New York & Brooklyn Bridge. Report of the Board of Experts TO THE TERMINAL COMMITTEE OF THE BOARD OF TRUSTEES AS TO Enlargement of Traffic Facilities of the Brooklyn Bridge, WITH APPENDIX CONTAINING THE REPORT DESCRIPTIVE OF THE RECOMMENDED PLAN SUBMITTED TO THE BOARD OF EXPERTS BY A. M. Wellington, Mem. Am. Soc. C. E. New York, 1888. < lEx ICtbrts SEYMOUR DURST When you leave, please leave this hook Because it has been said "Sver'thinc) comes t' him who waits Except a loaned hook." Avery Architectural and Fine Arts Library Gift of Seymour B. Durst Old York Library Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2013 http://archive.org/details/newyorkbrooklynbOObroo New York & Brooklyn Bridge. Report of the Board of Experts TO THE TERMINAL COMMITTEE OF THE BOARD OF TRUSTEES AS TO Enlargement of Traffic Facilities of the Brooklyn Bridge, WITH APPENDIX CONTAINING THE REPORT DESCRIPTIVE OF THE RECOMMENDED PLAN SUBMITTED TO THE BOARD OF EXPERTS BY A. M. Wellington, Mem. Am. Soc. C. E. New York, 188S. TABLE Showing the Comparative Areas, Assessed Valuation, and Assessed Valuation per Square Mile of the Belts at Equal Distances from the NEW YORK City Hall in the cities of New York and Brooklyn, as shown in the accompanying Map. [For further explanation of Map and Table, see Appendix, page 4/.] BELT FROM NEW YORK CITY HALL. NEW YORK. BROOKLYN. Area sq. miles. Assessed Value in millions. Assessed Value per sq. mile. Area sq. miles. Assessed t Assessed Value in 1 Value millions, per sq. mile. Below City Hall C. H. to 1 M. 1 to 2 M. 0.5 1.8 2.3 159.4 170.1 213.9 $318,800,000 130,800,000 93,000,000 0.9 66.3 ! $73,700,000 Total business section. 4.1 543.4 $132,500,000 0.9 66.3 $73,700,000 2 to 3 M. 3 to 4 M. 4 to 5 M. 5 to 6 M. 6 to 7 M. 7 to 8 M. 8 to 9 M. 2.0 1.9 1.5 1.4 1.6 1.9 3.0 194.8 186.8 106.7 79.1 47.5 47.4 36.8 $97,400,000 98,300,000 71,100,000 56,500,000 29,700,000 25,000,000 12,300,000 2.7 5.0 8.0 12.6 15.2 10.5 7.2 88.0 114.9 66.7 36.2 19.2 7.0 3.0 $32,600,000 23,000,000 8,300,000 2,900,000 1,200,000 400,000 Total residence section. 13.3 699.1 $52,600,000 61.2 335.0 $5,470,000 Brooklyn is considered for the purposes of this table to include the entire area of Long Island shown on the map, and nothing beyond the limits of the map. The assessed valuation (1887) of this whole area is, as nearly as may be $401,300,000. The area of both New York and Brooklyn which lies within a distance of 2 miles of the New York City Hall is regarded as the business section, and colored dark olive. In reality, the area thus colored in Brooklyn is for the most part a choice residence section, its value per square mile being about that of New York residence property above 59th Street. The assessed valuation in both New York and Brooklyn is supposed to be somewhat less than 60 per cent, of the market value. The areas given exclude all park areas. No attempt has been made to make the areas precise. They have been simply scaled from the map. The valuation of each ward, in millions of dollars and fractions, is shown in red. The fraction of this valuation appertaining to each mile belt has been estimated, as also the valuations of the outlying towns, which are not given on the map. REPORT OF THE BOARD OF EXPERTS, NEW YORK & BROOKLYN BRIDGE. New York, February 23d, 1888. To JAMES HOWELL. Esq., Prest., I Committee on Terminal Facilities of CHAS. MACDONALb, Esq., and > the Trustees of the New York and THOS. C. CLARKE, Esq. \ Brooklyn Bridge. Gentlemen : The undersigned acting under your appointment as a Board of Experts, dated November 10th, 1887, to give an "opinion as to the best method of increasing the number and size of trains upon the Bridge, by such changes in the New York terminus as will allow of the same," respectfully submit the following REPORT. The Board convened on November 12th, for organization and general preliminary conference with yourselves and your Chief Engineer and Superintendent, for the purpose of ascertaining the scope of the whole problem you desired us to investigate and report upon. At this meeting it was arranged that regular meetings of our Board should be held every Saturday afternoon, for the purpose of consid- ering the plans and hearing statements made in regard to them, by persons wishing to submit their views to us. In the intervening time between these regular meetings, considerable time has been devoted to the study of the plans presented to us, and to investigations in detail of the many phases of what has proved to be a very compli- cated problem. In pursuance of this course, we have studied the plans with their accompanying written explanations, and heard full statements rela- tive thereto offered by : ist. Mr. Chas. E. Emery, Civil Engineer. 2d. Mr. A. M. Wellington, Civil Engineer. 3d. Messrs. Wm. H. H. Sisum & Robt. Avery. 4th. Mr. C. C. Martin, your Chief Engineer & Supt. 5th. Mr. G. Leverich, Civil Engineer, amounting in all to seventeen distinct plans, or modifications of plans, each of which has been severally taken under advisement, and all of which, we find, can be classified under one of the following general systems of operation. 4 I. The present system, which for brevity we call The " Tail Switching" System. II. The "Head House" System. III. The "Loop" System. IV. The "Circulating" System. Numerous other plans, and possible variations or combinations of suggested plans, occuring to us during the course of our investiga- tions, have also been carefully studied. As a necessary preliminary to a thorough understanding of the adaptability of any of these several systems to the requirements of the cable railway traffic of your Bridge, we were at the outset im- pressed with the paramount necessity of thoroughly analyzing and fixing the conditions of the traffic itself, pursuant to arriving, if pos- sible, at a reasonable forecast of what volume should be provided for now, and in the near, as well as the distant, future. To this end we have obtained from your Superintendent, full and detailed statistics of what this traffic has been from its commence- ment, down to the close of the year 1887. Collateral to this, and as giving valuable information as to the general trend of traffic on analagous lines of public diurnal transportation, we have studied the statistics of the New York elevated railroads, New York horse car lines, Brooklyn ferry-boats, etc.. etc., all of which shed valuable light upon the subject of the probable ratio of yearly increase ; and inci- dental thereto have given careful consideration to a most interesting map, with its accompanying statistics, prepared and submitted by Mr. A. M. Wellington, C. E., showing the comparative residential areas in the cities of New York and Brooklyn, within equal distances of the City Hall, New York, which seems to afford very convincing reasons for the belief that the daily morning and evtning traffic be- tueen the two cities may reasonably be expected to increase rapidly in the very near future, to an extent equal to the entire ultimate capacity of the Bridge railway, provided the proper facilities for handling it with due safety and convenience are provided. Statistics furnished by your Chief Engineer and Superintendent show that the total number of passengers carried by the Bridge rail- way in 1886 was 24,478,324, and in 1887, it was 28,238,549, showing an increase of 3,760,225, or 15.36 per cent. The averages resulting from actual count taken on seventeen days, in different months, of several different years, show that eighty-two per cent of the traffic per day of twenty-four hours is carried in the day twelve hours between seven o'clock a. m. and seven o'clock p. M. ; and also that the average maximum number carried in a single hour is fifteen per cent, of the number carried in the day 5 twelve hours, being the hour between seven o'clock and eight o'clock a. m., carried from Brooklyn to New York. From these data the following table of traffic for the next ten years is estimated, on the assumption that the ratio of yearly increase will continue at fifteen per cent, until 1892, and after that at the rate of ten per cent. The probabilities, however, are strong that, should increased facilities be provided for comfortably and conveniently receiving, handling, moving and discharging the traffic, it will exceed this ratio of increase for a few years, up to a limit, however, which cannot be now determined, owing to lack of data on which to predicate it. But it is safe to assume that, for some years in the future, this traffic will increase approximately in proportion to the increased facilities provided for its accommodation. We therefore consider the figures given in this table as the minimum of expect- ancy, and we are of the opinion that, should the facilities hereinafter suggested and recommended be provided, it is quite probable that the maximum shown in it may be attained in less than the ten years allowed for it. Estimated Future Traffic, New York and Brooklyn Bridge Year. Annual Total. 24-hour daily average. 12-hour average, 7 a.m. to 7 p.m., 82*. 1 -hour average, 7 to 8 a.m., Brooklyn to New York, 15%. Number of Cars seating 4; persons required for the 1-hour average. 1888 3 2 ,474.33° 88,980 7 2,960 10,944 261 1889 37,345-4^o 1 02,320 83,900 12,585 3 CO 1890 42,947.300 1 1 7,660 96,480 M,47 2 345 1891 49'3 8 9,4oo i35-3io 1 10,950 1 6,642 396 1892 56,797,8ro 155, 6l o I 27.600 I 9, 140 456 62,477,590 171,170 14O.360 21,054 5°' 1894 68,725,350 188,280 '54,39° 2 3-'5 8 55i 1895 75,597,88o 207, 1 20 169,840 2 5,476 606 1896 83,157-670 227,830 186,820 28,023 667 1897 9 1 , 473-44o 250,610 205,500 30,325 734 Present capacity, three-car trains, 1 ^-minute headway, . . 120 " four-car " " "... 160 Having arrived at this conclusion, it seemed clear that our efforts must necessarily be directed to the determination of the plan which will best provide terminal facilities, and a system of operating trains, in number and length, commensurate with the maximum capacity of the Bridge railway when operated upon a system affording the closest approximation to absolute safety that sound judgment in practical operation will admit of ; and in this connection, we beg leave to 6 draw your attention to an aspect of the case which has not appar- ently thus far received the attention it deserves, and to respectfully suggest that the management of this great Bridge should assume the initiative in a manifestly much needed reform in our system of street car traffic generally. Yours being the only line of public travel, the management of which is wholly in the control of public authority, an example to others set by you, adding so materially to the comfort and safety of the travelling public, could not fail to secure its highest commendation ; we refer to a reform in the existing barbarous cus- tom of allowing standing passengers to crowd the cars to more than double their seating capacity, sometimes carrying over one hundred in a car seating but forty. It is not a question for the standing passenger to decide, whether he prefers to stand rather than wait for the next train. Undoubtedly he has the right to determine for him- self the value of a minute and a half or two minutes of his time, but he has not the right to enjoy this privilege at the expense of serious encroachment upon the rights of the passengers who have preceeded him and found seats, nor to compel them to accept his views of comfort or necessity as a standard of theirs. In cars crowded to this extent, it is the seated passenger that not infrequently becomes the greatest sufferer, being often rendered incapable of moving in any direction, under which circumstances, the slightest panic or appre- hension of danger becomes at once seriously magnified, subjecting the weak, timid and helpless to a degree of nervous suffering certainly not in accord with modern civilization, nor with a just regard to the rights and privileges of others. To remedy this, and give every passenger a seat, would, by 1897, with the assumed minimum of traffic, require the ability to circulate over six times as many cars in a single hour as is done on the present system of three-car trains, forty trains per hour, and over four and one-half times as many as will be moved under the four-car train system soon to be inaugurated. In selecting such a plan and system and in recommending it for your adoption, we do so with a grave sense of the responsibility resting upon us, to recommend nothing of a doubtful or experimental nature, or that is not based upon the results of experience deduced from the best and safest principles of modern railroad practice. In considering this phrase of the subject, we desire to state that we are deeply sensible of the good judgment expressed in the injunction laid upon us by the following words in your letter appointing us : ''It is our desire not to limit your judgment in any way, and to ask you to report to us, what you consider absolutely the best method of increasing the traffic facilities, consistent with safety ; and we would like to be advised what safety appliances are necessary in connection with the system you recommend." 