THE 
 
 NEW YORK 
 
 ARCADE RAILWAY, 
 
 AS PKOJECTED, 
 
 COMPARED 
 
 WITH THE 
 
 UNDERGROUND RAILWAYS 
 
 OF 
 
 LONDON. _L 
 
 REPORT TO THE 
 
 f&okdwky lIi\def^fotLH<i 1 (ail way Co. 
 
 BY 
 
 WM. J. McALPINE, Engineer-in-Chief. 
 1884. 
 
iEx HtbrtB 
 
 SEYMOUR DURST 
 
 When you leave, please leave this book 
 
 Because it has been said 
 "Ever'thing comes t' him who waits 
 
 Except a loaned book." 
 
 Avery Architectural and Fine Arts Library 
 Gift of Seymour B. Durst Old York Library 
 
5 
 
 PLAN FOR BUILDING THE ARCADE, 
 
 WITHOUT INTERRUPTION TO TRAVEL. 
 
 The work on the Arcade will be commenced by placing along the line of the 
 roadway two iron bridges, of from 500 to 1000 feet in length, and each 18 feet 
 wide in the clear, and along the line of sidewalks corresponding bridges, each 
 about 12 feet wide. These bridges to be supported at intermediate points. 
 
 The floor of these bridges will be elevated four feet above the grade of the 
 street, and the difference in elevation overcome by a gentle ascent at each end. 
 
 The skeleton frame trusses will form but slight obstruction to the view, and 
 permit pedestrians to cross the streets at all places. 
 
 The panels are made separate and" bolted together, and may be taken down 
 from one end and added to the other with facility. 
 
 Convenient access to and from the bridges will be provided, and the work 
 on the railway will be carried on under the bridge, without using the street, either 
 in the removal of excavations or in bringing materials to construct the road ; the 
 completed Arcade being ample for these uses, and affording abundant store-room 
 for all the purposes of construction. 
 
 The street in front of an ordinary building would be occupied by the bridges 
 and workmen about one month, and during this time (by the plan proposed) the 
 occupants of the building would suffer but little inconvenience, and the street 
 travel little, if any, obstruction. 
 
Hon. MELVILLE C. SMITH, 
 
 President of the Broadway Underground Railway. 
 
 Sir : 
 
 The annexed report is a statement of my recent examination of 
 the London Underground Railways, and a comparison between them and the 
 projected Arcade Railway of New York. 
 
 There are also appended diagrams and sketches of those works, and many 
 maps, profiles, sections, working drawings, together with printed reports and 
 statistics, including many you procured while on your tour of inspection with 
 Directors Hon. William Windom and Jerome Fassler, of the Underground Rail- 
 ways and Structures in the cities of London and Paris. 
 
 I have also to acknowledge the valuable information obtained and work 
 accomplished by Engineer Frederick N. Blanc, whom you left in London, in the 
 employ of your Company. 
 
 These papers, &c, submitted, with others which I am to receive from 
 Europe, will be of great value when the construction of the New York Arcade 
 Railway is commenced. 
 
 I have also in preparation a report and discussion of the application of 
 several kinds of motive power to the Railway, which will be hereafter submitted 
 to you. 
 
 Respectfidly, 
 
 WM. J. McALPLNE, 
 
 Engineer in Chief. 
 
 New York, January, 1884. 
 
COMPARISON 
 
 OF THE PROPOSED NEW YORK ARCADE RAILWAY, WITH THE 
 UNDERGROUND RAILWAYS OF LONDON. 
 o 
 
 The results of the construction and operation of the Underground Railways 
 of London, have demonstrated not only the feasibility of the New York Arcade 
 Railway, hut have also shown that the apprehensions sometimes expressed, that 
 adjacent private property would be injured and the traffic of the street partly 
 inconvenienced, are wholly without foundation in fact. 
 
 The large and steady increase in the traffic and net revenues of these London 
 Railways, gives assurance that the one projected for New York will prove a 
 successful enterprise. 
 
 The correctness of these statements will be shown by the following com- 
 parisons between the "Inner Circle" of the two London Railways and the 
 New York Arcade. 
 
