BULLETIN - SEPTEMBER, 2014 Bulletin Electric Railroaders’ Association, Incorporated Vol
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The ERA BULLETIN - SEPTEMBER, 2014 Bulletin Electric Railroaders’ Association, Incorporated Vol. 57, No. 9 September, 2014 The Bulletin BMT JAMAICA LINE SKIP-STOP SERVICE BEGAN 55 Published by the Electric YEARS AGO Railroaders’ Association, Incorporated, PO Box Since trains started running to Jamaica, STATION DESIGNA- STATION DESIGNA- 3323, New York, New they have been making local stops between TION TION York 10163-3323. their eastern (railroad northern) terminal and th Eastern Parkway on the BMT Jamaica Line, 111 Street A Van Siclen B For general inquiries, which was built as a two-track line. In 1959, Avenue contact us at bulletin@ NYC Transit decided to speed up service and nd erausa.org. ERA’s attract additional passengers by operating 102 Street B Alabama B website is Avenue www.erausa.org. skip-stop service in the morning rush. Effec- tive June 18, 1959, #15 AM rush hour ex- Editorial Staff: presses operating from 168th Street to Broad Woodhaven A Eastern AB Boulevard Parkway Editor-in-Chief: Street were designated “A” trains. They Bernard Linder Tri-State News and saved four minutes by stopping only at sta- Commuter Rail Editor: tions displaying yellow “A” signs between Effective November 27, 1967, AM rush hour Ronald Yee 168th Street and Eastern Parkway. #14 AM “A” expresses were designated QJ and “B” North American and World rush hour locals operating from 168th Street locals were designated KK. PM rush hour QJ News Editor: th Alexander Ivanoff to Canal Street were designated “B” trains. trains made all stops to 168 Street and KK Contributing Editor: They saved three minutes by stopping only at trains ran alternating to Crescent Street and Jeffrey Erlitz stations displaying green “B” signs between Canarsie. 168th Street and Eastern Parkway. Evening Effective July 1, 1968, during AM and PM Production Manager: rush hour locals operated alternating to Cres- rush hours, QJ and KK trains provided skip- David Ross cent Street and Canarsie. The following sta- stop service in the direction of heavy traffic. th tions were designated “A” or “B” stations: KK service from 168 Street was rerouted to ©2014 Electric 57th Street-Sixth Avenue. Evening rush hour Railroaders’ STATION DESIGNA- STATION DESIGNA- skip-stop service was discontinued on July Association, TION TION 14, 1969 because passengers complained Incorporated that they became confused and missed their 168th Street AB Forest Park- A way station. On January 2, 1973, rush hour KK service In This Issue: th Toward 160 Street B Elderts Lane AB (renamed K) was cut back to Eastern Park- way and J trains made AM rush hour “A” and Underground Sutphin AB Cypress B th Boulevard Hills “B” stops from 168 Street to Eastern Park- (and way at the following stations, which are differ- Underwater) Queens B Crescent A ent from the original skip-stop stations: Boulevard Street Rolling Stock (Continued on page 4) (Continued) Metropolitan B Norwood B Avenue Avenue ...Page 2 121st Street A Cleveland A Street NEXT TRIP: METRO-NORTH/NJ TRANSIT PORT1 JERVIS RIDE, SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 8 NEW YORKERA BULLETINDIVISION BULLETIN - SEPTEMBER, OCTOBER, 2014 2000 TOWARD UNDERGROUND (AND UNDERWATER) ROLLING STOCK: THE ALL-STEEL REVOLUTION by George Chiasson (Continued from July, 2014 issue) FROM DUBIOUS TO UBIQUITOUS, PART pockets as on the MP-41, and were controlled through THREE: DEVELOPMENT OF THE LONG ISLAND the same “armstrong” (manually-operated) lever assem- RAIL ROAD’S MP-54 ELECTRIC “M.U.” bly. Also like the MP-41 (and unlike the P-53 prototype), Like many aspects of the Long Island Rail Road’s op- overall vestibule height in the new (M)P-54 coach was eration, the beginnings of the MP-54, that ever- uniform to the cabin floor, with fixed steel steps and encompassing, “signature” electric multiple-unit car for traps included for use at high- and low-level platforms. most of its long service history, can be traced to its in- These were fronted by a standard railway-type “MCB” herent entanglement with what became Pennsylvania coupler, which precluded any kind of interconnectivity Station in Manhattan. In addition to the application of its with the MP-41s as they had rapid transit-type Van Dorn advanced car body construction techniques in the de- couplers as built, while the steel “pilot” was affixed to velopment of a long-distance coach, the Pennsylvania the leading edge of each truck frame instead of the car also considered the addition of a smaller, secondary body as they had been on the MP-41. The uniformly design that was more applicable to its lighter and medi- high vestibule ceiling was intended to provide sufficient um-sized routes, as based upon the (then incomplete) headroom for an operating cab if desired, a potential P-53 prototype rather than the P-58. Its reduced size that