7 Keeping this injunction constantly in mind, we have, in reviewing every plan presented to us, most carefully considered and investi- gated to what extent each contained elements, if any, of danger, especially those resulting from collision or derailment. It is well known to and admitted by all practical railroad managers that among the many causes which produce derailments, by far the most prolific are those resulting, in many ways, from the use of switches, frogs and crossings ; and notwithstanding the fact that their liberal use is an unavoidable necessity in the operation of surface railroads, it is the constant and most solicitous effort of every good railroad operator to reduce their use to the lowest pos- sible minimum on lines of main track, and to place those that cannot be dispensed with in positions the least likely to cause danger, as also to guard them with every possible device to make their use safe, and to signal notice to approaching trains when they have been moved to positions menacing danger. Grade crossings of railroad tracks, especially on main lines, are also admitted by all railroad authorities to be especially dangerous. To emphasize this fact, it is only necessary to note the vast sums of money it is now deemed good judgment to expend in construction of new and in changing of old lines of railroad in order to eliminate their use, and in the now almost universal practice of providing the safety device of interlocking signals and throw-off or derailing switches, as a protection in the use of those which cannot be dispensed with, in order to discern what a very limited degree of absolute safety is really derived from the so- called safety appliances. Could anything be more convincing than the fact that in the use of the throw-off switch, used in connection with the interlocking signals for grade crossings, should the warning signals be, either through negligence, design or other cause, disre- garded, the alternative is the deliberate acceptance of the minor accident, of derailing the engine on the throw-off switch, in order to secure immunity from an impending major accident on the crossing. We are therefore unanimous, and most emphatic, in the opinion that under no circumstances should such devices be employed upon the tracks of the Bridge railway. They might, of course, be employed safely for a long time, but experience unerringly points to the in- evitable accident, which, sooner or later, is sure to occur. We have, therefore, arrived at this conclusion as a cardinal principle : that if an arrangement of the New York terminal, and a system of train operation can be found, commensurate with the maximum train capacity of the Bridge railway, preserving a continuous main track, unbroken by either switch, frog or crossing, that is unquestionably the one to be recommended for your adoption, and while it is manifestly impossible and unnecessary to encumber this Report with 8 an extended recital in detail of all the reasons which have decided us adversely upon any of the plans included under the heads I. to III. inclusive, it may be desirable to state briefly the leading objectionable features contained in them. I. The " Tail Switching" (present) system is objected to : First. — Because its limit of platform length is for six cars onlv, without possibility of any further extension. Second. — It requires the very objectionable and justly inadmissable necessity of switching all trains on a bridge over Chatham and Centre Streets, almost to the Hall of Records, in shifting them from the incoming to the outgoing track. Third. — In order to obtain sufficient length for six car trains, west of the west end of the station, it becomes necessary to extend the easterly end so far eastwardly, as to cause an unreasonable distance for passengers to walk, in going to and leaving the cars, and thereby create a tendency to inequality of loading in the several cars of the trains. Fourth. — By thus extending the easterly end of the station so far eastwardly, the necessity of considerably raising its grade-level is created, owing to the steep gradient of the railway such extension is projected over ; adding very seriously to the already sufficiently objectionable rise by stairs to reach the platform level from the streets. II. The " Head House " system. As this system cannot possibly be operated withont the employ- ment of a complicated system of switches, frogs, crossings and signalling apparatus, of more than doubtful efficiency, we are satis- fied that it contains elements of danger, of a gravity sufficient to preclude its consideration, notwithstanding that in some other respects it may have desirable features. III. The " Loop " system is objectionable : First, because it requires the use of dangerous switches and frogs. Second, it is limited in extent to trains of six or seven cars' length at utmost. Third, it has the same objection noted in regard to system I., and common to any arrangement of station planned longitudinally east and west. Of all the plans submitted to our review, the one alone which seems best to conform to the necessary conditions, is the simple " Circulating System," as represented in its general design by the plan offered by Mr. A. M. Wellington, C. E., in which the objec- tionable features of all the others above referred to are eliminated. We have very carefully studied its adaptability to all conditions of 9 the Bridge railway traffic, with the result of a decided and unani- mous conclusion in our minds that the simple circulating system is unquestionably the one which best and most completely fits the conditions presented. We recommend that the diameter of the semi-circular loop be not less than 180 feet (90 feet centre radius of the track), for the purpose of securing, first, ease of traction, and secondly, ample rotunda platform space, and while deeming it not properly within the scope of this report to enter into extended details of the line of investigation, and of the arguments which have led to this conclusion, doubtless it is proper that we should herein note some of the leading advantages which this system is found to possess, and which have had great weight with us in deciding upon it as the one to be recommended to you : they are First. — Safety in operation ; for the reasons hereinbefore given. Second. — Simplicity; making the railway an unbroken, circulating cable system, thereby eliminating the costly, noisy, inconvenient auxiliary locomotive terminal switching service, with its concomitant nuisances of noise, dirt, gases, cinders, dripping from water supply, etc. Third. — Economy; in that it requires no expenditures for inter- locking signal apparatus, switching engines, and the service and supplies of same. Fourth. — The terminal station on this plan is confined, without the slightest disadvantage, to the easterly line of Chatham Street, thereby setting at rest, and removing the necessity for, the vexed question of the Bridge over Chatham Street and Centre Street. Fifth. — It brings the Bridge trains nearer to the passengers and requires a shorter distance to be walked to reach the cars than is possible by any other plan. Sixth. — It affords more spacious and commodious station and platform areas, and a greater number and ease of entrances and exits, than can be had on any other plan. Seventh. — It admits of such a disposition of the cars of a train in the station, that all are of equally convenient access to passengers, thereby promoting equality of car loading in a greater degree than can possibly be obtained in east and west longitudinally planned stations. Eighth. — It presents a ground plan of symmetrical shape and pro- portions, singularly well adapted for a superstructure of dignified beauty, and susceptible of a grandeur of architectural treatment in harmony with the majestic proportion of the great bridge structure, to which it should form a fitting climax, worthy of the two great cities it links together. IO A T inth. — It is equally well adapted to the working of trains of any number of cars up to the maximum provided for, and can, without any very serious constructive difficulties, be erected around and over the existing station building, leaving it intact and in use, without much modification, until the new structure is nearly completed. The maximum capacity of the Bridge railway can only be attained by increasing the number of cars per train to the limit most desirable in actual service (which experience in operating them alone can demonstrate), and in fixing the "headway" intervals as short as absolute safety requires for handling trains of increasing lengths. It is, therefore, obviously, true economic policy to make the cable plant, motive power and terminal facilities equal to that amount of train service. Such a terminal for the New York end, as to which alone we are instructed to report, is the one we now recommend, and we also recommend that if the existing cable plant and motive power is not adequate to that amount of duty, steps should be taken to ultimately increase it up to that standard. In regard to operating long trains, we are decidedly of the opinion that in order to secure proper, certain and safe operation, a similar system should be adopted to that now accepted and practised as the best by all first-class surface railroads, under which it is found to be perfectly practicable to move trains of equal and much greater length and weight with entire safety, at speeds six times faster than the maximum found to be expedient for your train service, by placing the sole control of the train under one man at the head of the train. To accomplish this, we recommend that the leading car of every train shall have a compartment fenced off at its front end, — or a separate small car may be attached to the head of each train, — constituting the counterpart of the Engineer's u cab " on an ordinary locomotive, in which shall be located mechanism for operating, by means of air pressure or electricity, the grips and brakes of every car in the train ; such mechanism so reciprocally interlocked that the grips must be released before the brakes can be applied, and vice versa, that the grips cannot be applied before the brakes are released ; and so mechanically arranged that the grips shall be released, and the brakes applied on each car consecutively from the rear to the head of the trains, and certainly not the reverse of this, from the head to the rear, as suggested by Mr. Wellington. One guard or engineer to have entire control of the whole train, with an assistant near him in the "cab" as a precaution in case of sudden sickness, accident, or other inability to perform his duties, as is now similarly provided by the second wheelman in the pilot-houses of ferry-boats, and by the fireman in the locomotive cab. Referring to your request " to be advised what safety appliances 1 1 are necessary in connection with the system we recommend." we would respectfully state that in our judgment a complete system of block signals should be provided over the entire length of both tracks, with signal targets or semaphores erected at intervals of about the average headway length of the trains, operated automatically by the cars passing over " track levers," so that the guard in charge of every train will be at once signalled