■p; The Overground Railway * * (Joristruction (Jonipany, 120 Broadway, I)ew-York. THE UNDERGROUND RAILWAY CONSTRUCTION COMPANY, 1 20 Broadway, New- York. PRESIDENT, J. COLEMAN DRAYTON. VICE-PRESIDENT, ROWLAND R. HAZARD. SECRETARY, CALVIN GODDARD. CHIEF ENGINEER AND ARCHITECT, GEORGE B. POST. Fellow of American Institute of Architects. CONSULTING ENGINEERS, WILLIAM P. TROWBRIDGE. Member National Academy of Sciences. Member American Institute of Mining Engineers. Member American Society of Mechanical Engineers. Member American Institute of Electrical Engineers. CHARLES C. MARTIN. Member American Society of Civil Engineers. Chief Engineer of the New-York and Brooklyn Bridge. JULIUS W. ADAMS. Consulting Engineer of the Department of Public Works of the City of New-York. Past President of American Society of Civil Engineers. JOHN T. FANNING. Member American Society of Civil Engineers. Fellow of American Association for the Advancement of Science. President of American Water-Works Association. ALFRED P. BOLLER. Member American Society of Civil Engineers. CHARLES C. SCHNEIDER. Member American Society of Civil Engineers. Member National German Society of Engineers of Berlin. QUINCY A. GILLMORE. Colonel of Engineers, Bt. Major-General, United States Army. HENRY MORTON, Ph. D. Member of National Academy of Sciences. President of Stevens Institute of Technology. " CHARLES F. CHANDLER, Ph. D., M. D. Member National Academy of Sciences. Ex-President of the Health Department of the City of New-York. Ave* Copyright, 1887, By The Underground Railway Construction Company. The De VlNNE PRE6S. I A Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2014 https://archive.org/details/undergroundrailwOOdurs 1 20 Broadway, Equitable Building, New- York, April 20, 1887. Gentlemen: The Underground Railway Construction Company was organized for the purpose of building Subway, Elevated or Surface Railways in the city of New- York. It has taken the contract to construct the subway railways of the New-York District Railway. The Broadway division will be constructed from the Bowling-Green, thence up Broadway to Union Square, to its junction with the Fourteenth street division, thence up Broadway to Madison Square, to the junction of its east and west divisions, and thence by way of Madison Avenue, to and under the Harlem River, to a junction with the main lines of railway which enter New-York from the north and east. The Fourteenth street and Twenty-third street divisions will commence at the west side of Ninth Avenue, and the east side of Second Avenue, respectively, thence running to the junction at Union and Madison Squares. The western division will commence at Madison Square, and follow the line of Broadway to Fifty-ninth street at Eighth Avenue, about thirteen miles in all. It also proposes to construct the railways of the New -York Under- ground Railway Company and the Broadway Underground Connecting Rail- way Company. Each of these lines provides : 1. Two express tracks throughout, forming a " through," standard-gauge, rapid-transit road of enormous capacity and capable of great speed, with easy access and egress at a few commanding points, — rapid, comfortable, light, comparatively noiseless, accessible, safe, and perfectly ventilated. 2. Two " way " tracks, throughout the line, forming a rapid standard-gauge line between frequent stations. 3. Continuous galleries on cither side of the railways, arranged to house all the present water, gas. pneumatic, steam, and other pipes which occupy the street below, together with all the electric cables and wires now arranged upon poles and house-tops above the streets, or in temporary conduits, all service- pipes being in immediate contact with the vault wall of every house on the line, where they will everywhere and at all times be accessible for connection, alteration, repair, replacement, and inspection. 7 4. The whole to be built and operated (as to the standard section on Broadway) between the curb-lines and (except at Canal street) above mean high water, for the purpose of avoiding the invasion of the valuable vaults, and for the further purpose of compensating vested corporate rights, without encroaching upon vested private rights, or private property, without due com- pensation. The method of construction is as follows : street excavation is effected in sections, and is governed by the extent and character of the traffic, surface travel being maintained. A uniform platform of concrete, about two feet in thickness, floored by a half inch of Trinidad asphalt, extending across the street at a depth of about twelve feet, forms a foundation for the whole structure. Upon this is erected the external vault wall, securing to the abutting proprietor the permanent use of the vault and area undisturbed throughout the standard section. This vault wall is fitted while under construction with suitable con- nections for gas, steam, electricity, sewer and water at every house. This wall is also the external wall of the pipe galleries, adjacent to both curbs. These galleries are subdivided longitudinally and continuously, by beams bolted to their internal and inserted in their external walls, which support the pipes. Access is provided at the termini, certain cross streets and squares, and all stations, and they are calculated for access to, housing, and inspection of all tubes, pipes, and wires. The electrical conductors of the various telegraph, telephone, lighting, burglar-alarm, messenger, and time companies are arranged anti-inductively, upon shelves bolted to the roof and upper gallery beams, and within the "buckle plates," which are induction shields, of the roof. There being no continuous floor above the foundation, the pipes in either gallery are accessible from above or below. Street opening for repair, replacement, or connection, is thus wholly obviated. The internal wall supporting the galleries is formed by iron columns, placed four feet apart, and coincident with those forming the outer wall of the "way" railways. These columns are composed of iron or steel of approved section, bolted, and rest upon a continuous founda- tion. The galleries contribute largely to the cost of construction, but are indispensable to a safe, convenient, and equitable replacement of