 The "Inner Circle " comprises twelve miles of circumference, enclosing 
 about seven square miles, mainly of the heart of London. 
 
 First : — This London line has been built chiefly under or through the most 
 costly property in the world, and less than one-third of its length passes under 
 the streets (Euston, Marylebone and Embankment) thus adding immeasurably 
 to the difficulties and obstructions to be met and overcome, and as a conse- 
 quence enhancing greatly the dangers and cost of construction. 
 
 The New York Railway will pass entirely under the streets, and 
 in no instance under or near any valuable buildings or property. 
 
 Second : — Four miles of the London Railways have been built with the 
 grades from thirteen to twenty feet below tide water level. 
 
 The New York Railway will have less than a third of a mile of its 
 grade below tide level, and at its deepest place but five feet below low tide. 
 
 Third : — The excavations for the London Railways have been made chiefly 
 in stiff clay, and in many places among the walls and debris of the old Roman 
 works, in others they had to be made by small divided tunnels and strong 
 wooden protections, involving expensive work. 
 
 The excavations for the New York Railway will be chiefly sand and 
 gravel, though some ten per cent, of the distance will be in rock, which 
 must be quarried, but as a whole, the cost of the excavation will be con- 
 siderably less. 
 
 Fourth : — The crossing streets of the London Railway are crooked and very 
 naiTOw, and portions of them have been occupied during the construction of the 
 underground works. 
 
8 
 
 The New York Railway will be built beneath a scries of move- 
 able bridges with tramways underneath, on which all of the mate- 
 rials will be conveyed, so that no portion of either the main or cross 
 streets will be used or interrupted. 
 
 Fifth: — The construction of the London Railways required radical changes 
 in the lines and grades of the sewers (some of immense size), water and gas 
 pipes, many of which were very old and decayed. 
 
 There are no continuous sewers in lower Broadway, New York. The 
 few existing are generally of small size, and the changes in their grades and 
 outlet can be easily made. Continuous vaults will be made on each side 
 of the Railway, or under the road bed, in which will be placed complete 
 systems of sewer, water, gas, telegraph wires, heating and other pipes, 
 where they will all be open for inspection, repairs and replacements, 
 without interrupting the street or railway traffic, and do away forever 
 with the present almost constant interruption of the trade and travel. 
 
 Sixth : — The ventilation of the London Railway tunnels, with 20 stations of 
 300 to 500 feet in length, open more or less to the air above, is generally con- 
 sidered good, though the heavy, humid atmosphere and very dense fogs of London, 
 taken in connection with the consumption of coal, and imperfect condensation 
 of steam of the locomotives used, render it more difficult to secure perfect ven- 
 tilation. 
 
 There is one continuous tunnel of 2£ miles from Kings Cross to Edgeware 
 Road, where small narrow openings of 3 by 15 feet extend from the tunnel roof 
 to the street surface, and even here the ventilation is made moderately good. 
 
 On the New York Arcade Railway there will be five times the number 
 of stations with openings to the air in a corresponding distance, and the 
 openhigs will be larger than on the London Railway. This, with a con- 
 tinuous opening of about feet on each side of the Arcade, adjacent to the 
 buildings, the absence of fuel combustion in the engines, and the use of 
 steam condensing locomotives, would, beyond a question, render the 
 atmosphere of the Arcade pure, and the ventilation perfect. 
 
 Seventh: — There are 530 trains dispatched daily between 5 A. M. and mid- 
 night on the London Railway, of which half are sent at intervals of three min- 
 utes, and the other trains usually at four and seven minutes. 
 
 By means of the " Lock system," trains on other Railroads in London are 
 dispatched every two minutes. The maximum capacity both ways of the London 
 underground double track railway at two minute intervals for twenty-four hours 
 (for passengers and freight ) would be 1440 trains daily. 
 
 The New York four track railway, with trams every two minutes, 
 would have a maximum capacity of twice that of the London, which, 
 with its more powerful engiues and larger trains, would be equal to the 
 
9 
 
 movement of about five hundred thousand passengers and about an 
 equal number of tons of freight each clay. 
 
