN — MARCH, OCTOBER, 2017 2000 FROM RECOGNITION TO DOMINANCE: THE NEW YORK CONNECTING RAILROAD (BRIDGING THE BAY AND CONNECTING THE PIECES) by George Chiasson (Continued from February, 2017 issue) Much like the Pennsylvania, the New York Central’s when both operations were extended to Yonkers. At the Manhattan trackage was but a small part of a huge rail- same time, the Central began using a temporary side way system that was regional and national in scope, so terminal for its electric MU services at Lexington Avenue its electrification was to be limited from the start only to in Manhattan, set in place to stage some of its opera- those lines directly feeding into Grand Central (namely tions during the expansive, multi-year construction of the Hudson and Harlem Divisions) and their contiguous the elaborate replacement terminal at Grand Central commutation zones, with the more conventional method itself. Local MU service on the Hudson Line was then of steam propulsion continuing to be applied beyond extended incrementally, with through trains being re- New York’s outer reaches. In turn this resulted in the powered by steam at each interim electric terminal as construction of two big power generating stations (one the third rail advanced northward — to Glenwood in at Port Morris in the Bronx, another at Kingsbridge in 1910 and Tarrytown in 1911. Electrification of the Hud- Yonkers) that fed 11,000 volts of alternating current to son Division was then completed when the new Grand several wayside substations at 25 Hz, where in turn it Central Terminal entered service in early February of was converted to 660 volts of direct current for the third 1913, at which time the third rail and local MU service rail. Also like the Long Island Rail Road, the Central reached Croton (later known as “Croton-North”), while sought to employ trains of electric multiple-unit cars for the motive power change for regional and long-distance its local service, and developed a custom-built series of trains was relocated to its permanent locale at nearby electric locomotives to haul its longer-distance passen- Harmon (née Croton-Harmon), where a huge shop ger trains through the electrified terminal zone. On Sep- complex was also established. tember 30, 1906 the first electric motor train (locomotive As can be discerned, the New York, New Haven & and coaches) made a special press run along the Hud- Hartford was thus left to its own devices in electrifying son Line from the Highbridge station in the Bronx (169th its pathway into Grand Central, but had to accomplish Street) to Grand Central, with scheduled operation then this objective in compliance with the New York State anticipated for a November start-up. Steel MUs were mandate while simultaneously working around the New finally placed in local revenue service between these York Central’s operational requirements. It was also points on December 11, then on the Harlem Line as far necessary to factor in its own needs for longer-term cor- as the Wakefield station at the Bronx-Westchester porate growth through the most advanced, economical, boundary effective January 28, 1907 and to Mount and productive means available. Whereas the latter Vernon (West) on February 13. At that time the use of qualities took precedence (and owing to some ongoing electric locomotives was concurrently started on the legal ramifications at that particular time), the company through trains traveling both branches, with a motive took immediate and decisive action to pursue a course power change being made for continuance farther north of dual electrification which involved requisite use of the (and vice versa for south) at both Mount Vernon (West) New York Central’s d.c. third rail system inside that por- and Highbridge. This operation was briefly suspended tion of its overall route and an overhead catenary sys- after a serious accident between Botanical Garden (i.e. tem once on its own rails, powered by alternating cur- “Bedford Park”) and Williamsbridge just three days later rent (a.c.). To briefly review its prior experience in this that claimed 22 lives and was blamed on a pilot truck domain, the New Haven owned an extensive stable of design flaw in the otherwise reliable “S” motors. Never- local streetcar and regional trolley systems across New theless all Harlem Division trains were electrified in op- England, many of which were utilizing overhead wire eration to Grand Central at the end of that April, with the electrifications from an early date (the first around Hudson Line following suit by July 1, well in advance of 1890). In 1895 it tried the use of a similar system with the legal mandate. some measure of success on its summer-oriented rail- The operation of Harlem Line locals was finally ex- way branch to Nantasket Beach and Hull south of Bos- tended from Mount Vernon (West) to North White Plains ton, and then implemented a crude form of third rail in March of 1910 (and there the third rail would end for electrification (coined “rapid transit”) on local service 74 more years), with the motive power change on the concentric to the Hartford area starting in 1896. Neither Harlem Line’s through trains simultaneously moved to of these methods were seriously considered as a long- White Plains. On the Hudson Division, through trains to er-term, longer-distance solution to the New Haven’s Harmon, Peekskill, Poughkeepsie, and beyond contin- quest for total operational efficiency owing to their asso- ued to be hauled by “S” motors as far as Highbridge, ciated cost and infrastructure requirements, but unin- while local service terminated there until April, 1908, (Continued on page 3) 2 ERA BULLETIN — MARCH, 2017 From Recognition to Dominance upon the New Haven’s actual experience through the years with trolley wire anchored on plain wooden poles (Continued from page 2) that were exposed to difficult weather environments.