brought about the cars’ most unique characteristic, thus created a “suburban” coach that would be able to that of its famed “porthole” end vestibule windows. operate in older, unrefined, and sometimes more re- These were positioned significantly above those of the strictive environments than the full-size model, sur- standard coach to grant a Motorman’s field of vision, roundings that could potentially include branch lines, though of a noticeably smaller size than the IRT- tunnels, in-street trackage, and even interurban sys- inspired dimensions applied to the MP-41. Their tems. The interesting result of this initiative was a car “circular” character was an anonymous Pennsylvania that was slightly longer than the P-53 prototype (a cabin Railroad structural engineer’s means of maintaining length of 54 feet 6 inches as compared to 53 feet 9¼ strength in the relatively thin steel end walls, as applied inches, and an overall length of 64 feet 5¾ inches over- against a greater effort to reduce the cars’ total weight. all as compared to 62 feet 5¾ inches); was markedly Sadly, the MP-54s (like all early steel equipment) were lighter (90,000 pounds vs. 95,400); and could seat 72 not built with anti-climbers but rather had “buffers” at the passengers as opposed to the P-53’s capacity of 64, floor line and rather superficial 5-inch collision posts, a also doing so in a more traditional fashion than its MP- factor that would come into play many years later when 41 predecessor through the employment of transverse they were involved in a tragic series of fatal accidents 2-by-2 “flip-over” seats provided by Hale & Kilburn. So and were roundly criticized for their lack of built-in im- was born the (M)P-54 coach, whose neo-modular steel pact protection. body consisted of seven total sections, five across its For better or worse, the (M)P-54’s modular makeup middle that were about 9 feet in length and one at each and its clear focus on the realities of railroad operations end of approximately 4½ feet apiece. It was all built on (read: greater seating capacity) would also force its a central sill member attached to cantilevered steel complete divorce from compatibility with prevailing rapid framing that was intended to redirect the strains of mo- transit specifications of the time. As built it took on far tion away from the cars’ end doors and side structure. too much size (with a standard platform width of 9 feet Altogether, the segmented window sash was grouped in 10⅛ inches) and excessive mass (a weight of 107,000 a 1+3+3+3+3+3+1 configuration and graced with cur- pounds for the motorized version) to navigate the sub- tains along the top. Outside they were accented by a ways and elevateds then in use. In practical terms this letterboard of moderate width, contained under an alu- may have been a final nail in the coffin (so to speak) for minum, canvas-skinned “railroad” roof that included a what limited potential of joint IRT/LIRR service there ventilation-grated clerestory. The fully-enclosed vesti- was after 1908. Given that the (M)P-54 represented one bules were slightly larger than those on the P-53 proto- of several standardized rolling stock designs that were type, on this primary (M)P-54 version being separated to be deployed throughout the railroad, its adaptation to from the passenger cabin by sliding “French” doors as the lines of PRR-subject Long Island Rail Road (in both on the MP-41. To provide for its potential service on electric and non-electric form) was a natural expecta- high-density (rapid-transit type) routes the main vesti- tion. This was a matter of special urgency by late 1907 bule doors were designed to slide horizontally into wall (Continued on page 3) 2 ERA BULLETIN - SEPTEMBER, 2014 Toward Underground (and Underwater) Rolling ● Flatbush Avenue to Queens (Village) via Jamaica. Stock Also Belmont Park Specials ● Flatbush Avenue to Flatbush Avenue via (Continued from page 2) Woodhaven Junction, Hammels, Far Rockaway, with LIRR’s electrification still growing, as well as the Valley Stream, Old Southern Road, Beaver Street, startup of its service to the Pennsylvania Terminal fairly and Woodhaven Junction imminent. As such the fabrication of a “prototype” per se ● Flatbush Avenue to Flatbush Avenue via was considered unnecessary, and the very first batch of Woodhaven Junction, Beaver Street, Old Southern 30 "MP-54s" were mass produced by American Car & Road, Valley Stream, Far Rockaway, Hammels, and Foundry as part of the earliest order filed in the middle Woodhaven Junction of 1907. Deliveries of these standardized, electric sub- ● Flatbush Avenue to Hempstead via Jamaica and urban motor cars commenced in November, 1908 to Floral Park. some acclaim owing to their slightly elegant interiors LIRR next procured 20 motorized “MP-54A’s” (1401- (which included “electrolier” overhead lighting) as com- 20) from ACF in 1909, which in a manner similar to the pared to subway trains or the MP-41s.