BULLETIN - JUNE, 2013 Bulletin Electric Railroaders’ Association, Incorporated Vol
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The ERA BULLETIN - JUNE, 2013 Bulletin Electric Railroaders’ Association, Incorporated Vol. 56, No. 6 June, 2013 The Bulletin MANHATTAN RAILWAY ELECTRIFICATION Published by the Electric COMPLETED 110 YEARS AGO Railroaders’ Association, Incorporated, PO Box 3323, New York, New York 10163-3323. At the turn of the 20th century, most transit was tested on Sixth Avenue, transporting a systems were converting to electric traction, train with 192 invited guests from Rector to th For general inquiries, but Manhattan Railway was still operating 58 Streets in 19 minutes. contact us at bulletin@ reliable little Forney steam locomotives. The Compressed air locomotives were also test- erausa.org or by phone company’s officials were reluctant to experi- ed on the Second Avenue Elevated. On Oc- at (212) 986-4482 (voice ment with the new invention—electricity. tober 27, 1881, four cars weighing 81 tons in mail available). ERA’s Meanwhile, several inventors were testing a train propelled by a compressed air loco- website is www.erausa.org. electric motor devices on Manhattan Rail- motive were able to keep to their schedule way’s lines. On August 27, 1885 the first while operating from Harlem to South Ferry, Editorial Staff: electric train ran on the Ninth Avenue’s mid- with the air pressure diminishing from 600 Editor-in-Chief: dle track between 14th and 50th Streets. Dur- PSI to 195 PSI en route. On September 1, Bernard Linder News Editor: ing intervening years, several such test trains 1897 a five-car train with a load representa- Randy Glucksman were then operated. Before making a perma- tive of 100 passengers per car compared the Contributing Editor: nent installation the company also experi- performance of steam to compressed air. Jeffrey Erlitz mented with other alternatives, including Both of these engines failed the test; they compressed air. were unable to keep to the schedule. Production Manager: David Ross On October 8, 1896 an electric car operat- On November 21, 1900, the first multiple- th ed on the 34 Street Branch. This car re- unit electric train was operated on Second ceived power from a 400-volt third rail and a Avenue between 65th and 92nd Streets. This 256-cell battery which furnished part of the train, which used the Sprague system of starting current, boosted its input on hills and “M.U.” operation, had a motor car at each ©2013 Electric equalized the load overall, being charged as end and four trailers between. After watching Railroaders’ the car was running at full speed on level this test, management decided to electrify the Association, track. This test car, which was equipped with entire system at a cost of $5 million. two 125 HP motors, was 18 feet long, 8 feet On December 30, 1901, electric trains start- high at the center, and two feet high at the ed operating regularly on Second Avenue In This Issue: ends. It continued running for several between South Ferry and 129th Street every The Long Island months. day from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Three other trains Rail Road Eyes In 1897 the company decided to test com- were also scheduled to operate during the Manhattan pressed air motive power, operating a five- same hours until officials were satisfied with (Continued) car train so outfitted on the Sixth Avenue Line their performance. These tests must have between Rector and 58th Streets. It was able been acceptable, as electrification then pro- ...Page 2 to run for 13 minutes without recharging. To ceeded rapidly. provide an adequate supply of compressed The April, 1913 IRT Bulletin published the air, a 230 HP compressor was installed into following information regarding the transition the equipment at 100 Greenwich Street. On from steam to electric propulsion: August 19, 1897 a compound air locomotive (Continued on page 6) NEXT TRIP: GRAND CENTRAL 1TOUR — SATURDAY, JUNE 29 NEW YORKERA DIVISION BULLETIN BULLETIN - JUNE, OCTOBER, 2013 2000 THE GENESIS OF “DASHING DAN” Part Two—The Long Island Rail Road Eyes Manhattan by George Chiasson (Continued from May, 2013 issue) A RIDE ALONG THE “MAIN LINE” IN grade crossing, where future divergence of the “New QUEENS…IN 1907 York Connecting Railroad” was projected; a connection Starting on a trip across the Main Line in Queens dur- that would someday transform a small piece of the Long ing 1907 (let’s say late summer—September perhaps), Island Rail Road into part of the national railway system steam-powered LIRR trains slowly negotiated their way via PRR’s Northeast Corridor. out of the very active Long Island City terminal and Between Gosman Avenue, in this neighborhood called wound past “Tower One,” a small but imposing edifice “Sunnyside” for