present impedimenta enjoying vested rights, and to access to every house connection on the route. The space between the pipe galleries is disposed in four railway tunnels, for the accommodation of up-way and express and down- way and express trains. These ways are formed by five rows of columns, arranged longitudinally, resting on a continuous base, the spaces between the columns at the foundation and the roof being filled by a panel composed of 8 a tough, non-resonant material, " Ferflax," composed of steel wire, vegetable fibre, and solidified oil compressed into a solid unbreakable panel by hydraulic power. This panel fulfills a double function ; it completes the inclosure for purposes of ventilation, and it prevents resonance which might be caused by the rapid passage of trains through an inclosure with metallic walls. The roof is supported and the whole structure tied by beams which extend across the entire span, bolted to the columns, the ends being inserted in the vault wall. Upon these beams the steel buckle-plate roof is laid and bolted ; over this is a two-inch skin of Trinidad asphalt, as a protector from chemical contact and dampness and as a slight cushion. Above this is placed six inches of concrete, which completes the permanent street, upon which the pavement will be relaid. This structure as a whole contemplates the minimum of ex- cavation, the maximum of capacity, the greatest number and most equal dis- tribution of points of support, and consequent maximum of strength and stiffness in use. The railways form open cylinders from station to station, and the trains being of approximate cross-section constitute loose pistons always moving in the same direction ; the effect is the establishment of a ventilating current, DEPENDENT FOR ITS FORCE UPON THE APPROXIMATION OF CROSS-SECTIONS, THE speed of the trains, and the integrity of the TUxVNELS ; as the products of combustion are, as far as possible, excluded from the tunnels, the requirements of ventilation are reduced to a minimum, and perfectly performed. The traffic rails and guards are bolted to the longitudinal steel sleeper, which arrange- ment secures perfect alignment, the sleeper being permanently set in the concrete foundation. A deflecting-plate attached to the structure at the cornice line of the car, and the double guard-plate to the rail, render destructive derail- ment impossible. While it is not essential to the plan, the improved wood pavement now used in London and Paris should be substituted for the noisy granite. Roads and galleries constructed in this way have the incidental advantage of being accessible, upon occasion, from one to another at any point and across the whole system, from curb to curb, of performing the vital functions of venti- lation cheaply and perfectly, and of guaranteeing complete immunity from col- lision or derailment. * * * * * * * The plans which are submitted to you for your approval include a train composed of a given number of carriages, equipped with independent interme- IB 9 diate trucks, occupying the space devoted in the ordinary car to entrance platforms (by the use of which the perpendicular tunnel dimension may be reduced to 9 feet 6 inches), and propelled by independent motor trucks attached to either end of the train, by which device change of engines at the termini is avoided. It will be noted that this structure is not an "underground" road, and that it is free from all the objections which attach to such roads. It is an architect- ural structure replacing a superficial excavation. The completed railways will occupy an excavation of exactly 35 feet on lower Broadway, and 38 feet elsewhere, in width by 12 feet in depth from the top of the curb to the asphalt floor of the tunnels. The pipe galleries occupy an excavation of 4 feet 6 inches in width on either side of the railways by 12 feet in depth. The total excavation for all purposes, 011 the standard Broadway section, is between the external faces of the present vault walls, assuming that space to be 44 feet. The trains will travel, not on any structure, but upon a solid floor of concrete, two feet thick, constituting an adamantine, everlasting, unit foundation for the street. The structure is not taxed by the passage of trains, but is adapted to carry the traffic of the street. It is both strong and stiff, calculated to sustain any weight, and to bear any possible stress and strain. Vibrations are reduced to the possible minimum, and taken up by the solid foundation. The railway is wholly independent of the buildings, and is above the thrust- line of the shallowest foundation on the route. The nearest rail is feet removed from the building- line, and is, consequently, on Broadway, 6% feet or more outside the curb-line. Vaults are untouched within the curb on the standard section. Parts of vaults are necessarily taken for station platforms, and will be paid for ; but the advantage of being in proximity to stations is so manifest that they will be eagerly competed for. The carriages will be constructed of a non-resonant, non-breakable mate- rial upon steel frames; will be spacious, luxurious, lighted by incandescent lights; cannot be broken into fragments; cannot, through any conceivable accident, leave the rails; and will be entered by side doors, level with the platform. The wheels of the trucks are 42 inches in diameter (the "Elevated" being only 28 inches) and the truck itself so simple, solid, and powerful as to preclude the possibility of accident from fracture. 