 Eighth : — The schedule time of trains on the London Railway, between 
 Aldgate and the Mansion House (twelve miles) is 68 minutes. The speed varies 
 from 8 to 14 miles an hour, including 22 stops, or, while in motion, from 16 to 20 
 miles an hour. 
 
 The wav trains on the New York Railway will be run at ten miles an 
 horn - , including about ten stops on each mile. The express trains will be 
 ran at the rate of thirty miles an hour, including one stop in each mile. 
 
 That is, from the foot of Whitehall street to 30th in 6 minutes, or to 
 Central Park in 10 minutes, or to 100th street in 15 minutes, or to 130th 
 street in 17 minutes, or to High Bridge in 22 minutes, or to the North 
 line of the city in 34 minutes. 
 
 Ninth : — The London Railways have been tunneled under many high, large 
 and valuable buildings* and under every variety of structure met with in a 
 great city, including a monument of 168 tons. In many places the 
 walls of the tunnels have been founded from ten to twenty feet lower than the 
 foundations of adjacent buildings, and in some places the foundations of these 
 adjacent buildings, many being very old and of decayed material, have been 
 underpinned from six to sixteen feet in depth. But in all these cases, through 
 the admirable plans of the English Engineers, the Underground Railway has 
 been constructed with complete success, and without causing any injury whatever 
 to the buildings. 
 
 There is no part of the New York Railway where such difficult work 
 will be required. The excavations for the Arcade Railway will not ex- 
 tend to within eighteen feet of the face line of any of the buildings, and 
 the excavations for the vaults (constructed for the city's use), where 
 they are deeper than the foundations of any of the buildings, will be made 
 upon the same successfid plans which were used in London. 
 
 The underpinning of such of the buildings as will be found neces- 
 sary, will be of less extent and far less difficult, and can be made withou t 
 the slightest injury to them.. 
 
 Tenth : — The grades of the London Railway are very undulating, and in 
 some places very steep. On the Metropolitan portion of the " Inner Circle " 
 they are generally one in one hundred, and in one place one in seventy. The 
 grades of the District portion are flatter and less undulating. On the " Widen- 
 ning lines," to connect with the country railways, there are grades of one in 
 thirty-nine, in forty, in forty-six, and one in fifty feet. 
 
 Two-thirds of the length of the Railway is one curve of 660, 1,000 and 
 2,000 feet radii. 
 
 The New York Railway will be almost a continuous straight line, 
 with very light grades. At Canal Street, and that only for a half a mile 
 there will be a grade of 1 foot in 82. 
 
 • Xote. — At St. James station, the highest building in London, viz, 11 stories, is within 20 feet of the Railway. 
 
11 
 
 In 1877, the Metropolitan had expended on its line from Aldgato to South 
 Kensington (7 8 'i miles of the main track and 2 l0 miles of widening, etc., 
 for this portion of the " Inner Circle,") as follows: 
 
 For land and indemnities, - - - 818,672,540 
 For excavations and works, - 13,3(50,899 
 For general expenses, ... - 2,278,161 
 For rolling stock, 1,329,290 
 
 Making a total of $35,640,890 
 Including some unpaid accounts, the cost per mile for this 10 * l0 miles 
 was $3,339,645. 
 
 During the year 1882 the passengers carried were as follows : 
 
 First class Metropolitan, 3,485,910 District, 3,313,752 
 Second" " 8,131,499 " 6,411,686 
 
 Third " " 50,188,109 " 22,182,313 
 
 Season est'd " 3,300,000 " 2,400,000 
 
 Total passengers, 65,105,518 34,307,751 
 Together - - - 99,413,269 
 
 Mileage of passenger trains 1,399,926 1,098,736 
 
 METRO. DIST. 
 
 Total Receipts - - - $3,193,735 $1,873,200 
 
 Total Expense - - - 1,358,320 861,565 
 Total per cent, net expenses - 43-46 
 
 New York City is very differently situated. The business is chiefly 
 confined to the lower end of the island, and there is but one natural free 
 outlet, which is directly Northward. This route is .confined by deep wa- 
 ter channels, the passage of which is obstructed by fogs, ice and all of 
 the discomforts, delays and dangers of ferry voyages. 
 