its spectacular morning vistas of Man- th th right by Borden Avenue that oversaw the Montauk Junc- hattan, and 7 (now 60 ) Street in Woodside, the train’s tion divergence of the former Southern Railroad main wheels emitted a perceptible squeal among its ongoing line (known in 2013 as the Montauk Secondary). The staccato rhythm, as the LIRR Main Line attained a pro- tower building in use at that time had opened in Novem- nounced southward arc of about 90 degrees. It crossed ber, 1904 as a replacement for the original that dated Woodside Avenue en route (location of Tower 33, later from 20 years earlier and oversaw an incredible jigsaw “DW”) and rose onto a curving embankment that of switch work laid across the ground. After entering a passed through the street grid of Woodside village. This grade-level reservation to cross 3rd, 4th, and 5th Streets, ended at the Long Island Rail Road station “off Riker th th the line next encountered Hunters Point Avenue, where Avenue between 4 and 5 Streets,” its depot building the surviving Tower 30 (also opened in 1884) stood sen- situated on the former New York & Flushing (northerly) try at North Shore Junction. This was where the twin side of the right-of-way. This was also where the lead to main tracks out of Long Island City were joined by two the Woodside Branch, or what remained of the former more that emanated from LIRR’s freight spur, which Flushing & Woodside main line by 1907, swung north- was originally the Flushing & North Side main line, and eastward at Tower 34 (“Woodside Junction.”) The 4- entered the Sunnyside Yard construction area. There track right-of-way from there crossed the intersection of th the new right-of-way was already starting to take Riker & 5 at grade, then Woodside Avenue (again), shape—of sufficient width to hold a dozen or more and entered a gradual, east-by-northward reverse curve tracks in some places including yard leads; eight mains of 135 degrees, which was beset with no less than 11 to be used by PRR and LIRR tunnel trains and just two more grade crossings. This included a pair of serving LIRR into Long Island City. The new line then “compound” crossings at Greenpoint & Thomson Ave- rd widened to ten tracks across at Thomson Avenue be- nues (now Queens Boulevard & 63 Street) and Fisk th th fore narrowing to eight again at Harold Avenue (later Avenue & Monroe Street (now 69 Street & 48 Ave- 39th Street), then to six as it reached Laurel Hill Avenue nue), with virtually all being cross-angular and residen- (later 43rd Street), but in September, 1907 the four ac- tial in nature, before the alignment straightened out tive tracks remained at-grade and followed their original again at Winfield Junction. When the railroad was built alignment along the westerly edge of the Sunnyside the area surrounding this section was rather sleepy in Yard site. This was a line that had once been quite liter- nature, but it had since developed rapidly and by 1907 ally choked with grade crossings, some 43 in all be- was heavily populated and fraught with hazard, as well tween Borden and Woodside Avenues as it reached as costly to operate given that each of these crossings maturity by the late 1880s. Most were already closed for required a tender at all times. In concert with the City of yard construction by this time (the original LIRR Main New York’s thoroughfare initiative and as part of its own Line would eventually shape the northerly perimeter of preparations for the anticipated operational intensity the new complex along Jackson Avenue), but as the associated with the Pennsylvania Tunnel & Terminal train climbed a mild grade behind the Queens County project, LIRR took action to mitigate this difficult envi- courthouse to the “Stone House curve” (where signal ronment in 1909 by designing the “Woodside-Winfield station “CU” was located), the engine’s whistle was cut-off,” an entirely new “pre-packaged” and grade sep- blowing loudly for those that remained: Nott, Thomson, arated right-of-way across what was at that time and Skillman Avenues; Van Dam and Honeywell sparsely settled land to the north. As part of the same Streets; and Harold Avenue. After next crossing Laurel impetus, the city expanded or converted several local Hill Avenue (and generating another whistle blast), the streets into a contiguous Queens Boulevard, and con- tracks began to gradually descend toward the westerly structed Roosevelt Avenue from scratch to support the edge of Woodside and came to the Gosman Avenue (Continued on page 3) 2 ERA BULLETIN - JUNE, 2013 The Genesis of “Dashing Dan” ca depot at Church (153rd) Street, which consisted of six tracks served by five platforms. Then as now all trains (Continued from page 2) routinely paused at Jamaica to exchange passengers new IRT elevated rapid transit line (now 7) to Corona.