10 Construction will proceed without serious obstruction to the traffic of the street, and all new sewers, pipes, and wires will be in in use in the galleries before the old are displaced. The way stations have an ascent or descent of but eleven feet (say 20 steps) to the platform. This material advantage over elevated or tunnel roads is peculiar to the Superficial Subway System of the Underground Railway Con- struction Company. I have the honor to submit this statement, together with the general and detailed plans, for your critical examination. George B. Post, Chief Engineer and Architect. Prof. Henry Morton, Ph. D. Member of National Academy of Sciences. President of Stevens Institute of Technology. Prof. Charles F. Chandler, Ph. D., M. D. Member National Academy of Sciences. Ex-President of the Health Department of the City of New- York. Julius W. Adams, Esq. Consulting Engineer of the Department of Public Works of the City of New-York. Past President of American Society of Civil Engineers. Col. John T. Fanning, Member American Society of Civil Engineers. Fellow of American Association for the Advancement of Science. Member of the New England and the American Water-Works Associations. Consulting Engineers. To Prof. William P. Trowbridge, Member National Academy of Sciences. Member American Institute of Mining Engineers Member American Society of Mechanical Engineers. Member American Institute of Electrical Engineers. Charles C. Martin, Esq. Member American Society of Civil Engineers. Chief Engineer ol the New-York and Brooklyn Bridge Gen. Quincy A. Gillmore, Colonel of Engineers, Brevet Major-General, United States Army Alfred P. Boller, Esq. Member American Society of Civil Engineers. Charles C. Schneider, Member of American Society of Civil Engineers. Member National German Engineers Society of Berlin. I I GROWTH OF LOCAL TRAVEL IN NEW-YORK CITY. J. Coleman Drayton, Esq., President. Sir: — The following table, compiled from the sworn reports of all the Street Surface and Elevated lines for the years named, shows the growth of travel within the past twenty years. North and South Total, East and West Year. Surface Lines. Elcv&tcd Lines* N orth and. South. Lines. Tot a 1 Alovpnipn t w O £Z mi IOCS 74,161,996 74,161,996 5,456,882 79,6l8,8l8 I OOO 82,358,393 82,358,393 6,700,715 89,059, 108 1807 85,168,679 85, l6o,679 1 5,354,307 100,522,986 I 808 O6,924,530 00,924,530 1 8,49 1 ,090 105 ,41 5,626 I869 94,949,948 94,949,948 18,369,378 I 13,319,326 I87O 95,548,158 95,548,158 18,053,381 I 13,601,539 I87I 109,022,799 109,022,799 20,948,855 129,971,654 1872 I 15,928,799 167,153 I 16,095,952 22,793,397 138,889,349 1873 1 15,257,302 644,025 I 15,901,327 24,681,466 140,582,793 1874 122,029,392 796,072 122,825,464 27,803,459 150,628,923 1875 131,709,165 920,571 132,629,736 33,io7,343 165,737,079 I876 I32,209,l66 2,012,953 134,222,119 33,019,296 167,241,415 1877 126,785,205 3,01 1,862 129,979,067 36,944,720 166,741,787 I878 120,975,213 9,236,670 130,211,883 38,893.856 169,105,739 1879 100,949,970 45,945,401 146,895,371 39,770,416 186,665,787 I88O 105,202,605 60,831,757 166,034,362 43,410,526 209,444,888 l88l 108,880,750 75,585,778 184,466,528 44,749,217 229,215,745 1882 H8,033,338 86,361,029 204,394,367 46,1 16,465 250,510,832 I883 125,817,869 92,124,943 2 17,942,812 48,221,424 266,164,236 I884 134,572,259 96,701,450 231,273,709 49-932,633 281,205,342 1885 142,038,237 103,354,729 245,392,966 48,275,647 293,668,613 1886 156,256,005 115,109,591 271,365,596 50,546,131 321,911,727 The population of the city by the State census of 1875 was 1,041,886, and by the United States census of 1880 was 1,206,577, being an increase of 15/0 per cent, for five years. The increase of total travel during this period was 26 ^ per cent., or 5 ,Vo per cent, per annum. Note. — The travel by the elevated roads for year ending September 30th, 18S7, has been 158,963,232, an increase over 1886 of 43,853,641, being 33 per cent, more than the total increase of all lines in 1886. 12 For the five years, 1880 to 1884 inclusive, the increase in total travel was 34i- per cent., or 6/,/b per annum, while in 1886 the increase over the previous year was 9 ,Vo per cent. Prior to 1884 the maximum number of passengers carried by the north and south surface lines was in 1S76, when they transported 132,209,166 pas- sengers. In the following year they began to lose business in consequence of the opening of the first sections of the elevated roads, the full effect of which was not felt until 1879, when the traffic north and south on the surface roads was reduced to 100,949,970, although the total travel north and south was 12,673,252 greater than 1876. In the next year, although the elevated roads show an increase of 33-3 per cent., the surface roads carried nearly 5,000,000 more passengers than in 1875; smce which time both surface and elevated lines show a steady and rapid increase. In 1884 the surface roads had again attained their maximum figures, while the elevated roads carried 96,701,450 passengers, demonstrating that the entire number carried by the elevated roads was the natural increase of traffic for eight years. During the first two of these years there was a falling off in the total travel, and the business in 1878 was 4,000,000 less than in 1876. The increase, therefore, dates from the commencement of the year 1879, making the period six instead of eight years, about 17,000,000 per annum. In estimating the carrying capacity of a north and south passenger line in the city of New-York, it must be borne in mind that the travel is very unequally distributed over the twenty-four hours, the movement being largely in one direction between certain hours in the morning, and in the other during an approximately equal number of hours in the afternoon. Thus, at the heaviest hours of travel, the trains may be filled to their utmost capacity, including all available space for passengers standing, while at other hours they may have many empty seats. To ascertain what deduction should be made from the total seating capacity of trains run, as an allowance for the hours of light travel, and what should be added for standing passengers and for places of those traveling short distances retaken again and again, careful analysis of authentic and very complete statistics warrants the statement that the actual number of persons carried is equal to 75 per cent, of the total seating capacity of trains run. It will be understood that while the existing conditions of travel continue, it would be unnecessarily expensive to run trains from the Battery at the same intervals during the hours of light travel as during those when the movement between the extremes of the line is the heaviest. ic 13 It may be assumed that theThird Avenue Elevated Road is now conveying its maximum number of passengers in the busy hours of the day. An exami- nation of the train schedules on that line shows that during the hours of heavy travel the interval between trains is i Yi minutes, probably not too great for safety. The