BULLETIN - JANUARY, 2009 Bulletin New York Division, Electric Railroaders’ Association Vol
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TheNEW YORK DIVISION BULLETIN - JANUARY, 2009 Bulletin New York Division, Electric Railroaders’ Association Vol. 52, No. 1 January, 2009 The Bulletin THIRD AVENUE RAILWAY CONVERTIBLE Published by the New CENTENNIAL York Division, Electric CENTENNIAL Railroaders’ Association, For many years, street railways had been power from overhead trolley in the Bronx and Incorporated, PO Box 3001, New York, New operating two fleets — open cars in the sum- underground conduit in Manhattan. York 10008-3001. mer and closed cars during the rest of the We do not know when the straight side con- year. To help them reduce expenses, the car vertibles were transferred from Manhattan to builders produced a car that could be oper- the Bronx or Yonkers, but we have a fairly For general inquiries, ated all year. It was a car whose windows complete record of the cars transferred to contact us at nydiv@ electricrailroaders.org were removed in the summer. Steinway lines: or by phone at (212) Brooklyn Rapid Transit ordered 500 cars in DATE CAR NUMBERS 986-4482 (voice mail 1905-6 and Third Avenue followed in 1909, a available). ERA’s hundred years ago, with its great fleet of 400 September 5, 1922 1-25 website is convertibles. June 30, 1926 1-30 www.electricrailroaders. org. They were placed in service on the follow- June 30, 1927 1-33 ing Manhattan lines: Editorial Staff: December 31, 1928 1-36 DATE LINE Editor-in-Chief: June 30, 1930 17-34 Bernard Linder January 10, 1909 Third & Amsterdam Avenues News Editor: December 31, 1930 1-23 (A) Randy Glucksman May 5, 1909 Broadway Contributing Editor: June 30, 1934 1-15 May 17, 1909 125th Street Crosstown Jeffrey Erlitz December 31, 1934 1-10 June 4, 1909 Broadway, Amsterdam Avenue & th Production Manager: 125 Street (A) Cars 1-23 transferred to Kingsbridge in the spring of David Ross September 12, 1909 Tenth Avenue 1931. Cars 11-23 remained there after December, 1934. When Steinway Street was converted to 1909 (date N/A) 42nd Street Crosstown bus in November, 1939, cars 1-8 and 12 The cross seats in the convertibles were were transferred to West Farms and were more comfortable than the longitudinal seats usually operated on 138th Street and St. ©2009 New York Anns Avenue. Cars 9-1 and 13-23 were Division, Electric in the older cars. When screens replaced the Railroaders’ windows in the summer, the convertibles transferred to Kingsbridge. Association, were just as airy as the open cars. CARS 25-57 Incorporated When they were delivered, straight side We do not know when these cars were transferred to Yonkers, but we know that they In This Issue: cars 1-100 and curved side cars 851-1125 were all assigned to the Manhattan lines were operated on lines #1, 2, 3, and 4 from Brooklyn’s listed above. Most of the curved side con- 1931 until the 300-series cars replaced them Modern Trolley vertibles remained in Manhattan until they in 1938. When they were converted to one- Cars were scrapped. But 884-93 and 967-94 were man in 1931, treadles were not installed and the rear door was not opened. However, we ...Page 2 transferred to the Bronx, probably in the mid- 1920s.They were operated on 149th Street saw a Dispatcher insert a key outside and Crosstown and Willis Avenue, which received (Continued on page 3) 1 NEW YORK DIVISION BULLETIN - OCTOBER,JANUARY, 20002009 BROOKLYN’S MODERN TROLLEY CARS THE LAST WORD IN PASSENGER COMFORT by Bernard Linder In 1936, BMT issued a booklet describing the PCCs steel rail. The car was equipped with newly developed that were placed in service. In this article, we will pub- types of electrical control and braking apparatus to in- lish excerpts from this booklet. sure a smooth but rapid rate of acceleration and decel- As part of its program of modernizing its street car eration. As a result of these features, the PCCs were lines, the Brooklyn & Queens Transit Corporation made quiet, smooth, and speedy. Tests proved that it was the an initial purchase of 100 PCCs. These cars were smoothest riding vehicle on New York City’s streets. placed in operation on the Smith-Coney Island, McDon- Several features provided greater passenger comfort. ald-Vanderbilt, and Erie Basin trolley lines in 1936 and Form-fitted leather seats, with ample knee space be- 1937. These cars were purchased because street cars tween, were all arranged to face forward. Improved indi- — especially PCCs — had certain inherent advantages rect lighting eliminated glare and shadows, but provided for transporting large numbers of people. high intensity of light at the proper plane for reading. Purchase of new cars was only one phase of B&QT’s Ventilation