 The immense business which is concentrated at the lower, narrow 
 end of the city has shown that the streets in that section are too few for 
 the business and the houses. The property is too valuable to permit the 
 opening of new streets or even the enlargement of those existing. 
 
 The number of drays and carts alone, daily passing in Broadway, 
 are more than seven thousand. These with vehicles entering from the 
 side streets frequently so gorge and obstruct this great thoroughfare that 
 travel is for hours entirely suspended. 
 
 The immense loss and annoyance through this obstruction is greatly 
 aggrevated by the street being constantly torn up in connection with 
 sewer, gas, water, steam heating and other pipes. 
 
 The surface and elevated railways offer inconvenient and insufficient 
 accommodation to passengers between that portion of the city devoted to 
 business and that occupied by residences, yet they are crowded to their 
 utmost capacity, because nothing better is afforded. 
 
10 
 
 Eleventh : — The locomotives of the London Railways are all of one type of 
 42 tons weight and 5 feet 6 inch drivers. The trains usually consist of from 
 three to six carriages, with capacity for conveying 30 passengers each. 
 
 The express locomotives on the New York Railway will have power 
 to haul twelve or fifteen carriages, which will seat sixty passengers in 
 each. 
 
 Twelfth : — I examined a great many places on the line of the " Inner 
 Circle," to ascertain whether the trains passing through the tunnels of the 
 London Underground Railways produced any vibration or jar of the buildings 
 above and adjacent to the Railway, but nowhere could detect the slightest mo- 
 tion. 1 was informed that careful tests with very delicate instruments were made 
 some years ago, and that no motion or jar as great as that produced by an or- 
 dinary vehicle passing on the street was anywhere found. The Engineers state, 
 that in twenty years they have never been called upon to pay a guinea for dam- 
 ages to overhead or contiguous buildings or property. 
 
 In some places peat or tan bark was put under the sleepers, but these pre- 
 cautions were subsequently found to be unnecessary. 
 
 On the New York Arcade the way tracks will be 18 feet dis- 
 tant from the face of the buildings, which space will be vaulted so that 
 the trains in motion cannot possibly produce vibration or jar to the 
 buildings. The tracks of the express trains will be 11 feet still further re- 
 moved from the buildings. 
 
 Thirteenth : — The numerous Railways of London radiate in every direction 
 from the business portions to the suburban residences, extending to a complete 
 circuit of more than thirty miles in diameter, and distribute this kind of travel 
 over more than twenty different lines, and yet every one of them has an amount 
 of business which pays a fair return for even the enormous cost of these radiat- 
 ing railways, and this is particularly the case with the very costly underground 
 railways. 
 
 The London Metropolitan Railway, in January, 1863, had opened 
 three and one-third miles for travel, and in 1868 about as much more. The 
 Metropolitan District Railway opened two and a half miles in 1868, and one and 
 a half miles in 1870, and has now, in connection with other Companies, two miles 
 in progress. 
 
 The Metropolitan, with its branches running out from the city, is twenty-two 
 miles in length, on which there has been expended about fifty-five millions of 
 dollars. 
 
 The Metropolitan District with its branches is thirteen miles in length, on 
 which there has been expended about thirty-five millions of dollars. 
 
Since the opening of the Elevated Railways the increase of travel has 
 been more than all the passengers they carry, showing that the travel in this 
 direction will increase np lo the extent of the accommodation which is offered. 
 
 The Arcade otters in all respect the most effectual remedy and relief the 
 ingenuity of man can contrive. It duplicates the street; it oilers the most com- 
 plete accommodation for way and through travel; it furnishes cheap and rapid 
 transportation for freight and express; and by thus removing all obstructive 
 vehicles from the upper street, systematizing the travel, and by the application 
 of a motive power vastly more effective than can he used on the surface street, 
 it would treble the capacity of Broadway in all the essential elements which 
 make a street useful, and adjacent property valuable. 
 