whenever the next preceeding train has failed to preserve its proper headway interval, and also for the purpose of properly signalling and giving due notice, should necessity arise for reducing speed, or stopping trains, when approach- ing the terminal stations. There is no mechanical difficulty in devising such a system, as it would not differ materially from systems already in very successful operation on other railroad lines, and for which any competent signal engineer can prepare details and speci- fications. The actuating medium can be either hydraulic, electric, or mechanical, by simple levers, cranks and counterweights, as may be found most adapted, on study, to the special requirements of the Bridge railway and traffic. We also strongly recommend that all trains be equipped through- out with the Westinghouse continuous automatic train brakes, operated from the leading "cab," as above described, and which can also be applied from every car in the train. We are also decidedly of the opinion that an immediate modifi- cation in the present cable plant and grips should be made, that will provide the ability in any car to slacken speed, release and again pick up the cable at any and all points of its passage over the rail- way. We transmit herewith a copy of Mr. Wellington's description, addressed to us, of his proposed plan and views, with its illustrative maps and diagrams, for the purpose of laying before you his own arguments in advocacy of it, for such consideration only as you may in your own judgment deem them entitled to. Finally, we desire to draw your attention to the fact that, should the time ever come when the maximum capacity of the present cable railway is exhausted, with a still increasing demand for additional service, there remains to you the ability to construct an entire dupli- cate set of cable railroad tracks, carried on top of the present trusses, or over the roadways, or over both, as might be found most expe- dient in working out detail plans. These tracks would be admirably adapted for connections with the Brooklyn elevated railroads, and could be most conveniently accommodated with a " terminal " on a second story, above the tracks of the present cable railroad, in the same building recommended in this report, and into which the tracks of the Manhattan Elevated Railroad could also be conveniently 12 taken, thus giving direct connection with the Brooklyn elevated rail- road system, and enabling an entire removal of the present terminal station of the Manhattan Elevated Railroad over Chatham Street. And should the project of underground lines to the City Hall. New York, be finally decided upon, no better site for a "terminal " could be desired than that afforded by the space beneath, and enclosed by the foundation walls of the terminal station herein recommended ; provision for which probable future requirements should be made in preparing the working plans for it. All of which is respectfully submitted by Your obedient servants, Walter Katte, Chairman. j r{ Walter Katte, l he Board of ) T wt a 77 ) J UL1US W- Adams experts: | y 0SEPH Crawford. APPENDIX. [Report submitted to the Board of Experts, by Mr. A. M. Wellington, M. Am. Soc. C. E., describing the recommended plan.] To Messrs. Walter Katte, ) T , , r ^ XT A7 , j ttt * ( Board of Experts, New York Julius W. Adams, r ^ xT., ' i r- \ an d Brooklyn Bridge. Joseph Crawford. ) 3 b In accordance with your request the undersigned herewith sub- mits the following abstract of what is, in his opinion, the best method of increasing the transit facilities of the Brooklyn Bridge. It is believed that the truth must be faced at the outset that, as a not unnatural effect of the then existing conditions, the original ex- penditures for transit facilities were unduly skimped, and the ar- rangements then made entirely inadequate for permanent require- ments, not only in one but in several respects. They were the last detail of the bridge to be studied, and seemed (and were) at the time a comparatively minor matter. The public impatience to have the bridge opened, and reluctance to spend more money, was great. The transit problem was an entirely new one, and its future magni- tude hardly guessed at, as well as an entirely different one in its nature from that of bridge construction. It is not surprising, therefore, that there should have been some mistakes. It will appear still less surprising if we remember that even now, with all the aid of experience, it does not seem to be generally recog- nized or considered that the existing facilities are inadequate in more than one respect, car carrying capacity, whereas they are, in fact, almost equally inadequate in respect to at least three funda- mental requirements, viz.: Requirement A. Car carrying capacity, as stated. Requirement B. Means of entrance from the street to the outgoing platform, which is now of necessity through ticket gates at one end only of platforms constantly growing longer. Requirement C. Means of approach from the city streets to the station, which is now only by the sidewalks of Park Row and Nassau Street, which even before the bridge and New York Elevated Railway were built, were among the most crowded in the city, and have now become intolerably overcrowded. It will be rather worse than useless to attempt to increase present facilities largely in any one of these three respects without increasing them in the other two respects correspondingly. It is, therefore, deemed a fortunate fact that the plan which, it is believed, will demonstrably give by much the largest car-carrying capacity, a con- tinuous circulating system of the type herein suggested, will also readily enable the facilities in the two other respects to be enlarged correspondingly, at comparatively trifling extra cost. To the three purely utilitarian ends just specified should properly be added another, viz.: Requirement D. I?nprovement in the architectural appearance and surroundings of the termini. It is believed that both business judgment and proper self-respect should lead the people of New York and Brooklyn to regard the need for improvement in this respect as no less peremptory than in respect to the other three. The Brooklyn Bridge is the front door to the City of Brooklyn, which is a city seeking more tenants, and there are the same pecuniary motives for making the entrance to it commodious and attractive as obtain in the case of single build- ings; but independently of this, "a decent respect for the opinion of mankind " and for the good name of two such wealthy cities should lead them, from mere self-respect, to make such a terminus of as fine architectural appearance as possible, even if there were no money in doing it, and even if the building stood by itself, instead of being a component part of one of the grandest structures in the world, which seems to demand more dignified appurtenances from a civilized people. At present the whole terminal arrangements and surroundings are shabby and offensive to the last degree. Instead of being in any re- spect worthy of the structure, or even inoffensive, the combination of the wooden elevated station, contracted iron terminal shed, tun- nel-like entrance to promenade, nondescript wood and iron bridge over Park Row, butting up against the shabby Registry building ; together with the mud, dirt and crowd, the liquor saloons on each side of the terminal shed and the torrents of water which must be waded through in the rain, make it one of the most undignified and unpleasant localities to be found in any part of either city. This disagreeable effect has been added to lately by the wooden stairways which have been put in. and especially by the bracketed excres- cences to extend the platforms over the roadway which have been added (of course necessarily) to the present buildings, but have de- stroyed what little symmetry remained to it. 15 PLAN PROPOSED. * The plan proposed to meet all the conditions heretofore specified is in brief this : To spread the two cable tracks a little at each end and connect them by a horse-shoe curve of 90 feet radius extending nearly to the street line of Park Row. The radius might be considerably shorter, as more fully pointed out below, except that it would not give a sufficiently commodious station for perma- nent requirements and decent architectural effect, corresponding to the structure and location. To erect a station similar to Fig. 2, herewith to enclose under one roof the entire terminal horse-shoe thus formed. A similar station in essentials to be erected at the Brooklyn terminus. To run trains of 18 cars (less of course until all are needed) into this station, in a manner more fully described below, which when stopped, completely fill the station in horse-shoe form, with head and rear cars opposite each other. Entrance to train to be from inside platform only ; exit from the outside platform only. The cars to have entrance and exit doors arranged in a peculiar way, to be shortly described, to facilitate quick loading and unloading on either the curved or straight track. DESCRIPTION OF STATION. The extreme dimensions of the proposed building are 434 feet long by 288 feet wide, of horse-shoe form. At the east end it termin- ates at the west face line of the Rose Street arch ; at the west end at the sidewalk line of Park Row. The switching tracks which now extend halfway across the street are done away with. This station, although no longer than the present terminal, including the rear extension of tracks over Park Row, holds a train of 18 cars 50 feet long, or 900 feet in all with room to spare at each end ; it can be arranged to hold 1,000 feet of train. Ten of the 18 cars unload nearer to Park Row than at the present platform for three car trains. The roadways are carried within the building in covered ways, as shown, 20 feet wide, as now. This enables the toll gates to be under cover, and utilizes the space above the roadways as additional plat- form space for the upper tracks, where it is most likely to be needed. All the stone and brick work of the approaches west of the Rose Street arch are dispensed with and can be removed, except as they can usefully be made a part of the plans for the terminal building. * The plan proposed in the original draft in this report was for the smaller station shown in Fig. I, extending no further east than the east line of the present building and accommodating only 14 instead of 18 cars, the extreme dimensions being 350 X 190 feet, with the roadways outside, instead of 434 X 288 feet with the roadways inside. The Rotunda of the smaller station was only 100 feet in diameter instead of 135 feet. The larger station, however, appearing to be for many reasons preferable, this description has been changed to correspond with it. i6 The building is widened slightly at the easterly end for the double end of obtaining desirable platform space, and bringing its side parallel with Frankfort Street. The entire small triangle of build- ings between the bridge on the north, and Frankfort Street on the south, must practically be acquired, but besides giving ample room for the station, and enabling its side as well as ends to front on a street, the area will suffice to effect two highly desirable street im- provements, viz., to widen Frankfort Street to 60 feet from 35 feet, giving a new, wide street from the City Hall to Franklin Square, and to give the neceesary approach to the proposed new street between Nassau and William Streets by cutting off a triangle where French's Hotel now stands. The total cost of all the land now owned at the terminus, which included the old Staats Zeitung building, was under $500,000. Assessing a proper proportion of the cost of the land on the property benefited by the street improve- ments, it is believed that $500,000 should cover the cost of the additional land properly chargeable to the terminus. The station terminates at the west end in a large rotunda, which is the principal feature of the building. This rotunda is bounded on the outside by an iron fence to the loading or outgoing platform, and this fence is continued parallel to the track along the entire 900 feet of track within the building. In this fence are placed 18 or more ticket wickets approximately opposite to the central entrance door of each car, the windows for sale of tickets being at some interior point. By these arrangements the entrance to the outgoing platform is from the side at all points instead of from the ends only (see Fig. 7), — a very important and radical distinction which at once removes all those difficulties in getting a large crowd of passengers through the wickets to the loading platform, which must always exist in any form of end entrance to long platforms. There remains only the difficulty in getting them from the streets into the interior space, amply pro- vided for below. The diameter of the rotunda, etc., is roughly as follows : Rotunda proper, constituting the beginning of promenade, as well as an entrance space for car passengers, and bounded on the outside by fence to outgoing platform, ....... 