and heating were controlled automatically. To modernization plan. Modern well-maintained track rails conserve power, hot air from the resistors was used to are necessary for comfortable, rapid operation. This heat the car. A new type of door — “blinker doors” — type of roadway, with steel track rails embedded in con- rotated to the side instead of springing back into the crete, which was installed along Prospect Park West stepwell. Two low steps at the entrance and exit made it between Union Street and 15th Street, illustrated the easier to board and alight. Wide windows with narrow latest development in street railway construction. sash provided maximum vision for the passengers. The Modern loading platforms, which were installed at modern design included satin-finished stainless steel for Livingston and Bond Streets, promoted more efficient interior fittings — window frames, seat frames, and movement of heavy vehicular traffic. The platform, with stanchions. For the convenience, comfort, and safety of the sidewalk cut-back adjacent to it, allowed uninter- passengers standing or walking in the car, a stanchion rupted flow of vehicles past the platform while a street was attached to each seat on one side of the car. car was stopped there. It provided a safety island for THREE BRAKING SYSTEMS pedestrians and passengers boarding or alighting from The three braking systems blended into a smooth cars. functioning unit automatically controlled by the single STATISTICS brake pedal. The first was a dynamic brake system in The PCCs were front-entrance, center-exit cars, which the motors were used to retard the movement of equipped with passimeters for fare collection. They the car. The second was the magnetic track brakes, were 46 feet long, 8 feet 4 inches wide, and 10 feet high which were connected to the battery, which insured their from rail to the top of the roof. Seating capacity was 59. operation whether or not power was supplied to the mo- Each car weighed 33,000 pounds. Four 55-horsepower tors. These brakes operated directly on the rail and pro- motors and the control equipment were designed to vided a retarding drag in addition to that secured provide acceleration as high a 4¾ miles per hour per through the wheels of approximately 1½ times the second. The braking system was designed to provide weight of the car. The track brakes were located be- an emergency braking rate of 8 to 9 miles per hour per tween each pair of wheels. Your Editor-in-Chief’s super- second from a speed of 20 miles per hour and a normal visor told him that the track brakes were disconnected or service braking rate of 4¾ miles per hour per second. because they wore out the track rail at the trolley stops. To determine the maximum comfortable rate of accel- Air brakes, with brake shoes on the wheels of the car, eration, the company conducted tests in the Ninth Ave- were the third brake system. They were used to spot nue Depot. Your Editor-in-Chief’s supervisor rode in a the car at the exact point the operator intended to stop car, which was loaded with sandbags and was operated the car. The pressure of the operator’s foot on the brake with different rates of acceleration. When the test was pedal set the braking sequence in motion automatically completed, he decided that 4 miles per hour per second to provide a smooth stop. was the maximum comfortable rate of acceleration. QUIET OPERATION PASSENGER COMFORT The PCCs were quiet because the impacts and The PCCs were the last word in passenger comfort. shocks were eliminated by the generous use of rubber The body was mounted on rubber springs and the and by designing precision parts. There were no loose- wheels had rubber cores, which insulated the axles fitting parts to clang against each other. The noise of the against vibration. The car operated on the smoothest motor transmission was eliminated by using hypoid roadway engineering science had developed — the (Continued on page 3) 2 NEW YORK DIVISION BULLETIN - JANUARY, 2009 Brooklyn’s Modern Trolley Cars would stop. The other pedals supplied power or set the brakes. The operator varied the speed of the car or the (Continued from page 2) rate of braking by the pressure applied to either pedal. gears, an advanced type of spiral bevel gear especially The new control equipment had 100 notches between designed for the PCCs. Rubber was used in the springs low and high, compared with 10 points on the older that supported the base of the trolley pole on the car cars. Therefore, the speed of the car could be imper- roof. It was also used in the window channels to prevent ceptibly increased to maximum or decreased to a full rattling of the frame against the casing. Over 400 stop. pounds of pure rubber were used in each car.