 Our visit was fortunately timed, as we found the Engineers engaged in con- 
 structing one of the most intricate and difficult portions of the Railway, viz. : 
 upon the two miles of the extension eastward from the Mansion House, through 
 a net work of narrow- and crooked streets, along which were standing every 
 variety of buildings, from the heaviest and most costly to the oldest and most 
 decayed. 
 
 Many of these, especially the latter, were torn down, either for the extension 
 of the stations or for the purpose of providing additional breathing places, and 
 others were maintained by tunneling under them for the passage of the 
 Bail way. 
 
 The works on this line embraced all of the varieties of construction which 
 had been adopted elsewhere on the Railway, and we found them in every stage 
 of progress, from that of placing the temporary roadways and works, temporarily 
 seeming the water, gas and sewage pipes, and the permanent works therefor ; 
 the wooden protections and small tunnel excavations for underpinning and 
 supporting the houses, and for excavating and laying up the side walls, also of 
 the top arching and placement of the iron girders, and of the method of excavat- 
 ing and removing the materials.* 
 
 At Victoria street the Railway was carried under a very large and heavy 
 breweiy. In this case the side walls and arch covering were increased in thick- 
 ness, and twelve massive wrought iron girders were stretched across above the 
 arch to take the weight of the building and of the large weighty vats. 
 
 Near the same place the foundation of the Railway had to be placed at 15 
 feet below the level of the base walls of, some high buildings, and in another case 
 the Railway was carried diagonally under another set of heavy buildings. 
 
 At St. James station there is a house of fourteen stories high — the highest 
 dwelling in London. The Railway excavations were made within 20 feet of its 
 face and 15 feet below the level of its base walls. 
 
 At Victoria Station the Railway was carried under the largest sewer in 
 London, having a cross section of 151 square feet. 
 
 The level of the invert of this sewer is 8 feet below high-tide in the 
 Thames, and the rail level of the Railway had to be depressed to 21 feet 9 
 inches below, and the excavations at this place had to be extended to 28 feet 
 below high or 15 feet below low water tide level. 
 
 • Note.— There has been taken from the deep excavations on this, the oldest part of Loudon, a great many rude 
 Homau implements and pieces of pottery of an earlier date. 
 
At Sloane Square Station two cast-iron sewers are carried over the Rail- 
 way ; one of them is 9 feet diameter and crosses the Railway diagonally. It is 
 supported on each side by a wrought iron girder of 73 feet length, 0\ feet depth, 
 and tianges of 2 feet width. 
 
 At Blackfriar Station a very complicated construction was required. The 
 grade of the Railway had to be placed at 10 feet below high tide to pass under 
 the north approach of Black friar's Bridge. Two sub-ways had to be carried 
 over the Railway and the low level sewer under it, and the outlet for the gas 
 company, the Fleet Street sewer and its storm-water conduit overflow had to 
 be provided for. All of these lines met nearly at one place and crossed the 
 Railway very obliquely. Those passing above the Railway were sustained by 
 girders, some of which were 75 feet Ion •. 
 
 At Pembroke square the Railway was carried very obliquely under eight 
 new and valuable houses. The level of the rails is 20 feet below the street and 
 11 feet below the foundations of the houses. 
 
 The Railway was carried under the London Hospital in nearly the same 
 manner. This is a massive stone building of four stories. 
 
 The underpinning was completed while I was in London, and I carefully 
 examined the building, but did not find that any injury had been done, not even 
 the cracking of the plastered walls. 
 
 The Railway passes within 10 feet of a row of large cut stone buildings in 
 Cannon street, and as excavations therefor were dug to a level 15 feet below 
 their foundations, with the precautions taken no injury has been done to them. 
 It also passes flush with the tower of St. Mary's (White Chapel) Church in 
 Aldgate street, and the Railway excavations were made 8\ feet below the level 
 of its foundation. No injury whatever has been done to the tower or church. 
 
 This portion of the Railway has been carried under and in front of many 
 other buildings, and in no instance have they been injured. 
 
 In the middle of King William Street is a monument of William IV. which, 
 with its base, weighs 168 tons, and the Railway is tunneled directly under this 
 statue. 
 