135 ft. Center line of track, 180 " Outside of Incoming Platform, at center of rotunda, . . 220 " Outside of Roadways, . 260 " Extreme width of building, west end, ...... 288 " " " " east end, ..... 163 " The rotunda should be an entirely open space, unless for some central news stand or ticket-selling booth, with free access to it from all street entrances. The promenade starts from it on the same level and extends east through the center of the building, but it does not necessarily nor preferably become a distinct feature of the ^Iwwmu' .ippro^m it-iv the Prefer. U.].. A-r .uiyements of New York Terminal of (viz 18-car Maximum Trains. 90-ft. Terminal Radius, 135-It Rotunda' As proposed by A. M. WELLINGTON, M. Am Soc. C. E. % o 2 g & | s g g s i- o (- jc U «) f, o) « . > »- £ c ^ > «\ cj -r 1 ? M 2 c - ^ £ S .2 3 « O § C M.£J z •_ TO _f- ^ 3 C _£ v '~ 5 cj;,t; i 2 w 1/3 J2 cs to 3 c f ~* v v 2 » £ 2 « u O-—- - £ « 2 1 t*S - <= £ ~ £ 2 c o w O • iJ c £ .3 to O TO fcjc w 5 - tuo— si c 3 TO - O 2 *r- TO O U h J- »-i c/s rv 1 8 station, so as to separate the promenade from the car passengers, until near the east end of the station, especially if promenade tolls are to be abolished, as seems probable. The large central space will afford needed room not now existing nor obtainable for eleva- tors and stairways from the three streets which pass directly below the station, but which are now entirely useless as means of entrance from lack of any central space in the station to provide for such entrance. It will also provide ample and needed space for waiting and parcel rooms, news and cigar stands, lavatories and water closets, light refreshments, and offices of various kinds, as well as for stairways and elevators to the upper tracks suggested below, when and if constructed. With any ordinary skill in design such a building can hardly fail to be a stately and dignified structure, and at a moderate cost, in the hands of good architects, it can be made one of the finest K Fig. 4. Rough Sketch of Rear End of the Smaller (14-car) Station, showing an alternate type of roof and dome construction, suggested to the writer by Mr. Wm.W. Kent, Architect. [The rear view of the smaller station was selected only because more easily sketched. The rear view of the larger station, or the front view of either station, will be much more imposing and attractive.] terminals in the world, in broad contrast to the shabby arrangements which are now made here and elsewhere for rapid transit. Figs. 3 and 4 are rude and hasty sketches giving a general idea only of the capabilities of the plan. A higher roof east of the rotunda may be preferable. HANDLING OF TRAFFIC. As the 12 to 18-car trains shown in Fig. 2 enter it, the leading cars drop the cable in succession, or simultaneously (the rear ones '9 still keeping hold) and sweep through and around the horse-shoe curve at precisely cable speed until the head of the train is within two or three car-lengths of the end of the south arm of the station. Then for the first time the whole train drops the cable, and the air brakes are applied, bringing it to a stop in the position shown. [This is on the assumption that the cable is not to pass around the horse-shoe curves direct, as will probably be expedient. If it does, the cars will all release and grip the cable at once.] It will not be expedient with such long trains to have independent brakes on each car. They must be applicable to the whole train from any point, as in general railway practice. It is desirable also that the grips should be rearranged, first, so that they may be applied, released and applied again at any point (instead of at the termini only), and secondly, to work by air, inter-dependently with the brakes, by the same brake-handle and valve, so that moving the brake- handle to one side releases brakes and applies grips, moving it to the other releases grips and applies brakes, etc. A single man on any car can then handle the whole train by one brake-handle, and any passenger on any car can stop the whole train in an emergency, as on other railway lines. The necessary appliances to this end are simple and entirely practicable, and will make the handling of 18 or 20-car trains both simpler and safer than the present system for 3-car trains, which has a certain unavoidable element of danger in it, (1) from the confusion resulting in dropping back to the station to resume the cable after once dropping it, and (2) in the resulting fear of dropping the cable at the first sign of danger, or until it is seen to be absolutely unavoidable, when it may be too late. Switchi?ig and switching engines are entirely do?ie away with by this plan, and all expenses therefor are saved. Five engines and four crews now constantly employed are thus released, saving at the lowest estimate $100 per day, or $36,500 per year, which is interest at 3 per cent, on over $1,000,000. All expense for interlocking apparatus is likewise saved, since there are no switches to interlock. The total direct and indirect expense for switching is fully $50,000. These savings alone should far more than pay interest at 3 per cent on the entire cost of carrying through the improvements suggested herein in thoroughly good shape. But the improved system of handling trains and grips will also make possible a very large economy in cost of train service over present methods. The preferable arrangements will be these : 18 platform men at each terminus, one for each car, will open and shut all the doors at once as each train arrives and departs, and guide and instruct the passengers. Three trainmen only, one at the head, one at the rear, and another merely ornamental and precautionary, will 20 handle each train. Again, no trains are out of service switching, whereas now there must be two trains more at each end, one loading and one switching, while a third is unloading. Seven trains will therefore do the same work which would require n, by a mere expan- sion of the present switching system. To run 18-car trains at 2^- minute intervals by present methods would require a force of at least 229 train and platform men, whereas with the circulating tracks and better grip and brake system 57 only will be required to give a better service, as thus : No. of Trainmen. Present System Expanded : n trains in service (7 doing the work, as per Fig. 7, and 4 constantly out of service switching), with 19 trainmen for each 18-car train, ..... 209 Platform guards, say only 10 at each terminus, ... 20 229 Proposed System : 7 trains with 3 trainmen each, ... 21 18 platform doormen at each terminus, .... 36 57 Saving in employes (over 75 per cent.), ..... 172 Seats per train-hand, present system (expanded to 18-car trains), 18X42X7—229, . 23 Seats per train-hand, present system (3-car trains), about . 20 Seats per train-hand, proposed system, 18X56X7-; — 57, • • 124 In other words, each train employe will have more than six times the transporting efficiency that he has now. At $45 per month each, this represents a saving of $92,880 per year over a simple expansion of the present system of handling trains, allowing such expansion to be possible. As part of the train at least is always over the cable, the train can be moved slightly within the station or started at any time, in any position. Should a car be disabled it is uncoupled from the rear cars, the head of the train grips the cable and pulls out a sufficient distance, and then the disabled car is dropped back by gravity on to the "disabled car switch" shown below the south track. The head of the train then drops back by gravity and couples on to the rear of the train, and the whole train proceeds. The car may be repaired on the siding and taken out in a simi- lar way, or an engine sent around after it. This disabled car switch, and a corresponding one at the Brook- lyn end, are the only switches in the whole track. As they are rarely used, and hence can be readily arranged to make no break in main rails whatever, either for frog or switch, they can only become a source of danger by gross carelessness, making this plan far safer than any other can be in that respect. The number of trains in service should remain always the same (7) in both rush hours and off hours. The full number of cars, say 12 or 20, is run only during the two rush hours (see traffic diagrams). 2 I When these are over, half the cars are uncoupled from the rest, just before entering the Brooklyn terminus, held back a couple of car- lengths by the brakes, just long enough to throw a switch, and run out to the present storage tracks by gravity, where they are carefully inspected. An hour or so later, half of the remaining cars are run out of service in the same way, leaving only a quarter of the cars in each train in service for about 14 off hours of the 24. The cars are put back into service in the same way, as the rush hours approach, by a single switch engine kept on hand for that purpose and for emergencies, or they may be put into service as well as out of it by gravity. This process is a perfectly simple one, and need not delay the routine of train service by a second. The average time of service for each car is only ioj4 hours per day, leaving ample time for inspection and repairs. To facilitate the above method of operating, and for other reasons, it is desirable to have the tracks of both termini on a down grade within the station, bringing them but little more than half as high as now above Chatham Street sidewalk on the New York side, and nearly at the level of the sidewalks at the corner of Washington and Sands Streets on the Brooklyn side. The horse-shoe form makes this possi- ble, for whether the plane of the horse-shoe track within the building be a level or on such a down grade, a train standing on it in the position shown starts from it, mechanically, as from a level grade. It is the locus of the centre of gravity of the train which fixes the equivalent grade under these unusual conditions ; the dip which hinders one-half of the train helps the other. . By having the north track (at New York) slightly higher than the south, or by having the train stop with more cars on the north track than on the south, the train will start as from a down grade. This will be seen more clearly by imagining the horse-shoe curve developed into a straight line. The station as a whole, therefore, may have a very decided dip against starting trains, and yet trains start with the equivalent of any desired favoring grade, by making the north arm of the horse-shoe higher, or the south arm lower. The Rotunda should be made level. It may be desirable to have a slight down grade on the horseshoe curve, in order to balance its extra resistance as nearly as may be, and give a perfectly smooth motion around it; but this need be but slight, as follows : THE HORSE-SHOE CURVE. The proposed radius of 90 feet offers no impediment whatever. The elevated lines have a number of curves of 90 feet radius, operated by locomotives in the ordinary way at 6 to 10 miles per hour (the guard rails being well greased however). The rails last about 1 8 months, and no trouble or threatened trouble has ever arisen from them. These horse-shoe curves, however, are not to be passed over by locomotives, and as the car trucks are but little longer than a freight car truck there is no