June 2015 ERA Bulletin.Pub
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The ERA BULLETIN - JUNE, 2015 Bulletin Electric Railroaders’ Association, Incorporated Vol. 58, No. 6 June, 2015 The Bulletin UNIFICATION ACCOMPLISHED 75 YEARS AGO Published by the Electric In the 1930s, New York City’s rapid transit other officials rode the last train from Rocka- Railroaders’ Association, lines were operated by two privately-owned way Avenue. At Unification, Fulton Street “L” Incorporated, PO Box 3323, New York, New companies, Interborough Rapid Transit Com- service was discontinued from Park Row and York 10163-3323. pany (IRT) and Brooklyn-Manhattan Transit Fulton Ferry to Rockaway Avenue, where Corporation (BMT). The Independent City paper transfers were issued from the A Owned System (IND) was City-owned and – train, which terminated there, to the Fulton For general inquiries, operated. IRT was bankrupt and BMT was contact us at bulletin@ Street “L” that continued running to Lefferts erausa.org . ERA’s solvent. Avenue. The first transfer was issued to website is John F. Hylan, who was the Mayor of New George Horn, who was later President of the www.erausa.org . York City from 1918 to 1925, was a foe of the ERA. Fifth Avenue “L” service was discontin- “traction interests” (see April, 2015 issue). He ued from the junction with the Myrtle Avenue Editorial Staff: th Editor-in-Chief : favored municipal operation and he believed “L” east of Navy Street to 65 Street and Bernard Linder he could give better service while retaining Third Avenue. Tri-State News and the five-cent fare. During his term in office, During another ceremony at Times Square, Commuter Rail Editor : the Board of Transportation planned and the city acquired BMT. Mayor LaGuardia Ronald Yee started building the Eighth Avenue Subway. North American and World drove the train a short distance. He handed News Editor: Several years later, city officials started over the controls to the Motorman, who drove Alexander Ivanoff negotiating to purchase IRT and BMT. The the train to Borough Hall and retired after 41 Contributing Editor: city was anxious to acquire BMT’s profitable years of service. Jeffrey Erlitz rapid transit lines, but was reluctant to buy At noon June 1, 1940, the Mayor, city offi- Production Manager: the unprofitable surface lines. But BMT offi- cials, members of the Transit Commission, David Ross cials were stubborn; they refused to sell a and security holders met at City Hall in the portion of the system. They explained that Council Chamber. The security holders re- most BMT substations supplied power to rap- ceived the final payment of $147 million in ©2015 Electric id transit and trolley lines. If there were two Railroaders’ city bonds. Directors of Williamsburg Power Association, different operators, the accounting for the Company, South Brooklyn Railway Company, Incorporated maintenance and the power would have and New York Rapid Transit Company re- been complicated and confusing. It was quite signed and four city officials were named Di- obvious that the city would have to purchase rectors for the purpose of dissolving the com- the entire BMT system. panies. An agreement was finally reached and Uni- Just before abandonment, light Compo- In This Issue: fication was scheduled for June 1. There sites were transferred from the Third Avenue Rails Under the were two separate ceremonies, abandon- “L” via South Ferry to the Ninth Avenue “L” River Revisited ments, and schedule changes—June 1 for for shuttle service between 155 th Street and — the Hudson BMT and June 12 for IRT. Burnside Avenue. Because the Ninth Avenue & Manhattan Two special trains operated on the Fulton structure was flimsy, Composites were never Street “L” on May 31 just before midnight. allowed there. Fortunately, the structure was (continued) Civic organizations rode the first train and still standing after they passed. …Page 2 Borough President Cashmore and other offi- When municipal operation of IRT began on cials rode the second train to Rockaway Ave- June 12, 1940, the Ninth Avenue “L” was nue, where a large crowd saw Mayor abandoned from South Ferry to 155th Street LaGuardia accept BMT. Then the Mayor and (Continued on page 4) NEXT TRIP: DANBURY RAILWAY1 MUSEUM, SUNDAY, AUGUST 30 NEW YORKERA DIVISION BULLETIN—JUNE, BULLETIN OCTOBER, 2015 2000 RAILS UNDER THE RIVER REVISITED — THE HUDSON & MANHATTAN by George Chiasson (Continued from May, 2015 issue) MCADOO’S UNIQUE ROLLING STOCK ed, carborated (scuffed) composite floor surface that By the start of 1907 the Hudson & Manhattan was fi- resembled cement (another first in fireproofing technolo- nally developing the desired rolling stock for its new gy), while the interior was ventilated through panels in venture, with the company’s engineering staff agonizing the clerestory and illuminated by a row of incandescent over their costly technological development in a manner lamps mounted in the ceiling. Being rapid transit cars as similar to that suffered by