 The Railway passes in front of the South Eastern Railway Station and 
 Hotel. When we examined this work we found that the whole of this area had 
 been temporarily bridged over, and the underground works were in progress. 
 
 Large granite blocks of 5 feet square had been laid on concrete bases ; 
 on these were to be placed iron columns surmounted by iron girders and jack 
 arches, which were to support the carriage travel over the area in front of the 
 station, and the space below was to be used for the Underground Railway Station. 
 
 The brick sewers were temporarily sustained by cradles and props. A gas- 
 main of 24 inches diameter was suspended from the wooden bridge, and two 12 
 inch and several small water-pipes were also suspended or propped up from be- 
 low. The sidewalks of the Railway in one place were in process of erection ; 
 in another place the roof arching ; in another the roof girders ; in another the 
 inverted arches and track work, so that in one short distance could be seen the 
 actual construction of almost all the varieties of work required in the building 
 of any portion of the Railway. 
 
1 1 
 
 The underground depot at Smithfield Market, is 025 by 240 feet square, 
 with '24 } feet head-room. The vaults at the sides are in bays of 25 by 15 feet, 
 covered by arches of masonry. 
 
 The remainder of the upper market area is supported by iron columns and 
 girders. Some of the cast iron columns are of 18 inches diameter, and carry 400 
 tons weight. Some of the girders are 4£ feet deep,- boxed with flanges 2£ 
 feet wide. 
 
 Besting on brick and concrete bases are 180 wrought iron columns, made 
 generally of channel bars of 12 by 3 A by li{ inches, and plates of 15 by 1 inch 
 Some of them are double. 
 
 The stations are roofed with iron arched ribs of 87 feet span and 29 
 feet rise. 
 
 I examined the locomotives and machinery of the Kings Cross and 
 Hallowell Railway, where compressed air is used for the motive power. There 
 s no doubt but that this motive power has or can be successfully applied w ith 
 advantage upon tunnel railways, though perhaps at a greater cist than that of 
 the usual locomotive. 
 
 I examined the tireless locomotives in use upon the Rueil and Marly-le-Roy 
 Railway, near Paris. These engines are run 10 miles, starting with steam at a 
 pressure of fifteen atmospheres, and completing their trips with the steam at 
 two atmospheres pressure. 
 
 These engines draw a train of 44 tons weight over a street Railway with 
 much sharp curvature and high grades, at an average speed of 10 to 15 miles 
 an hour.* The steam is exhausted into the open air, but on the Mekarski Rail- 
 way in Lille it is condensed as on the locomotives of the London railways. 
 
 I have examined several electric motors, and have received information in 
 regard to their use in Europe and experimentally in this country. 
 
 I have examined the cable sj stem in use here, and have accounts of its ap- 
 plication elsewhere. For the way trains of the Arcade at moderate speed this 
 system may be applicable. The experiments so far do not show that it can be 
 applied to the fast express trains, although I have devised a plan by which I 
 hope to make it applicable to any desired speed. 
 
 I am to receive, in a few weeks, the monthly statements of the business 
 done, and the detailed expenses thereof, upon these Continental Railways, and 
 will then submit a statement of the comparative value of this and of the other 
 proposed systems of motive power, as applicable to the New York Arcade 
 Railway. 
 
 The decision in regard to the motive power for the Arcade is not necessary 
 at the present time, and it may perhaps be sufficient now to say, that tireless lo- 
 comotives, with condensers, can be run with nearly as much economy and as 
 complete certainty as the engines of the London Railway, and it is altogether 
 probable that the electric motor will be perfected, if the cable system is not, so 
 as to be applicable to the Arcade Railway. 
 
 • Note.— On an extension of this Railway south of Marley, the same Engines draw lighter trains up a grade of 1 foot 
 in 17 with sharp curvatureB. 
 
15 
 
 I shall submit, soon, a more extended report, in which many additional facts 
 and details will be given ; those embraced herein, however, cover in a practical 
 way all the obstacles and objections, and those of a far more difficult character 
 than any that will be encountered in the construction of the New York Railway. 
 
 Wm. J. McAlpine, 
 
 Engineer in Chief. 
 
 New York, January, 1884. 
 
 ) 
 
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