reason why the cars should not go over any curve that freight cars will, and freight cars pass curves every day in the streets of New York and elsewhere of less than 50 feet radius. The only reason, therefore, for proposing even so large a radius as 90 feet is to obtain a station area which will be adequate for all time to the requirements. Otherwise the curve might be considerably sharper, although of course an easy radius is always preferable. Whatever the radius, it makes no difference what the speed is, provided the outer rail can be elevated to precisely correspond to the speed and the radius of the curve at every point. By the plans here outlined every train will have the constant speed of the cable at all times, and by connecting the sharp curve to the tangents by transition curves of gradually increasing radius, as it is proposed to do, the elevation may always be precisely adapted to the radius of the curve as well. Under these conditions, with precisely uniform speed, and precise adaptation of the elevation to the speed and radius of curve, it will not be possible for either a standing or sitting passenger to tell by the motion of the train, with his eyes shut, that there is a curve there at all. The lurching sensation in ordinary railway travel arises chiefly from the fact that the speed of no two trains are alike ; and hence, it is not possible to adapt the elevation to them, and in part from the absence of transition spirals to connect the curves and tan- gents, which are only used in the best modern work. The elevation of outer rail required on the horse-shoe curve is 5^ inches, for 10 miles per hour. It is also proposed, however, not from necessity, but for greater economy and convenience, to further facilitate the operation of these horse-shoe curves by laying a broad outside rail having a trough or broad flat groove coated with a thick grease, and to provide the wheels on one side of each axle, with a broad flat flange resembling a narrow duplicate tread, which rides in the bottom of this groove, and is of an outside diameter to correspond to the difference of radius of the outside and inside rail. This gives in effect an outside larger wheel used on the sharp curve only, which carries the main tread of the wheel on which the brake-shoes act, clear of the grease. The curve resistance, and extra rail wear as well, will be in this way almost entirely eliminated. What remains will be of no serious moment. 23 THE CARS AND PLATFORMS. The cars which stand on the horse-shoe curve have their ends thrown far away from the loading platform, as shown in Fig. 5 ; so far away (4 or 5 ft.) that with ordinary end-platform cars and very numerous trains it would hardly be feasible to load and unload on the curve at all. The most essential feature of the present plan is the arrangement of car doors, by which it is made indifferent whether the cars stand on curve or tangents for either loading or unloading, which is as follows (see Fig. 5) : Fig. 6 The inside platform is used for loading, or for outgoing passengers, only. The ?niddle of every car, as will be seen by the sketch, is always adjacent to this platform, whether on curves or tangents. A central door is accordingly placed on this side, used for entrance only. The end doors or end-platform gates on this side of the car are perma- nently closed, if the car has any, as worse than useless. The outside platform is used for exit only, and on this side the ends of the car are always in contact with the platform, whether on straight line or on the curve. Doors or platform gates on this side are placed accordingly at the ends only, from which exit only is permitted.* The effect is not only to make the horse-shoe platform as useful as the straight for loading and unloading, and to increase the seating capacity of the same car floor space from 42 to 56 or more, but also to very greatly facilitate rapid loading and unloading. The passenger entering through the middle door, knowing that he can only leave through the end doors, goes as near to the end of * A minor difficulty will be seen from Fig. 5, that the corner of the car is not exactly parallel with the outside platform at the ends, as the center door is with the inside platform ; but must either project over the platform or leave a slight tri- angular gap to be stepped over. This difficulty is overcome by the simple device shown in Fig. 6 ; viz., chamfering off the under part of the corner of the car, and adding a boiler-plate extension faced with rubber, which rides over the platform. 24 This train is just starting, and in the act of applying grips, and hence s seconds ahead of the position it will have in motion. This train is just entering the ration and hence, throughout the i sec. needed for so doing, is about To illustrate that length of train has little real connection with ease of loading, the station is supposed to be divided by impassible partitions (except to let the cars through) into 3 equal stations holding 6 cars each, I, 2 and 3. The arrows represent the approximate position of the various separate station entrances proposed, each at least equal in width to the single entrance through which all passengers now pass, a passageway about 8 ft. wide. Fully two-thirds of Brooklyn residents live east of Broad- way. Station 2, with 7 times the present entrance space, takes passengers from the west ; stations I and 3, each with 9 or 10 entrances, take passengeis from the east. This traffic being all delivered into the common central space equalizes itself between I and 3. With an impassible partition between I and 3, the promenade sub-entrance only would about suffice as an equalizer. For stopping ami starting, length of train makes no sensible difference, since the grip power is per car, and there are always six trains in motion for one starting. The center of the Rotunda of the Brooklyn Terminus stands exactly on the present center-line of Washington Street, which is diverted to pass around the circular end of the building. The present curve in the bridge at the Sands Street terminus is taken out. The new terminus includes the whole of the area now occupied, however. Fig. 7. DIAGRAM showing the Position of Trains on the Bridge and the Relative Proportion of Occupied and Unoccupied Track, When Running 7 Trains of 18 Cars Each at 2 minute 20 second intervals, OR 126 CARS IN ALL IN SERVICE. In the off hours the same number of trains is continued in service, simply diminishing the length of each, first to 8 or 9 and then to 4 or 5 cars. 7 otal Length center to of Rotundas, . 6,000 ft. " track on horse-shoes, 6,180 " " face to face of station, . . . 5,360 " of track circuit (5,360 -]- 900) X 2 = 12,520" Fraction of do. occupied by cats, 900 X 7 = 6,300 " 'Time required for round trip at 880 ft. per min, no stop, 14 min. 14 sec, or 854 sec. Two stops, 100 " Stopping and starting, 5X4 sees., . 20 " Total, . 974 sec. Interval between trains, 7 in service, 139 -|- sees., 01 2,053 ft An odd number of trains being desirable, so that two trains may not be starting at once from the opposite terminus, 7 is the proper number regardless of the exact number of cais in train. Length of /S-car train, . . 900 ft., 61 sees, in time. Interval between them in motion, 1,153 " 79 " Minimum do. at one point only, . 352 " 24 " Should a longer stop be desired, say 60 seconds, or 20 per cent, more time, we have : Total time of trip, 974 -j- 20, 994 sees. Time interval center to center of trains, . . 142 Time interval in the clear, 81 Minimum at entering station, 16 (instead of 139 or 140. (instead of 79.) (instead of 24.) 2? the car as possible, thus leaving the way clear behind him for others. As a loaded train enters the station the passengers naturally gather around the end exit doors, leaving a clear open space for incoming passengers to enter. When the doors are simultaneously thrown open, the stream of incoming passengers, so far from impeding the exit, serves as a substitute for the brakeman to quickly drive out the laggards. It cannot be doubted that cars arranged in this way will both load and unload more quickly than either process can be done separately, for the reason that the passengers are in no case in each other's way, but keep always moving ahead out of the way of those behind. In other words, no passenger ever has occasion to go back upon his tracks within the car to get out again, and so interfere with others. In trains of this length there will be a natural tendency among the passengers to select a location in accordance with their destina- tion. Those going to Broadway or west of it will take the middle cars. Those going back towards the East River will take the end cars, and so on. Thus there will be a constant tendency to utilize all parts of the ample platform space. A difficulty which may have to be guarded against, however, will be a tendency of the south arm of the horse-shoe station to receive more passengers than the north. A means of avoiding this which would be exceedingly popular will be to make the rear four or five cars of every train smoking cars, and permit smoking on the north platforms. With such ample station arrangements as proposed this is feasible. With the present arrangements it is not feasible, and many passengers are lost to the bridge and gained by the ferries because of the fact that they can smoke on the one and not on the other. End doors to connect the cars may be used or not. It is doubtful if they serve as useful a purpose as would the four seats per car which they destroy. The end doors are little used on the elevated trains, and that little is mostly from mere restlessness. With these still shorter trips the seating space will be worth more. Fourteen-car trains will be 10 cars, or 33 seconds, longer than the 4-car trains which it is now proposed to run at 90 second intervals. Allowing only 3 seconds to be saved by the superior method of loading and unloading, they can be run at two-minute intervals with the same safety distance between trains as now, giving a car capacity of 30 X 14=420 cars per hour, and seating capacity of 420X56 = 23,520 passengers per hour. By running 18-car trains (see Fig. 7) at 2 minute 20 second intervals, a capacity of 468 cars or 26,208 seated passengers per hour will be obtained, but this may be taken as the utmost possible over a single road-bed and track. The total seating and standing capacity of the present 3-car trains, with 100 26 passengers crowded into cars seating only 42, is 12,000 per hour, which will be increased by the approaching addition of another car to 16,000 per hour, and it is probably doubted by no one that these 4-car trains will be at once crowded as full as the 3-car trains now are. These figures place it beyond all reasonable doubt, without entering into any niceties of calculation as to the exact probabilities, that the available seating capacity of the long trains here proposed will be almost immediately used up in regular every-day service, without considering the traffic of extra heavy days. The only remaining possibility for meeting the inevitable future growth of traffic, will then be to begin anew the process of overcrowding the cars, which should never be permitted while other possibilities remain. For expenses will increase in far less than direct proportion to the number of cars. Up to the limit of the total car-moving capacity herein provided for, careful computations, which the writer will be pleased to give in detail, and which allow fully for all direct and indirect expenses, indicate that the extra cost of seating every passenger, even in the rush hours, instead of packing them in like cattle, will not (at least, need not) exceed one-fourth cent per additional seated passenger who would otherwise ride standing, leaving the cost per passenger now seated unchanged. As a mere money-making investment to increase the traffic of the bridge, this slight increase of expense would be advisable, apart from the equitable claim of every passenger to a seat when it can be had at so slight a cost. Nothing could be a more attractive novelty, or tend more powerfully to attract residents to Brooklyn by contrast, than to be able to secure seats even in the crowded