VINTAGE NEW YORK CITY TROLLEYS

HERE ARE TWO LINKS FROM LADY SUNSHINE REGARDING OLD NYC TROLLEYS AND TRANSIT.
THERE ARE A TON OF PHOTOS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

http://davesrailpix.railfan.net/nyc/nyc.htm#woo woo woo

http://davesrailpix.railfan.net/nyc/brook.htm

 

It's a shame that trolleys had to go, but in this day and age in New York, the traffic is beyond ones worst nightmare! They would only hinder traffic and pedestrians.
But a guy I know is trying to bring back a trolley loop into Downtown Brooklyn. (I think he was mentioned in those sites).
It's going to be great to have just a piece of them back again in this great city!

 

Johnny, back in 1923, while under construction, here is what the subway tunnels looked like. All fresh and clean. Note the "third Rail" on the left. The pick-up shoe wiped along the underside of this rail. It was originally designed that way to prevent dust and dirt from wearing the shoe out.



A "Clearance Car" was used to check the tunnels in the subway system, that was the same kind of car used in the above ground tunnels. I was told this one had white paint under pressure that ran up to the manifold where all the "wands" were mounted on toggle valves. If any wand touched an obstacle on the side or top, a squirt of white paint marked the spot for workmen to find later.

There is a story that one of these cars saved the lives of a "Header Crew".

When the car was pushed up to the end of a tunnel, the clearance was OK, but on the way back out several of the upper wands marked a section of rock! The operator imediately signaled the pushing engine to run back to the head end where the diggers were still working. The workers were loaded onto the clearance car and a run was made for the tunnel entrance! The tunnel ceiling caved in about an hour later. The valiant decision of the clearance crew to attempt to rescue the men working on the tunnel head at the risk of being buried alive, successfuly saved the lives of all the men. Heros.



This is the Control Panel of the Switch House Agent that controled the track switches for one of the sections of the New York Subway System in 1923.

Note the "Track Layout Chart" above, that looks like the ones we make for our own layouts.

When trains tripped switches along their routes, lights would turn off or light up signaling the Agent where the train was in the subway so he could set the proper switch to avoid a collision, or route trains to their proper destination.



No computers were required to operate this system in 1923.

 

Thanks Watash for the great pics! I have never seen those before!
In 1923 the subway was already 19 years old! 1923 sounds like the BMT LIne (BROOKLYN AND MANHATTAN RAILWAY) that's being built.

The original IRT (INTERBOROUGH RAPID TRANSIT) section ran from City Hall, up the eastside of Manhattan to 42nd St. Grand Central then ran west (along what now is the TIMES SQUARE SHUTTLE) and then north to 110th or 116th St.
A year or two later, the second sections were opened thus creating the 7th Ave IRT from (now) 242nd St in the Bronx to South Ferry (last 3 stops closed due to WTC: Cortlandt, Rector and South Ferry) and the Lexington Ave Line from several Bronx stops to Brooklyn Bridge for the #6 train, and into Brooklyn for the 4 and 5 trains.

I've had the wonderful experience of riding the loop around Brooklyn Bridge on the #6 train and having a private tour of the abandoned City Hall station. (My old partner George was a detective and we went into the station and he tinned a uniformed cop who took us to the abandoned stop on a train and we got out and looked around! The cop then used his flashlight to stop another train coming around the loop and we got on and went right back to Brooklyn Bridge!) I also had been to the Union Square wreck a number of years ago, when a friend who was a Track Supervisor took me down to see it. And I have been to our great Transit Museum in Brooklyn (closed to 2003 for renovations) many many many times! In 1976 I rode a "ghost train" from Manhattan (I think that's where we started from, don't remember...) all the way to Far Rockaway! those were antique cars from the 20's we rode on!
I wish I could have seen the faces on the people on the platforms as we shot by!

The subways are a wild and wonderful thing! You have to get over the smell first, then you can really sit back, or stand in front and watch the tunnels fly by and have fun!
I love the elevated parts such as the #7 train to Main Street and the open-cuts of the R train to 95th St. in Bayridge!

 

I saw the documentary movie showing all the homeless people who live in the Amtrak tunnels. That would be too scary for me to even think about going into day or night. Those trains don't even slow down through there! The History Channel ran a piece showing cut-a-ways drawings of the history of the subways from the original pneumatic car they found on up to the present time 1999. I have wondered if they got that car out to put in the museum? It was wierd looking, but still all plush inside. Must have been awsome to ride in!

 

Watash, i don't think the pnuematic car exists anymore. That must have just been a photo.
I saw the homless thrown out of the Amtrak tunnel right where I live. There were about 150 people living in there with all the furniture you would find in someone's home. TV'S, WASHING MACHINES, AND ALL KINDS OF STUFF!
They were tapping the electric from the street lights on the highway above the tunnel!