carrying capacity cannot be increased except by adding to the length of trains already taxing the power of the heaviest locomotives which can be operated with safety to the structure. The roads which the Underground Railway Construction Company pro- poses to construct would solve all these questions, having four tracks, two for express and two for way trains ; long-distance passengers being provided for on the former, the latter would be available for those traveling short distances ; and not being limited in the weight and tractive powerof its motors by any structure, its trains may be of any length that can be conveniently handled at stations and termini. Referring to the train schedules of the Third Avenue Elevated Road, we find that while the interval between trains in the busy hours is i % minutes, and the longest interval 15 minutes between midnight and 4.30 a. m., the average for the 24 hours is about 3^ minutes. Assuming the way trains on the " District " and " Underground Roads to be run upon a similar schedule, would give 410 trains each way, or a total of 820 trains per day, and express trains operated at twice that interval would add 410 trains, making a total of 1,230 trains per day. The seating capacity of the road would therefore be 1,230 multiplied by the number of cars to each train, multiplied by 50, the seating capacity of each car. This would, of course, be largely increased as the average intervals between trains are decreased. Assuming the " District " or " Underground " Road to cost $3,000,000 per mile, the road from the Battery to Harlem River would cost . . . $36,000,000 Interest at 5 per cent 1,800,000 Assuming operating expenses at 50 per cent., the gross earnings must be $3,600,000 Requiring 18,000,000 through passengers by express trains at 10 cents $1,800,000 36,000,000 passengers by way trains at 5 cents 1,800,000 being a total of 54,000,000 passengers, or less than the increase of the last three years, and little more than double the increase of north and south traffic in the single year of 1886. ♦ 14 The business of the elevated roads on their four lines demonstrates that the movement grows heavier upon approaching the center line, for, although the Manhattan Railway Company publishes no reports of its business by divisions, it is not difficult to ascertain from the train schedules of the lines that the business of the Third and the Sixth Avenue lines far exceeds that of the Second and Ninth Avenues. An estimate of the seating capacity of trains run on all those lines gives in round numbers the following figures: Third Avenue line 59,000,000 Sixth Avenue line 48,000,000 Second Avenue line 26,000,000 Ninth Avenue line 20,000,000 1 53,000,000 The actual numbers transported were 115,109,591. showing that 25 per cent, should be deducted from the difference between empty seats during hours of light travel and the standing passengers in the busy hours. It, however, requires but little observation to see that this per cent, does not apply equally to the four lines, for the trains on the Third and Sixth Avenues are not only more crowded than those on the Second and Ninth Avenues at the busy hours, but the empty seats arc less numerous during the hours of lightest travel ; therefore the Third and Sixth Avenues transport a much larger percentage of the seating capacity of their trains than do the Second and Ninth Avenues, which makes the difference much more striking than in the estimates given. The Elevated roads have now 32-, 3 i - miles of double tracks. They are capitalized as follows : 1st Mortgage Bonds, Metropolitan $10,818,000 2d " " " 4,000,000 1st " " N. Y. Elevated 8,500,000 2d " " " 1,000,000 Stock Manhattan 26,000.000 $50,318,000 or, in round numbers, $1,550,000 per mile of double track. The proposed road having four tracks, actually two roads side by side, every mile is equivalent to two miles of the Elevated roads, or to one mile each of two of those lines — so that the proposed bond of $3,000,000 per mile would be less than the present per mile capitalization of the Elevated system. The Elevated roads, owing to their greater mileage, must earn on $50,000,000 of capital, while the " District" or " Underground" Road will have a bonded debt of but $36,000,000. The cost of operating the Elevated lines is enhanced by the comparatively light travel on the Second and Ninth Avenues, for it will be readily admitted that if their operations were confined to the Third and Sixth Avenue lines the percentage of operating expenses to gross receipts would be greatly diminished, and the net earnings largely increased. It is evident that the nearer we approach the center line, the heavier the travel becomes, and, facilities being equal, there seems little doubt that a line through Broadway and Madison Avenue would draw largely from the existing lines of travel by reason of its favorable location, and would command a traffic from the outset which would tax its entire capacity. The statistics given show that the natural increase of business would be more than sufficient to enable the proposed road to earn its operating expenses and interest on its mortgage. A large proportion of the 1 15,000,000 passengers carried by the Elevated roads is made up of those formerly traveling by surface lines, and although the surface lines suffered heavily at the opening of the Elevated roads they have secured a sufficient proportion of the increase to recover the loss, and during the last year carried 24,000,000 more passengers than before the opening of the Elevated roads. Calvin Goddard, Secretary. 