hours. And it maybe added that nothing could conduce more to the public interest than for the cities of New York and Brooklyn to demonstrate on the only line under their control that the shameful overcrowding which prevails on public conveyances comes chiefly from private greed, and is not a necessity of their profitable operation. In suburban train service, where the expenses are far greater in proportion to fare paid, such overcrowding is never thought of. But at present it comes with an ill grace for the public to complain, since the only line over which they have absolute control is the worst offender of all. The question, therefore, is even now an urgent one, whether it is possible to still further increase the capacity of the bridge beyond 14 or 18-car trains over a single track. It appears probable that it can be doubled again, by adding a second story or deck cable track above the present one and entirely independent of it. If so, the obviously proper use for that track is for running cars from the various Brooklyn elevated lines direct to the New York terminus a; without trans-shipment, leaving the lower (present) track to accom- modate the horse-car passengers and such others as come to it. With any other form of terminal station than that herein proposed this would be practically impossible, for lack of terminal room at New York. Under the circulating system, with such cars and stations as proposed, it is unquestionably entirely practicable, and at very moderate cost. This upper track is the more likely to be early demanded because it will provide not simply more facilities, but a different a?id better kind of facilities, than any heretofore in use or, so far as the writer knows, suggested. If constructed, it would give a total capacity of about 900 cars per hour, or just 7^ times the present capacity, with 3 car trains. The means of access from the street to the station, as below sketched, will be from fifteen to twenty times as great as now, at least ; the interior means of access to the cars will likewise be ample ; the architectural effect of the station will be decidedly im- proved by the additional height required. There remains therefore only the question of adapting the bridge to such an upper track. A SECOND STORY CABLE TRACK. The question of the capacity of the bridge to carry one or more additional pairs of cable car tracks is one of too purely technical a nature to be advantageously entered into in this report. Suffice it to say that the writer has given the matter some study, and has taken the opinion of one of the most competent and expert bridge engineers in the country for this class of structures, who is familiar with the construction of the Brooklyn bridge. He therefore deems it an entirely safe statement that from $150,000 to $500,000 will suffice to make all necessary changes in the suspended super- structure to add a second track above the present one, and that for less than $1,000,000 two extra complete track circuits can be added to the bridge, one over the present cable tracks and one over the outer roadways. This is on the assumption that only minor reconstructions of the floor system, stiffening trusses and tower stays will be required to provide amply for the trifling percentage of increased load on the cables, as is believed to be the case ; but even if more considerable modifications are required, the total cost of the suspended super- structure, cables and all, was under $3,500,000 (out of about $14,- 500,000), and it could probably be renewed complete to-day for considerably less than that sum. Fortunately the type of structure is such as to permit of such strengthening without entire reconstruc- tion more readily than most others. 28 These figures will show that the cost of gaining the additional capacity can in no case be a serious matter compared with the bene- fit derived. In case both of these upper circuits were added, the outer one would rise above the inner one at the termini, and enter the buildings on an additional upper floor. The entire practicability of taking the crowd of passengers to and from such upper floors, by powerful and capacious lifts, has already been demonstrated at Liverpool and elsewhere, and will not be questioned. The upper track or tracks can be readily operated as follows : A separate grip car, provided with powerful grips, should be used in lieu of a locomotive. It is a mere question of proportion to get any desired gripping power. Successive trains as they arrive from any quarter of Brooklyn should be coupled on to this car, locomotive and all. The locomo- tives may use a little steam going up grade on the bridge, but other- wise pass over simply as vehicles, to save the trouble and delay of cutting them off. Promptly on time, whatever the number of cars, the cable train should leave, discharging its passengers at New York, taking a fresh load and returning to the Brooklyn terminus, where the grip car should drop by gravity around the horse-shoe to its position for the return trip, and the train behind it be cut up into its original consti- tuent units for the several lines.* It is not recommended that both these upper circuits, nor possibly either of them, should be immediately constructed, but before the end of the present century both of them are likely to be needed, and hence the ultimate construction of both should be provided for in all present plans ; and it is believed that one complete circuit for the direct service should be added at once, for the following reasons : Within the belt which is more than two miles and less than eight miles from the New York City Hall, there is about 7^ times as great an available residence area in Brooklyn as on Manhattan Island, as shown on the accompanying map, measuring the Brooklyn distances via the bridge and Brooklyn City Hall, and not in an air line. Balancing the New York horse-car travel into the business section against the Brooklyn ferry-travel, and neglecting both (both having about the same volume, and coming chiefly from a narrow belt near to the business section), there are 150,000,000 passengers coming from upper New York to doivn-town New York (below 14th * It may be arranged in a very simple way to run the cars only over the bridge, the locomotives dropping and resuming their trains on the Brooklyn side, but the above method seems the better one. 2 9 Street), via the elevated lines, against only 30,000,000 from Brooklyn via the bridge. Were the Brooklyn areas at equal distances sending as much travel to down-town New York as the Manhattan Island areas, there would be 150,000,000X7^ = 1,087,500,000 passengers per annum over the bridge instead of 30,000,000, or 36 times as much as now. While this enormous aggregate can never be expected, the computation does indicate the fearful disadvantage under which Brooklyn labors from the lack of foresight of its citizens and prop- erty holders in not having, long ere this, exhausted the resources of engineering to place it strictly on a par with up-town New York in transit facilities, as by this plan at least it is readily in their power to do at trifling cost ; the passenger being carried without change from any point in Brooklyn to the New York City Hall, as from any point in New York. The advantage and stimulus which such direct transit would give to Brooklyn as a residence city can hardly be exaggerated. It is not too much to say that it would entirely change the character of many parts of it in that respect. In the judgment of various experienced real-estate men whom the writer has consulted, it would at once add from 10 to 25 per cent, to the renting value of Brooklyn residences, according to their distance from the City Hall ; and fully $100,000,000 to the present assessed valuation of $383,000,000 within a very short time after the whole improvement had been carried out in thoroughly good shape. The advantage must not be gauged by what can be figured out as the bare saving to the passengers of time and muscular exertion, or even the possible loss of a seat. Experience has clearly shown that the disadvantage of changing conveyances en route is much greater than can be accounted for in this way. The fact seems to be that in every family there are young, infirm or timid members who have a dread of such changes, and the movements of the whole family are governed by those who perhaps do an insignificant fraction of its traveling. At any rate, even a single change between cars on parallel tracks on long railway trips is found to have a serious effect on patronage. In rapid transit trips it is proportionately a vastly greater objection, and has likewise a vastly more serious effect, since it decides the choice of a residence instead of a route for a single trip. To the poor of New York such facilities would be of especial value, since it would give them direct and quick access to the cheap lands and homes of surburban Brooklyn, which are now beyond their reach because of the time and cost of getting to them. Direct pecuniary advantages to the revenue of the bridge would also result from the immediate construction of the upper track, as follows : 30 First. It would save the cost of operating the lower (present) tracks during the unprofitable night hours. The Brooklyn Elevated trains must run at night anyway, and they could be run over the bridge by their own motors during the night, with greater profit to them as well as to the bridge. At least $20,000 per year should thus be saved. Secondly. An enormous summer business by direct trains from the New York terminus to Coney Island and other Long Island re- sorts can be done without any extra car service or expense, leaving the revenue from it clear gain, since it is in the reverse direction from the rush of business travel, viz., from New York in the morn- ing, and back to it at night. After the opening of the Brooklyn Elevated lines now building, there will be four different routes by which such transit will be possible, and more will be added. This traffic should fully double the bridge's net earnings during the sum- mer months, or be worth to it from $250,000 to $400,000 per year. Thirdly. The direct transit, in connection with a new Elm Street and Fourth Avenue line, would greatly stimulate the shopping, calling, theatre and other transient travel between New York and Brooklyn, which is also highly profitable, since it is mostly off-hour traffic. As will be seen below, and in Fig. 2, it is proposed to provide both the Manhattan Elevated and the new underground Elm Street line with termini within the building. The indirect value to Brooklyn of pro- viding well for this traffic is not to be measured by the mere bridge fares collected. As upper New York will always be the chief shopping, social and theatre centre of the metropolis, Brooklyn's future as a residence city depends on making a trip to it a pleasure and not a burden, even more than on quick business transit. Supposing eight Brooklyn rapid transit lines to be delivering 4-car trains at 3-minute intervals there will be 8X4X20=640 cars per hour to take care of. A single track circuit will permit of about 14-car trains at 2-minute intervals or 420 cars per hour, or would give direct transit to about five lines only, which are now building. When, and if, this capacity proves too small (it is equiva- lent to about 150,000,000 passengers per annum, or about that now entering lower New York, via the four Manhattan Elevated lines) the second outer circuit must be added, but one will certainly suffice for many years. THE BROOKLYN TERMINUS. Under the system of operation here outlined there is but one rational and defensible location for the Brooklyn terminus, viz : precisely where it is, but on the axis of the bridge prolonged (see 31 Fig. 7), the center of the rotunda being exactly on the center line of Washington Street, a little below Sands Street. Architectural dignity and propriety indicate this to be the proper course, as well as more urgent reasons, the twist in the bridge approach at the Brooklyn end being an unsightly feature. This requires the acquisition of most or all of the small and cheap block between Washington and Adams Streets, opposite the present building. The