iEx Safaris SEYMOUR DURST ~t ' 'Fort ntevu/ ^Im/ferdam^ oj? Je Mirn/iatans When you leave, please leave this book Because it has been said "Ever'lhing comes t' him who waits Except a loaned book." \\ i ry Arc hitectural and Fine Arts Library Gii i of Seymour B. Durst Old York Library VOICE Of mt FUESS ON THE 2* *ttt Siwlt mf f tit ii a 1 1 hi i *, £46 Il@4©W4f 1886. >. VOIP! Of Ttt£ FBES6 ON THE k Ifil 44S Il@41W4f 1886. 1* J u > < x h h 2 o h X D CC X u h z h P DC h W Q < O X < u DC h 2 Q J D CQ X o u. 2 a •- & ''go B »«>s* - — s •• S 5J *» in h = — ~ - •_ ■«- e a o J 2 lift !■ da ! z C t. P r I - -• : y> -. S ,2 - '• £ _ ■ 2 7 2 ■£ 5 5 5 •'•'= s ■* ^ a « g> § ■: - .9 q a s — § ■a DC Sis X "9 -S E .1 _ *- " '~ %. tZ, ~~ ~ — i • 2 c i c ~ ? 5 I s c .2 _ 2 o B a - 5 ? 5 - i •/ ' .a s £ 9. © ttJ 35 al »« 1L o 15 S S £^ O o ^3 ~ * — I * « — - et ? - .5 ' a as ja O — e - - ■p M ■ <2 5^" g -- 2 § 5 •43 ti CO CL - r — '6 S 2 ' s s -7 iff S — S7^ = -r IN T E N T S . Miscellaneous Endorsements 1, 15 The need of Rapid Transit 1 Transit Difficulties and their Remedy 3 Effect of Transit Facilities on Real Estate 5 Arcade or Tunnel Roads 8 Description of the Arcade Plan— 1883 15, '20 Opinions of Peter Cooper, Com. Vanderbilt, etc 19 Opinions of Eminent Engineers 20 1881, Purchase of Beach Pneumatic Charter 21 Charter Amended — Company reorganized 21 1883, Legal Proceedings 22 Commissioners' Report on Tunnel Plan 22, 23 Legislative Action 24, 25 Property Owners' Opposition 25, 32, 37 Election of Board of Trustees 26 Examination of London Underground Railway, by Officers and Engineer of Co. .27 Comparison of Arcade with London Roads, by Wm. J. McAlpine 28 1884, Legislative Action 28, 29, 30, 35 Circular Letter to Property Owners 29 Hearing before Senate and Assembly R. R. Committees 30 Invitation to Property Owners to Examine Plans 31 Additional Transit Facilities Imperative, 30,31,32,33,34,35,45,46,47,49,51,57,63,46,00,07 The Future of Broadway 34 General Benj. F. Butler's Letter •. 35 Senate and Assembly Vote 36 Heaiing before Gov. Cleveland 37 Letters of Endorsement and 13,000 Petitioners 38 1885, Legislative Action 48, 49 Name Changed to New York Arcade Railway Company 45 Grosvenor P. Lowrey's Opinion — Evening Post Interview 46 Plan of Road between Curb Lines, Illustrated 42, 43 Plan of Road between Curb Lines 48, 49, 50 Hearing before Governor Hill 52, 53, 54 Benefits to the "Working Man and the Masses !), 35, 54, 64, 70, 71, 72, 73 Governor Hill's Action 54, 55, 56 Press Comments .... 56, 57 Subways a necessity for Pipes, Wires, etc 59, 60, 61 Freight Traffic Advantages 63, 66 Sanitary Benefits 64 Early Legislation, 1870, etc 68 How Often People Ride — (travel within cities) ' 68 Passenger Traffic — Past, Present and Future 71 New York Arcade Railway Company. Its Purpose. The purpose of the Arcade Railway Company is to construct a four-track underground railroad for the carrying of passengers and freight — both through and way. Its Plan. The plan of the Company is to build such road under Broadway and Madison Avenue for which it holds a special grant ; and it seeks to build it of such width as to accommodate the widest cars, while its road will have the requisites of good light and pure air. The Advantages of the Arcade Road. It has the best route and the best plan. It provides a capacious gallery for all water mains, pipes, wires, &c. It is the only proposed road which has ever received the unqual- ified endorsement of the great engineers of the country. It will meet the wants of the people, and is in their interests. It will take no property in use tor an) - other purpose, and will injure no individual. It will connect the city ot New York more closely with every section of the country, by affording a through route for passengers and freight without change of cars or breaking of bulk. It will afford real rapid transit, which neither fogs nor storms can hinder or delay. It will be the only artistic, permanent, comprehensive, and unobjec- tionable underground road. It is the only underground road which can be built and fully meet the needs of the present and the demands of the future. It will increase the wealth of the city, disseminate its over- crowded population, and centralize its commerce. Its capacity will be unlimited, and its benefits cannot be over- estimated. VOICE OF THE PRESS ON TIIK NEW YORK ARCADE RAILWAY The following extracts from the public press, with many others of like character, which have appeared throughout the State, express, in unmistakable terms, the unanimity of the people in favor of the Ar- cade Railway . The whole subject is reduced to the simplest form of a logical proposition. The people are clamorous for increased facilities for travel in the City of New York. After thorough investigation their decision is in favor of an underground railway, and they unequivo- cally endorse the Arcade Plan as the most comprehensive, practicable and desirable. Sew York Sun, May 10, 1885. The Broadway Railroad. ********* What Broadway needs, and what the city needs, is an underground railroad, or a railroad below the surface of the street, which could use powerful locomotives capable of drawing long express and way trains at the hours in the morning and evening when the travel is the greatest, and could afford accommodations ut- terly impossible to the elevated roads. A sur- face railway might be well enough along a part of Broadway below Union square, but its slow transportation would give little relief, anil its benefit to business and property in the street ■would be comparatively slight. The best project yet proposed is tin- . 