16 MEETINGS OF CONSULTING; ENGINEERS. ( Stenographer s Report. ) At a meeting of the Company's engineers, held at the office, 120 Broad- way, April 26th, 18S7, there were present: Professors Trowbridge and Morton, and Messrs. A. P. Boiler, George B. Post, Frederic N. Blanc, and Walter H. Knight, Esqrs. ; David L. Barnes, Esq., chief constructor of the Rhode Island Locomotive Works, could not attend, but submitted drawings of the locomotive truck, the intermediate independent truck, and the car, together with a descrip- tive paper. Mr. Barnes's drawings were examined and the paper read, as follows: Description of Equipment of the New-York District and New-York Underground Railway. (Nine and one-half foot tunnel.) Rhode Island Locomotive Works, April 21, 1887. The cars are framed and braced, as shown in the drawings, in a scientific and practicable manner, and being made of mild steel, having the toughness of the best iron combined with the strength of steel, are almost unbreakable, and in collisions will not splinter or break up, but bend and twist, thus absorbing the shock. Any ordinary collision with this form of car would result in no damage. The direct-line continuous buffer shown under the trucks is fully equal to the Miller platform in preventing injury. All thrusts are taken directly by the sills of the car, which are braced and reenforced to receive them. The passengers enter an "in" door at the side near one end, and leave by the "out" door on the same side near the other end, the clear aisle in the center and the sliding " in " and " out" doors leaving a free and direct passage. Seats are provided for fifty passengers, are upholstered and covered with leather, each seat being separated from the adjacent seat as shown in the ID 17 interior view of the car. The panels, roof, and floor are covered, both inside and out, with a strong, tough, flexible non-resonant and non-conducting mate- rial called " Ferflax," which, fastened in the manner shown, materially adds to the strength of the car, forming as it does a continuous basket-work or web. This material is flexible to such a degree as not to shatter under shock, and is also non-resonant owing to the want of homogeneity, and to its chemical and mechanical composition. The floor of the car and the outer layer of "Ferflax" on the sides are thicker and made of heavier wire than the inner panels. The roof is covered in the same manner as the sides. Double sliding end doors permit passage of the trainmen from one car to another throughout the train ; they also afford a means of exit to passengers in case of accident within the tunnel. The ventilation of the cars is accomplished by recessed ventilators at the ends of the car. These ventilators automatically reverse when the car changes direction, and thus are always ready to allow currents of air to enter and leave the car at the proper points to avoid draughts. The safety trolleys at the sides of the car near the top are intended to bear upon the deflecting plates or rails fixed upon the walls of the tunnel in case of accident to the trucks; during ordinary vibrations and oscillations the car will not touch the plates. Oscillations of the car are regulated in three ways : First, by the trucks ; second, by the safety wheels at the bottom ; and third, by the steady buffer ; these prevent the galloping and snake-like motion observable in ordinary cars; this motion, which v/ould otherwise possibly cause the upper safety trolley to touch the deflecting plates on the walls of the tunnel, is thus obviated. The safety wheels at the bottom of the car are made with wide treads and flanges in such manner that should the car fall to the rails from any accident upon tangents, curves or turnouts, these wheels would support the car and allow it to proceed until stopped by the electro-magnetic brakes, which would be automatically applied by the fall. The safety wheels are also to be used in handling the cars while removing the cars from the trucks by drop-table and in making up trains. The trucks being run upon this table, the hydraulic lift is lowered, the trucks fall away from the car which now rests upon the safety wheels, and the trucks and cars can be rolled off to be exchanged, inspected, or repaired ; all trucks are interchangeable. Although this improved car occupies a larger proportion of the total area of the tunnel than one with trucks beneath, yet the difference in displacement 18 is but little, and the column of air to be moved is less, for the reason that in the old, ordinary form of car the swing bolsters of the many trucks and the other details which necessarily lie as close to the rail as the bottom of the new car, offer such resistance to the passage of air in large quantities that it would practically amount to a car filling the tunnel from the bottom of the bolster up. The area of the nine and one-half foot tunnel being less, the column of air to be moved is less, hence the work demanded at the stationary engines as well as the movement of air at the stations is less. The annular area around the car is as large a proportion of the total area of the tunnel, and the return current will therefore reduce the pressure in front as much as in the old form. At high speeds the air to be moved is nearly all that is in front of the train in the tunnel. These motors will have sufficient power to move and keep in motion such a column, yet it is not economical to do this, and to prevent the necessary movement of so large a volume, as well as to avoid rush or puff of air at the stations, alternating panels in the partitions should be removed near the stations ; this will allow the ready adjustment of the pressure in the tunnel due to the passage of many trains at varying speeds. There can be no difficulty with the movement of air if panels are omitted in proper places. The location or extent of such openings can be determined only approximately by any other method than actual operation. The electro-magnetic brakes can be applied at any point of the train by pressing a button in any car. No other form of brake is so instantaneous in its operation or so powerful and easily released. The time required to operate air brakes is against their use on trains following in such rapid succession. The independent intermediate trucks are framed and braced to carry the car as low down as possible, the centre of gravity being so low that the car can scarcely be overturned by any accident. The lateral* motion of the car is free within the limits of the tunnel, but is prevented from reaching the sides by cushions on the trucks. Rolling motion is also free within the tunnel limits, but is governed by the truck in such a manner that the cars cannot strike the wall; yet owing to the height of the centre over which it rolls, it has the regular motion of the common " Pullman," and therefore will ride easily upon curves and turnouts. The buffers under these trucks are continuous, and so arranged that