two locations for a terminus at the City Hall or at Concord Street, over which there has been so much dispute, become alike inadmissible under the plans here outlined, but the land now owned in that direction will all be useful and necessary for storing the rush-hour cars during the off hours. The necessity for retaining the station where it is results from the configuration of the streets at that point, and from their relation to the bridge axis. It is proposed to leave Washington Street entirely unobstructed as a foot, team and horse-car approach to the bridge, and to provide for four Elevated lines each in Fulton Street and Adams Street, as follows : In each street there should be placed two tiers of two tracks each ; the upper tracks both up-tracks and the lower tracks both down-tracks, each track accommodating the trains of two lines. Each line in succession branches off from the trunk with its up- and down-track still in the same position, t. e., one above the other, the two being brought into their normal position, side by side, as soon as possible thereafter, which may be within a block or two of the point of separation. All four lines of each main stem will probably have separated from each other not far beyond the City Hall. The details of the arrangements thus briefly outlined work out very favorably at the bridge terminus and elsewhere. The consent of the lines which have now preempted Fulton and Adams Streets for their sole use can be enforced (if not freely given) by making it a condition of their running trains over the bridge. The arrangement thus rudely outlined seems to be, and is, a peculiar one, but it is the only possible one to accomplish the end, and it is to be regretted that the people of Brooklyn do not more clearly perceive that their whole rapid transit problem is a peculiar one, compared with which that of New York is simplicity itself ; and that by failing to act accordingly, they are greatly imperilling the symmetrical and healthy growth of their city. The special difficulties are, first, that the rapid transit lines must radiate in fan-like fashion from a single point, for the first time in the history of engineering, and secondly, that from this point the traffic must be carried for over a mile over a single way of com- munication to an exterior point. There is no other city in the 32 world where a similar problem has or can arise on any considerable scale. The special difficulties all lie within a mile or so of the bridge terminus, but there they are very great, and they will be fatal to the healthy growth of Brooklyn unless plans are worked out as a whole with corresponding care, and with careful provision for the future as well as the present. By building another bridge, say at Grand Street, the difficulty may be in a sense diminished, by splitting it in half, but as the nature of each half remains the same, the necessary treatment of each half likewise remains the same. The preceding suggestions, appear to exhaust the possibilities of the bridge as respects car-carrying capacity. When they are exhaust- ed, which will not be till some 400,000,000 passengers per annum are passing over the bridge, or some 250,000,000 if seating capacity only is counted ; the only resource will be to build another bridge. It remains only to consider the two phases of the problem which have been heretofore postponed. Access from the street to the station and improvement in the architectural appearance and surroundings of the terminus. ACCESS FROM THE STREETS TO THE STATION. This is really the weakest point of the present arrangements. It is proposed to increase the present facilities fully twenty-fold, by simple and inexpensive measures outlined below, so that a traffic ten times as great as now, as in time it may be, can be carried without half the jam in the street approaches. Three of the measures to this end are in a sense for architectural effect, also since they are de- manded for that end alone they may therefore be considered first. MANHATTAN ELEVATED STATION. The lower (present) bridge tracks being reconstructed on a decided down grade toward Chatham Street, so as to be only some 10 or 12 ft. above the street, by running in the upper bridge tracks (for the direct Brooklyn elevated service) level, or on a slight up grade a mezzanine floor may be introduced at the Chatham Street end of the station on which a horse-shoe circuit terminal for the Manhattan elevated line may be introduced, giving that line corresponding advantages to what the bridge service gains from the new terminal, and dispensing with the present utterly inadequate and unsightly Chatham Street terminal, while affording the best possible connection between the New York and Brooklyn lines. BRIDGE ACROSS PARK ROW. If the present unsightly Chatham Street station were removed from the immediate front of the bridge terminus, it would be much more apparent than now, that the present bridge across Park Row 33 is quite unfitted architecturally, as well as otherwise, to remain in front of a terminal in which some respect was paid to appearances, especially as it butts against the dilapidated Registry building, which occupies, for the mere sake of saving rent, ground which should be given up to grass. By removing this building (as Mayor Hewitt has proposed) and the present bridge, and erecting a light and graceful arch of the form outlined in Fig. 3, an open park front will be given to the station, and direct access to it obtained from Broadway, without going up or down a single step. This change alone will put a very different aspect on residences in Brooklyn for those doing business on the west side of Broadway, and add greatly to the attractiveness of City Hall Park, especially for this reason : The present Registry building (which has been altered out of all resemblance of its former self) was a revolutionary prison, and in it Nathan Hale was confined on the night before his execution, which took place nearly under the bridge at Franklin Square. What more appropriate place than the site of this building, at the end of the bridge, could there be for erecting the statue to his memory, a suitable site for which is now in question ? It would be about mid- way between the bridge terminus and City Hall Park, and the statue, bridge and the two buildings would then help out each other, while a suitable inscription would keep in memory not only the man him- self, but the spot on which he suffered imprisonment and death. The archway should be at least 40 feet wide, and better 50 feet, and should span sidewalks and all. All steps being eliminated it will accommodate easily four to six times as many as now use the bridge. It connects on a level with the exit platforms, and also with a ramp which passes down so as to barely pass under the track, giving a headway for the distance between the rails of about 7 feet. The passage-way then rises by a ramp (or a few steps might be pre- ferable) into the central rotunda. Only for the five feet under the rails would the headway be contracted. ARCHES OVER ENTRANCE TO BRIDGE ROADWAYS. For the mere sake of architectural propriety the roadways of so grand a structure should terminate in some feature like an entrance arch carrying a handsome iron gate, like that of the Mills Building, instead of rough wooden gates. Such arches would also serve a practical purpose in connection with a side stairway of stone to give access to the station without crossing the roadways, under either of the plans outlined in Figs. 1 or 2, and are provided for in each. 34 STREET CAR CIRCLE. So much headway as now exists beneath the cable-car tracks, now used for the promenade and waiting and ticket rooms, will be no longer needed. The tracks may therefore be dropped somewhat and still leave a great deal of space below, which may be utilized in a highly advantageous way to make a circular terminus for street car tracks beneath the rotunda and connecting therewith. The Broad- way, Chambers Street, 3d and 4th Avenue, Elm Street lines and others, could use this terminus for a certain number of their cars, thus enabling Brooklyn passengers to enter and leave New York horse-cars under cover in the same building, while relieving lower Park Row. There will also be sufficient space for a cab-stand as well, under cover. ENTRANCES FROM NORTH WILLIAM, WILLIAM AND ROSE STREETS. These streets have heretofore added nothing to the approach facilities, for the good reason that there was no possible chance above to give the necessary floor space to permit of stairway or elevator connections with them. The new terminus will permit all three streets to be utilized in this way on an extensive scale, and it is expected that a large part of the total traffic will enter through them. As will be seen in Fig. 2, the entire length of all four sides of the building is utilized for entrances. A glance at the map will show how greatly these new entrances will tend to increase the area tributary to the bridge at the expense of the ferries and up-town New York, while affording necessary and great relief to Nassau Street and Park Row. This will be still more clearly seen if we remember that as a natural effect of propinquity and past conditions the greatest proportion of Brooklyn residents doing business in New York are located along the East River, the proportion decreasing westwardly, so that west of Broadway there are comparatively few. Probably a large majority of the bridge patrons are now compelled to go west first, to the very west end of the structure, before they can go east, so that they have to go out of their way to get into a crowd. The same fact also suggests that a still greater and more gener- ally useful increase in means of access to the bridge can be ob- tained through the promenade, as follows : THE PROMENADE. Simultaneously with the construction of an upper track it is proposed to prolong the grade of the high part of the promenade (beyond the anchorage) backward without a break to the rotunda, 35 which it will just strike, taking out the present promenade stairway at the anchorage and giving an upper promenade parallel with the present one and about ten feet above it. This change not only eliminates the stairway, which is an objec- tionable and even dangerous feature, and caused the only serious accident in the history of the bridge, but leaves a vacant section of the old promenade underneath the new one which will be well adapted for running elevators up into it from the streets below; at first only from Franklin Square and near the river front, but add- ing to them as traffic warrants. To run them up into the main promenade would be so unsightly and even dangerous as to be prac- tically out of the question, but narrow stairways may give access to the main promenade from the lower one. This will afford an independent approach from the eastward streets to the cable cars, preferably collecting the car fare before the elevators are entered, and then connecting the lower promenade with the out- going platforms direct, without further ticket wickets, making no extra charge for using the elevators. Those ascending the elevators merely to reach the main promenade will then. pay a cable-car fare. There will thus be in the crowded hours two opposite streams of passengers on the two promenades, those on the upper one walking over to Brooklyn and those on the lower one walking down toward the New York terminus to take the cable cars. A large part of the receipts thus gained will be clear gain, so that the elevators will unquestionably pay for the cost to run them directly, while the indirect gain to the bridge traffic and to public convenience will probably be found to be surprisingly great, especially if one or more similar elevators were added on the Brooklyn side. For example, it will be the easiest way to reach Broadway from the East river front, even if one does not wish to cross the bridge at all. The disadvantage the bridge cars and promenade are under now may be paralleled by comparing the traffic a street car line would have which admitted passengers at the termini only, with that of a line which admits them at all points. It is not possible to admit passengers to the cable cars except at the terminus, but it is possible by this plan to admit them to a shaded, comfortable promenade by which they can walk down-hill to the cars.