Starr+-+Subway

The topic I picked was the first American subway built. I picked this topic for my research project because I wanted to learn more about its history. What I hope to accomplish with this research is to find information about my topic that allows me to learn off of it.

 When the new Times Square station needed to be connected with the area the downtown wall was at, it was torn away. The IRT was extended north and south of 42 streets in 1918, were much of the downtown wall was. There was a changeover from round pillars to I-beam pillars (" Times Square.").

The successor company to beach pneumatic transit sued the city for damages to their property. Construction workers took possession of the tunnel. They found the original shield at the south end of the tunnel and the wooden remains of the car. The tunnel had only the one station and train car. It was operated as a demonstration from: 1870 to 1873. It was frequently mentioned as an important early development in New York City's transit history but was merely a curiosity. Smaller tube systems are used in buildings for mail delivery, but rail-car sized systems has never been developed. Because the electric multiple-unit traction and electric locomotives came about so quickly after the experiment it wasn't deemed worthwhile to even try an expanded pneumatic system. On February 26, 1870 the subway was opened to the public. It took only 58 days to construct the tunnel. It started under Warren Street and Broadway. Directly across from city hall. The station was under the south sidewalk of Warren Street, west of the Broadway corner. It was a single track tunnel that ran east into Broadway, curved south, and ran down the middle of Broadway to Murray Street. It was a distance of one block, and about 300 feet in all ("Beach Pneumatic Transit").

 The motors are made especially for the design of the subway service. Designed by engineers of the Interborough Company. It will operate on average 570 voltz. They are a direct series type. They are supplied by two manufacturers. Rated 200 horse power each and differ in respect to important features of design and construction. Switching at terminals depends on the hour of the day and night or rush hour. Most express trains consist of eight cars during rush hour. The number of people transported also consists to how many cars or terminals there are for the 24 hour period. In an eight-car multiple-unit express train, starting with the first car and counting every other car, will be a motor car. The rest will be trail cars. The cars can be reduced, but no matter what a motor car will always remain at each end of the reduced train (" Electrical Equipment of Cars").



 Alfred Ely Beach demonstrated the practicability of the subway, the first subway in the United States was not available for thirty-four years called the Lexington avenue line. In 1870 beach drove a short tunnel under Broadway from warren to Murray street, carted away the dirt at night, and finally taking fellow citizens for rides underground in a lighted eight-foot car which held twenty passengers and which was sucked and blown from one end of the line to the other. The panic of 1873 made it impossible for the underground line to continue that the legislature chartered his company to build from battery to Columbus circle (" New York's First Subway").



In 1873, because of Finance and politics, it was said; the beach demonstration tunnel soon closed and was sealed up. People started to forget about the subway and its first attempt in building one. At the opening of the subway, people were surprised and gratified. It was such expected to find a dismal, cavernous retreat under Broadway (Reis).

They opened their eyes to an elegant reception room and the light and airy tunnel. Also the general appearance of the apartments, with taste and comfort. Even people who tried to pick out some scientific flaw were silenced, by the completeness of the machinery or the safety of the running apparatus (Reis).

 Alfred Ely Beach's pneumatic subway opened on February 26, 1870 in New York. It cost $350,000 altogether. In the first year, the subway had 400,000 New Yorkers Pay 25 cents apiece to ride. It was a football-field-length of a ride, and was a 10-mile-per-hour (or 16 Kilometers per hour) jaunt. The New Yorkers were transported between Warren and Murray Streets ( Reis).

 During construction a rock had fallen, and killed five men who were working beneath. It was in the tunnel below One Hundred and Sixty-Ninth Street ( Ruhl).

 Each well is provided with a pumping outfit. In the case of these wells and in other locations where it is necessary to maintain pumping devices it is not possible to employ a uniform design of pumping equipment. Various locations offer different conditions, each employing apparatus best suited to the requirements. The several depressions which a pumping plant is needed are located from the lowest point of city hall loop, the intersection of elm and white streets, in the Murray hill tunnel, intersection of 46th and Broadway, intersection of 116th street and Lenox avenue, intersection of 142nd street and Lenox avenue, 147th street and Lenox avenue, in Harlem River approach, center of Harlem River Tunnel, and intersection of Gerard Avenue and 149th street. Other than the mentioned sump locations, there are pumping plants maintained at the cable tunnel constructed under the subway at 23d street and fourth Ave., the sub-subway at 42d street and Broadway, the portal of the Lenox Ave. extension at 148th street, the northerly and southerly end of the Harlem river tube, and the portal at Bergen Ave. and 149th street. There are different types of pumping plants electric pumps and automatic airlifts. The airlift was selected for the reason that no moving parts are conveyed in the airlift construction other than the movable ball float and valve which control the device. The air-lift consists of concentric piping extending several feet into the ground below the bottom of the well, and water is elevated by the air producing a rising column of water of less specific weight than the descending column of water which is in the pipe extending below the bottom of the sump well. All locations where drains or sump pits are, located above the line of the sewer, the carrying of the water was easy to accomplish by employing a drain pipe in connection with suitable traps and valves. Where it was necessary to elevate the water, in other cases, the problem has been different. At each depression where water is liable to collect, a well or sump pit, has been constructed just outside the shell of the tunnel. To make it so water can flow into the well through a drain connecting to the tunnel, the bottom of the well was placed lower than the floor (of the tunnel) They water proofed the exterior surfaces to the masonry shell of the tunnel, which made it unnecessary to provide drains, or sump pits of any magnitude. Although they still did provide sump pits in places in the tunnel were water could possibly collect or leak ("Subway Drainage").

In my research, there is information about the first American subway built. Information all about where the first subway was built, where it traveled, the motors and switches used for it, and much more.

Works Cited “Beach Pneumatic Transit.” //Subway//. google, n.d. Web. 10 Feb. 2012. . “Electrical Equipment of Cars.” //Subway//. New York, n.d. Web. 15 Feb. 2012. . “New York’s First Subway.” //Subway//. New York Times, 15 Feb. 1940. Web. 13 Feb. 2012. . Reis, Ronald A. //The New York City Subway System//. New York: Chelsea H., 2009. Print. Ruhl, Arthur. “’Building New York’s Subway.” //Subway//. Century Magazine, Oct. 1902. Web. 15 Feb. 2012. . “Subway Drainage.” //Subway//. New York, n.d. Web. 15 Feb. 2012. . “Times Square.” //Times Square//. N.p., n.d. Web. 13 Feb. 2012. <http://webpath.follettsoftware.com/‌resource/‌viewurl?encodedUrl=ytShbPhXhHaaSxITA330TaIMOE8_IYCTAdnkRSH9rSQ&version=1&userGUID=C4B76DD7-8192-4D07-BB94-CD3CF081736E&gv=1&gc=-706531269&appsignature=Destiny&appversion=10.0.4.2+%28rc4%29>.