the trucks can be removed by the drop-table vertically, without removal of .any detail except the connecting spring. The truck itself is its own drawbar, and is fully braced to meet these requirements. As heavy as the hauling strains may be, with such powerful motors they do not approach the magnitudes of the >9 butting stresses and shocks which are taken directly by the buffers beneath, thus relieving the truck from all shock. The centre-pin upon which the cars rest is filled with chilled cast-iron balls which will allow the trucks to move easily and remain parallel with the track, thus preventing excessive flange-wear of the wheels. The springs in the centre-pin act as cushions to release the truck framing and prevent shocks while the trucks pass over low joints, uneven rails, and frogs, although the perfection of roadbed and track will be almost complete. The wheels of the intermediate independent trucks and motor trucks are non-resonant, provided with steel tires and retaining-rings to prevent accidents by the breaking of tires. The breaking of an axle on these trucks will cause no trouble whatever. It will be firmly held to prevent gyrations by the safety-beam. The motor trucks are interchangeable with the intermediate trucks as to the end not occupied by the motor ; many of the parts are the same, and any motor truck can be coupled to either end of any car. The framing of the motor truck has all the advantages possessed by the intermediate truck, is placed inside the wheels, and is particularly designed to take the thrust of the large gears when driven by the powerful motor at either end of the train. The motor is designed particularly to satisfy the requirements of this work ; it has divided bobbins, series wound field with laminated pole- pieces, laminated armature core. Motors of this design are free from all the difficulties of the old forms. The sparking is almost nothing, and the heating due to local induced currents so small that the efficiency ought not to be far from 80%. The power of such motors is beyond question. The efficiency of many dynamos now in operation is 90% ; therefore such motors and dynamos con- nected to the best form of stationary engine would give in the motor one horse-power per hour, with an expenditure of four pounds of coal, which is small in comparison with the coal per horse-power for locomotives of any sort. The New-York Elevated use from eight to fourteen pounds per horse- power ; this leaves a wide margin of economy for the electric locomotive here shown. Its actual hauling power is something enormous, as is easily seen by com- paring its dimensions with the motors now driving cars and machinery, the capacity varying nearly as the fifth power of the dimension. The method of collecting the electric current for these motor trucks is such that the current will always be on the motor ready for use while the cars are being switched in any direction. 20 The arrangement for signaling and dispatching these trains can be quite the same as the best surface roads, with substitution of lights for flays, and with the additional safeguard in an electric indicator on each motor truck which informs the engineer of all signals requiring his attention, thus furnishing a duplication of orders and preventing an)- misunderstanding. Interlocking levers at the switching stations will prevent any possibility of the indicator in the motors not agreeing with the conditions of the switches. The train is made up solid, say ten cars, with five hundred seats, with nine intermediate and two independent motor trucks. There will be no change of engines at the termini, the train beinLT a doublc-ender. Prof. Trowbridge : The hauling force of the motors is much greater than the adhesion of the rails. Mr. Knight : The weight of the car comes on the motor truck, and it is amply sufficient for the grades and loads set out in the specifications. The weight of the cars is in the neighborhood of thirty tons when loaded. There would be a weight of thirty tons on each truck. Each truck weighs fifteen tons, and carries one-half of two cars, so that there is really forty-five tons altogether available for traction purposes. We require so much because we have to accelerate so fast, to get up way quickly. Nearly all the power is expended in acceleration. There are grades in this subway where we have to start at the bottom and get up speed by the time we get to the top. Mr. Boiler : What is the limit to the number of motors run on a single circuit ? Mr. Knight : As long as the central station is of sufficient size it does not make any difference. If it is adapted to run ten trains it runs one with equal facility, but the engine does not do as much work. The engine is running and the dynamos are running, but the armature is turning without any resistance. If there be 15,000 horse-power it may be all called upon in an instant, or only one or two horse-power may be required. The current out will be proportion- able to the number of cars running, and the closure of the circuit on a number of cars will call for a certain amount of current. We have found it necessary to divide the road into sections, divide the dynamos into certain plants, so that each motor would be driven from a single dynamo. The road lends itself so easily to such a subdivision that we propose to do it that way. The road has sixteen sections, nearly all equal in length ; there will be sixteen dynamos, each running one section, a motor in each section. If two motors got on the same section, the rear motor would immediately indicate by the reduction of the power that it was approaching within less than a section of another. It makes an absolute block, so that one motor cannot overtake another. The leading motor would run on and get into the next section. The reduction would be in both motors, but it is easy to use a device by which the rear motor would be cut out. Mr. Boiler : Suppose you have a heavy train ahead and a light train behind ? Mr. Knight: They could never get more than equal velocities; these motors are run independently for each section, and it is because the system is so laid out that this plan is adopted. We have a separate pair of conductors for each section, and that operates as a perfect block system. Prof. Trowbridge: The train following could not overtake one in advance? Mr. Knight: No. At the Rhode Island Locomotive Works we have a section in operation five hundred and fifty feet long, and operating perfectly. Prof. Morton : I think it is no longer a question that a railroad can be physically run by means of the electric motor. To run the Erie Railroad would not be financially feasible with electric locomotives, but if the road is short enough so that the cost of conductors for carrying the electricity is not too great, there is no doubt about its feasibility. Mr. Boiler: It has to be judged by its commercial aspect. Prof Morton : I should not feel any doubts. I know that there are surface roads running that have been operated continuously for two or three years, day in and day out, through snow, sleet, and hail, and it can be done anywhere. 