1 rcade Railway in which the discomforts and disad- vantages of the underground railways of Lon- don would be overcome and altogether obvia- ted. Until we get some such method of rapid transit through the centre of the Island, the imperative requirements of New York will be left unsupplied, and the progress of the city will be retarded. New York Tribune, June 26, 1885. Travel in ISroadway. Travel is likely to increase so fast over the Broadway route that all Mr. Sharp's resources will prove inadequate to provide for it. It is the central, the natural, the convenient line «f travel for this city, and when the horse-cars are unable to carry the hosts that will press to Broadway, the underground road is sure to come. There are millions — many of them — in a railway running fast trains under Broad- way. And in time even tin must stubborn real estate owner may conclude that th> re an things in this town more important than vaults. New York Times, Nov. 24, 1885. The Need of Kapid Transit. The increase of the Sunday business on the elevated roads, caused by the reduction in the rate of fare, has had the effect of showing very clearly the inadequacy of those roads to the work devolved upon them. On week days there is a crush during an hour or two — coming • Note.— The Company h»3 a charter to build a tunnel road under Broadway and other streets, confirmed by the Legislature in 1381. THE VOICE OF THE PEESS. down in the morning and going up in the evening — but on Sunday the cars are crowded during the hours when there is plenty of room on other days, so that whoever boards a train six or seven stations from the terminus of the road finds it impossible to travel in comfort. This state of things will grow worse instead of better as travel increases. There is ample room for improvement in the administration of the roads. But this difficulty of over-crowding cannot be removed by any improvement in the administration. It is inherent in the system on which the elevated roads are built. It is plain that more passengers can be ac- commodated only by an increase either in the number of trains or in the length of the trains. It is evident to every passenger that the num- ber of trains cannot be increased. The " head- way "on which they arc now run during the busy hours cannot be lessened with safety. ********* The risk is now very serious, and any con- siderable increase in the number of trains would convert it into the certainty of disaster. A very little consideration will show that no relief can be expected from the alternative ex- pedient of an increase in the length of trains. But the real difficulty is that heavier trains cannot lie run. The Locomotives now in use are barely able to drag trains of four loaded cars up such grades as occur on all the lines, and when the track is at all slippery tiny have been shown to be unable to do even this. Be- sides the weight of the additional cars in longer trains than ale now run, more powerful, and consequently larger and heavier locomotives must be employed to draw such trains. This additional weight the existing structure is not adequate to sustain. * As the facilities ottered by the elevated roads are thus inadequate to the increasing demand, and as these roads are now worked to their utmost capacity, it is plain that they no longer solve the problem of rapid transit which they were devised to solve. They have performed an enormous public service in rendering acces- sible for residence the upper parts of the island, and have amply fulfilled their function as a temporary expedient. In fact, their fail- ure is tin result of the work performed by them. They have ■■■rait* a tin demand they are no longer able to satisfy. It is noru tin less true Unit tht tinu has now come when a system of transit much mort permanent, comprehensive, and efficient must be devised and put into opt rut ion. New York Times, June 1, 1885. ****** There ought to be a prompt and adequate enlargement of the means of getting about quickly in this crowded and ill-shaped city, and the plan adopted by tin projectors of tin' Arcade scheme is tin most promising one yet pro- posed. New York Herald, May 28, 1883. More Rapid Transit. New Yorkers seem in a fair way of getting as many facilities for rapid local travel as they want. The proposed Arcade rail- road, described in another column, prom- ises better than the elevated roads have per- formed, for it is to make no smoke at all, trains are to travel about twenty-five miles an hour, including stops, and the fare is to be five cents, except on drawing-room cars. That under- ground railroads can be successfully built and profitably run has already been proved in Eng- land, and there can be no doubt that such a road here can get enough patronage to keep it very busy. There never was a city located more to the liking of local carriers of passen- gers, and its facilities must be increased very greatly before the public is fully accommo- dated. Every one who travels between the ex- tremities of the city will wish the new enter- prise the best of pluck and luck. New York World, May 15, 1885. The Arcade Railroad bill is likely to succeed in getting through the Legislature. It is strongly opposed by some of our contempo- raries as a "job." As it will have to jmy for all the property it takes, ami as the people know their rights better now than they did when the elevated roads were built, we do not see where the " job " comes in. We certainly need an Underground railroad, or some rail- road that will run on a solid road-bed, such as masonry- work, through the city. The Eleva- ted roads will in a few years he as inefficient as the horse-cars were ten years ago. * * * New York Star, April 18, 1883. The Broadway Arcade Railroad. Something entirely novel in the solution of New York's rapid transit problems is proposed by the Broadway Underground Radway Com- NEW YORK ARCADE RAILWAY. puny, whose charter the Assembly yesterday voted tn amend and extend. Instead of bor- ing ii dark, double-barreled tunnel under the street, the projectors of this enterprise have perfected every detail for reconstructing Broadway into a two-story avenue. Whatever minor objections ma\ be raised to their scheme, it ia beyond all comparison the most attract Hue, comprehensivt >ihl