* *A stretch beyond the anchorage and stairway, toward the river, where this sub-promenade might be desirable, is now blocked by diagonal tie-rods under the high promenade. By substituting stiffening knees or angles this space also will become available. It is worthy of note, also, that an elevator trestle to connect the river front with the middle point of the anchorage span (between the anchorage and tower) will serve a useful purpose in stiffening the bridge against vibration and undulation, since at that point the bending moments are the greatest of the entire structure. 36 STREET CARS OVER ROADWAYS. The spaciousness of the New York terminus makes possible still one more improvement in transit facilities, viz: to utilize the vacant space under the New York terminus to enable horse cars from Brooklyn as well as from New York to turn into it under cover and re- turn, thus bringing New York and Brooklyn street cars into direct connection under cover. Heretofore the lack of terminal room at New York, if nothing else, has made it impossible to allow Brooklyn street cars over the road- ways of the Bridge. By admitting them to the roadways, two street car fares will enable one to pass from any point on Broadway or the Bowery to any point in Brooklyn, by practically a single trip. It appears probable also that the elevators to the promenade just suggested could be so arranged as to give direct access from them to the horse cars, without the slightest injury to the appearance of the structure, which is the only obstacle. The opportunity would no doubt be eagerly availed of by the street car lines at a considerable toll, as the longer haul would be balanced by doing away with the long, steep grade from Fulton Ferry. The rail should be a flat bar, flush with the planking, having a groove in it just wide enough to admit the flange, similar to the " Liverpool rail " used throughout England, but as yet almost unknown here, which offers no obstacle whatever to wheeled vehicles. The additional traffic thus gained would be largely supplemental to that in the cable cars, and not drawn therefrom, but rather from the promenade. It would at least be expedient in planning the new station to plan it so as to afford these facilities when desired, in the best manner, without further modification. The date when the street car tracks were to be laid could then be left in abeyance. STREET CARS AT BROOKLYN TERMINUS. The space beneath the rotunda of the Brooklyn terminus is far more imperatively needed than that at New York as a terminus for street cars, and will be much more commodious than the present open space at Fulton Ferry. At present the street car arrangements at the bridge are very contracted and inadequate, and ^or this reason, and because the present bridge traffic is relatively so small, rather than from the preference of the companies (who would naturally prefer to save the steep haul from the ferries) the service of cars running directly to the bridge is scant and unreliable, thus driving many passengers from the bridge to the ferries in order to obtain seats in horse cars on the Brooklyn side. 37 In view of the great importance to Brooklyn of making the transit to New York a.s attractive and comfortable as possible, and of the present crowding, it is believed that all the facilities herein outlined, except the third cable track circuit, will be none too great for advantageous early use, and will be cheap indeed at their probable cost, which is rudely estimated at $1,000,000 for the single track complete, chiefly for the two terminal buildings at each end of the bridge, and the ground they stand on, and between $1,000,000 and $2,000,000 more for the overhead tracks connecting direct, without change of cars, with all the elevated lines. There will also be not the slightest difficulty in executing all the works complete without any interruption whatever of regular traffic. Summarizing the ground gone over, the system of operation herein suggested is believed to offer the following advantages as compared with any others which have been or (for the most part) can be suggested : SUMMARY OF ADVANTAGES: As respects Requirement A ; Car Carrying Capacity : 1. It affords the maximum capacity for the present cable tracks about three times what is reasonably practicable by any other plan whatsoever. 2. It affords the only reasonable possibility of enlarging the capacity by one or two additional cable circuits, which is impossible without effective terminal arrangements. 3. It is the safest possible plan ; there is not a frog or switch in the track in regular use, tail collisions only are possible, and the speed never varies from 10 miles per hour. 4. // saves all expense and roo?n for switching and switching engines, and for interlocking apparatus, which alone more than pays interest on the whole cost of the improvement. 5. // saves a large sum annually in train-zuages, making each trainman five or six times as efficient. 6. It gives longer haul, taking passengers more nearly to their destination. 7. It requires four full trains less to be in service for the same capacity than would be required by a switching system, or 7 in place of 11. With 18-car trains, at $3,500 per car, this represents a saving in capital investment of $252,000. 8. It enables every passenger to be provided with a seat, for the present at least, even in crowded hours, and enables the crowd on exceptional days to be readily handled. g. It enables smoking to be permitted in rear cars, without danger of annoyance to non-smokers. 10. // affords the only possible chance for a direct Brooklyn elevated train service terminating in New York, which will alone return to Brooklyn a hundred-fold the cost of the improvements. n. It will especially benefit the poor of New York, by giving them ready access to the cheap homes of suburban Brooklyn ; and makes possible a lucrative off-honr traffic to Coney Island and else- where which will be nearly clear gain to the bridge revenues. As respects Requirement B ; Interior means of access to cars. 12. It provides a broad, spacious rotunda, with ample connected floor spaces to the east, all open to the public without delay at ticket booths, in which a large crowd can spread itself and prepare at leisure to enter the cars. In this way also : 13. It affords direct access front the side to and from all points of the train, with room for any number of ticket gates, instead of giving access at the end of a long platform only. 14. It promotes quick loading and unloading of cars, and enables both processes to go on at once, by a more rational arrangement of car entrances. 15. It provides ample space for waiting and parcels rooms, news stands, toilet rooms, refreshment and cigar stands, and similar public conveniences, now lacking. As respects Requirement C; Means of access from the city streets to the station. 16. It gives direct access to the bridge from every street which it crosses, or from as many as may seem desirable, through a new sub- promenade. 17. It utilizes the three streets which the terminus stands over as approaches, and so relieves Park Row and Nassau Street, throwing most of the travel into these less frequented neighboring streets ; while at the same time : 18. It reduces the average walk to the station, and greatly in- creases the number who can use the bridge to advantage. 19. It gives communication by a direct path with Broadway without steps, and eliminates all stairways at the Brooklyn terminus. 20. It gives both the Manhattan Elevated Railway and the proposed underground Elm Street line ample terminals within the building in direct connection with the bridge cars and trains of the Brooklyn Elevated Railways. 39 21. It provides archways over the bridge roadway entrances, so that the station can be entered and left without crossing the road- ways on a level. 22. It eliminates the promenade stairway, which caused the only serious accident on the bridge, while giving through the promenade new and more convenient access to the cars. 23. It gives with the New York and Brooklyn street cars needed and commodious terminal stations in direct connection with the bridge cars. 24. It gives Brooklyn street cars the only possible chance to run over the bridge roadways and connect with the New York street cars direct. As respects Requirement D ; Architectural dignity and appro- priateness: 25. It provides stately and spacious buildings, worthy of the bridge and the location, which will do honor to both cities, in place of the present unsightly agglomerations, which are a reproach and disgrace to both cities, and create a reasonable suspicion that they are with- out either good taste or good sense. 26. It improves architecturally the present Manhattan Elevated station, the present bridge over Chatham Street, and the entrance to the bridge roadways by changes which are useful as well as orna- mental. 27. In these and other ways it sets an example of good service instead of bad service to the people and to other transit companies, which will be likely to bear fruit in more or less general improve- ment in the lines controlled by private interests. 28. As a combined effect of all the preceding, it should enor- mously increase the bridge revenue, both from the promenade, roadways and cable-cars, and tend powerfully to promote the growth of Brooklyn, in both population and wealth, by eliminating its greatest disadvantage as a residence city. All of which is respectfully submitted. A. M. WELLINGTON. Tribune Building. New York, Dec. 8, 1887. Average Number of Passengers per hour of the Brooklyn Bridge Cable Cars for various periods of the day. Showing its growth since October, 1883. DIAGRAM SHOWING THE Average Daily Aggregate Passenger Movement of the Manhattan Elevated Railway. (four lines), Originating from Stations in Each Milf. Belt above and below the City Hall. The aggregate movement is plotted on one-fifth the scale marked on the plate. Percentages of Up-town Movement originating on each mile are shown in upright figures, and of Down-town Movement in slanting figures. The total percentages of the whole traffic originating back of and including each mile are given in (parentheses). The Diagram also shows by vertical lines : Average Number of Passengers per Day from each Station, Manhattan Elevated Railway, Third Ave. Line ; October 1887. tOOOO 3000 -7000 City Hal +.9 ffi IL A Central P^rK Avera C e Number of Passengers per Day from each Station on the Sixth Ave. Line ; October 1887. [These Diagrams show how very large a proportion of the total traffic of the New York Elevated Railway System (about 60 per cent.,) originates mile or less of the Brooklyn Bridge terminus, and hence can be equally well served from Brooklyn, and how slight is the tendency for the center of traffic up-town. 1 he contrast between the distribution of the up-town and down-town traffic likewise shows this.] within a to move DIAGRAMS SHOWING THE PASSENGER TRAVEL BY HOURS AND GROWTH THEREIN OVER THE NEW YORK & BROOKLYN BRIDGE. The first two diagrams ( I and 2 ). and the last two ( 3 and 4 ), shr the growth under substantially similar conditions. Between Diagram 2 and Diagram 3, ( 1 ) Fares were reduced to 3 cents ; (2) Trains were increased from two to three cars; and (3) An elevated railway was opened. i;bh(ioi*.vn - •...•« 5000 2500 _ 17th Nov. 188* r l3mos. after No.l . i 2000 «ENCCflS £™ o ™™^ 1500 500 ^ . . , P" " 1 2 3 4. 5 6 7 8 9 10 II 444 U- > 7 1 , 9 10 11 12 25th May. 1886. Mo 3 13 mos after No Z | 1 : i 5500 | 50OO ; | 4-500 1 p ' pOc}KLYN = 32I*C ^ORK = 38 091 400O -f-j 3500 3000 i :"• 8 9 10 II 2 3 A- b 6 7 8 I loiil iS5ENCE«T> NEW YORK Td BROOKLYN » 4c. BHOOKLYNTOjNL^ YORK . 484-14- totaI ; ! ■ 9 I I 30 5000^ 450Q tt&n: APPENDIX B. THE METROPOLITAN DEVELOPMENT OF NEW YORK [T/ie subjoined article, dealing with the general question of the future growth of New York and Brooklyn, and of the relation of the Bridge thereto, appeared as an editorial in Engineering News of March ij, 1888, and is deemed of such general interest in connection with the