1 think it is economical as compared with horse or cable traction. Mr. Post : What would be the effect of the low grades on this road, say in crossing Canal street, in case of the breaking of one of the Croton water mains in the side galleries, letting a large amount of water on the track, so that there would be say five inches of water? Mr. Knight : The conductors are arranged overhead, so that there could be no difficulty from that cause, and as there is an open conduit under the water main no water could enter the railway tunnel except by a combination of two accidents — the bursting of the water mains and the failure of the sewer at the same time. Mr. Boiler : Have you made any estimate of the relative cost of the electric locomotive as against the steam power now used? Mr. Knight : There would be a consumption of four pounds of coal per horse-power as against twelve to sixteen by the locomotives in use on the Elevated roads. Mr. Boiler: What is the loss in transferring the steam into electricity^ 22 Mr. Knight : Fifty per cent. Prof. Morton : I should say that is a very liberal allowance. Mr. Boiler: For every horse-power utilized by the motor you are using- four pounds of coal at the central station ? Mr. Knight: Yes. There are many establishments in the world that will do the work and guarantee its efficiency. There is no doubt about the economy of the electric locomotive which we shall use here. Prof. Morton : The difficult)- with many experiments has been in the con- struction of the machines. If they were no better built than some machinery I have seen in operation, I do not wonder that some experiments with which we are familiar have not succeeded. They were not equal to the occasion. An excellent plan is sometimes condemned to failure through bad workmanship. Mr. Knight: The Rhode Island Locomotive Works has taken no one's word for this locomotive. They were not electricians. They ascertained what the relation of power is to given weights, and estimated from that how much the motor will have to weigh to give so much power. They have satisfied themselves that this is just the kind of motor to do this work. There are machines built to-day that will put five hundred horse-power into an electric current, and those machines will be guaranteed to give ninety per cent, efficiency. That same machine used as a motor will also give an efficiency of ninety per cent., say at least eighty per cent. Prof. Trowbridge : I see all this very completely and fully, but there is one question with regard to the conductors. There is a tremendous current of great intensity and power; is there any chance of its becoming dangerous? Mr. Knight: It is to have a very abundant insulation. There is abundant room for it. A single rail of copper, solid as the rest of the tunnel, and can be boxed in. Prof. Trowbridge : What is the size of it ? Mr. Knight: Two square inches solid. The tunnel will be inaccessible to the public, and it is perfectly under control of the officers of the company. The same current will light the incandescent lights on the cars, and the stations will also be lighted and the signals operated with it. Prof. Trowbridge : All these plans seem to have been worked out very thoroughly to the minutest details, and present no engineering difficulties whatever. I have examined the sketches submitted, showing the plans for ventilating the tunnels automatically by the movement of trains, by the removal of vitiated air from the stations and its replacement by fresh air by shafts, and there is no doubt that these devices will secure the perfect ventilation of the whole structure. There will need to be detailed plans for distribution of fresh air and the control of the currents; but these can be arranged under the plat- forms and on either side of the stations along the route. Mr. Post : Inasmuch as under this system no provision need be made for varying conditions, — that is, to protect passengers from rain, snow, high winds, and dust, the external forces of nature, — but as we can control all the conditions with reasonable completeness, including approximate even temperature at dif- ferent seasons, I see no reason why, after a little experience in working the line, we may not adjust all the conditions, so as to make it by far the most agreeable, as it certainly will be the safest, form of traveling yet devised. The success of the line ought to be immediate and complete. I shall ask you to meet in October, after the summer vacation, to inspect and consider the prog- ress meantime made. ******* At a meeting of the Board of Consulting Engineers, held at the office of the Company, October 20th, at 3 p. M., there were present: George B. Post, Chief Engineer ; Professors Trowbridge, Morton, and Chandler, Messrs. Adams, Schneider, and Boiler, Consulting Engineers ; Frederic N. Blanc, David L. Barnes, \Y. Barclay Parsons, Jr., and R. W. Creuzbaur, Engineers; Rowland R. Hazard, Vice- President, and Calvin Goddard, Treasurer of the Company. General Gillmore was detained by indisposition, Mr. Martin by a meeting of the Bridge Trustees, and Colonel Fanning was absent from the city. A careful inspection was made of a model of Broadway, from the house • lines, showing every detail, on a scale of one inch to one foot, of the proposed railway, pipe and wire galleries, and arcades, executed by Samuelson and Herter Brothers. The indestructible passenger-car, lighted by