IRT. Primarily, they were guid- opposed to pure railway rolling stock, the Hudson & ed by the limited clearances within the surviving seg- Manhattan’s initial fleet reflected other industry stand- ments of the original tubes, as duplicated and expanded ards as they then applied, with Van Dorn couplers, elec- throughout. There was in addition a preference that they trical jumper lines and sets of mechanical (“Armstrong”) be capable of much peppier dwell performance than levers to operate the end and center doors, both of that exhibited by their various New York City rapid trans- which were pneumatic in nature, as well as a system of it brethren, while also being of a comparatively lighter rotating colored lenses to enable train routing identifica- weight in deference to what were perceived as steep tion. Mechanically and electrically the H&M Class “A” grades associated with the under-river tunnels. These cars were typical of their time, being equipped after de- requirements in turn dictated the incorporation of a cen- livery with a “Type M” propulsion system from Sprague- ter (otherwise known as a “side”) door to mitigate hu- General Electric that provided semi-automatic accelera- man congestion during station stops, which was then tion (as was the case with the earlier IRT motors) and not considered possible if the heavy-duty, modular fram- two General Electric #76 traction motors rated at 160 ing espoused by the “Gibbs Car” were employed. What horsepower each. These were patterned after a similar, emerged, largely through the efforts of a design team but weightier type common to the Manhattan Elevated led by Consulting Engineer Louis B. Stillwell, was an all- (the General Electric #66), with both mounted in the steel body with a clerestory sharply protruding from its MCB-supplied truck beneath the cars’ #1 end while that roof in so-called “top hat” profile. These “new Steel Cars at the opposite extremity acted as a trailer. of the Hudson Companies” (as they were coined by the A grand total of fifty such cars were ordered from two industry press) measured 48 feet 3 inches in overall builders, with the first ten (200-209) to be produced by length, 8 feet 10 inches in width at the platform edges, Pressed Steel near Pittsburgh and the balance of 40 and 12 feet in height with a nominal weight of 32 tons. (210-249) by American Car & Foundry, probably at the Structurally the bodies were fabricated in seven seg- former Jackson & Sharp works in Wilmington, Dela- ments of approximately 6 feet 9 inches each that were ware. By this time both companies were gaining experi- divided by a center door opening of 3 feet 8 inches. This ence in the practical (and at the time cutting-edge) sci- drastic modification to known steel car body construc- ence of steel railway car building, thanks in part to the tion required the inclusion of reinforced main sill mem- Pennsylvania Railroad’s overarching requirements as- bers to transfer the center weight burden through the sociated with its New York Terminal project, and the framing, while slim steel ribbing was affixed onto the ACF firm was actually building a plant aimed specifically outer surface of the cars’ otherwise thin side sheets, at employing this emerging technology in “nearby” Ber- which yielded a visual appearance similar to vertical wick, Pennsylvania. Whereas H&M was expected to be “fluting.” As such H&M’s “Class A” cars (as they came to incomplete when the first cars arrived, McAdoo made be known in time), were the first “modular” steel cars to arrangements to have the newly-completed bodies de- have a middle door built into their structure, and just the livered by railroad to the New York, New Haven & Hart- second steel rapid transit car to employ a center door at ford’s Harlem River Terminal in the South Bronx. Abet- all, closely following the “Easy-Access” model of 1906 ted by the Interborough Rapid Transit Company (most that rapid transit properties in Boston and Philadelphia notably help from George Gibbs or Frank Hedley, per- had embraced. haps both) the incomplete cars were towed from that Their window sash line had an arched contour, being location to be marshaled at the 99 th Street Yard of the paired above common channel beams that served as a Manhattan Elevated’s Third Avenue “L.” From there they system of “split” sills (belt and floor level) between the were forwarded to the IRT Company’s 129 th Street end and center doorways. A single, narrower arched Shops to be outfitted with their trucks, motors, and con- window sash then transitioned to the end vestibules, trol systems before road testing proceeded along the each of which extended 3 feet 2 inches feet in depth. Second Avenue “L,” the strongest elevated structure. Seating to accommodate 44 persons was arranged en- Here it should be noted that H&M’s earliest rolling stock tirely in longitudinal fashion (complete with fireproof weighed in at about 69,500 pounds, which was some cushions), capped by a folding Motorman’s cab on the right-hand side at each end.