incandescent lamps, intermediate independent truck, and electric locomotive, constructed at Providence, after the designs and under the supervision of Mr. Barnes, and panels and plates of Ferflax, for tunnel and car construction, showing the material fresh from the hydraulic press, and also after thirty days' oxidation. After the inspection was concluded, Mr. Post, Chief Engineer, presided, and said : The inspection of the models and plans prepared during the summer has been interesting and satisfactory in all respects. We should be glad to hear something of the legal status of the company before resuming the discussion of engineering questions. Colonel Hazard, Vice-President : In the unavoidable absence of Mr. Dray- ton, the President (who is also of counsel), I suppose it is proper enough for me to 2 4 say that both the " District " and " Underground " roads are in the courts, and that so far as the " Underground" road is concerned, we are now before the Superior Court, on a motion to compel the Board of Works to allow us to open the streets and proceed with construction. That application is made at the foot of a decree that the Company had acquired full rights, and that they were subsistent rights, were the subject of sale, and on that decree the property was sold and bought and we acquired it ; so we have asked at the foot of that decree, which declared that the rights had survived, for an order directing the Board of Works to allow us to proceed with the road before the close of the season. When we get that permit, we have, from what Mr. Post calls the " financial authorities," every needful assurance that the money will be forthcoming to proceed with and complete the construction. As for the " District " Road, it was organized under the General Railroad Act in due form, and we then proceeded under the Act of 1880, known as the "Tunneling Act," to acquire the consent of the property owners on Broadway, 23d and 14th streets. We obtained consents and refusals up to a certain point, and applied for a Commission, and the Gen- eral Term of the Court handed down a decision on the last day of 1886 refusing to grant the Commission, but permitting us to apply again under a different state of facts. This gave us the coveted opportunity to get to the Court of Appeals on motion and get a final decision from it. The Court below decided no points concerning the law, except that the road was a "street railroad," and that we would be obliged to go to the local authorities for their consent. The appeal to the Court of Appeals brought out all the points. The chief object that we had in view was not to get a Commission, because we have no doubt, with our excellent plans, and with the moral support and actual assist- ance of you gentlemen, that the public are going to see that this road ought to be built, and speedily. We do not apprehend any insuperable difficulty in get- ting the consent of property owners. Prior to this decision of the Court of Appeals nobody knew whether the law was constitutional or not. No railroad had ever been built under its provisions, and it was contended by the law de- partment of the City of New-York that the law was never intended to author- ize the construction of a railroad within a city, but that it was intended to enable a road like the New-York Central to go underneath the streets of a city like Utica or Syracuse in passing on through the State, but it was never con- templated that such a road should commence and end within a city. The Court decided that point in our favor in terms, and most clearly. It also deci"ded that the law " authorizes and regulates underground street railways within a city," and " that the appellant's road is such a railway," so that that vital point 25 was decided in our favor and finally. Another very important point was a's to whether this road is a street railroad per se, and that point was also clearly de- cided, that it is a "street railroad," and that the law confers benefits upon the Corporation by virtue of its being such, that the Legislature has constituted it one of the legitimate uses of the street, that is to say, one of the uses for which the street was originally conveyed by proprietors to the municipality. The Court decided that we must go to the local authorities, as well as to the abutting owners, for consents ; that follows as a matter of course. The decision of the Court of Appeals is a favorable solution of the whole legal problem. We have found just what our rights are, and just what our burdens are, and that the law- was intended for the construction of just such a road as the " District " or the "Underground." Another point was this: The law said that the railroad built under the provisions of the act should be built " in a tunnel and not otherwise." We wanted a judicial determination of what was meant by " a tunnel." This is called a "tunnel road," but it is not in the ordinary sense. We remove the whole surface of the ground and do not replace it, but place another street surface twelve feet below the present, and therein and thereon construct an architectural structure, the roof of which we convert into the new surface of the street. That was elaborately set out in the arguments. The result was that the Court decided that this is precisely the kind of road that was intended by the law, and that the law contemplated the removal of the sur- face of the street and the substitution of an artificial surface. Three great points were therefore favorably decided : the constitutionality of the law itself, the fact that we are a "street railroad," and entitled to the full benefit of " street uses," and that the words "built in a tunnel and not otherwise " de- scribed our form of road ; so that we have achieved a most extraordinary and complete success. Everything now depends upon getting the consent of the property owners and the local authorities, and they will surely come through the excellence of our plans. The plans that have heretofore been devised for dealing with Broadway have contemplated excavations of 27 to 30 feet, which have naturally alarmed the property owners. No property owner along the line of the road has objected to our plans on the ground of clanger to abutting struc- tures, or the extent or character of the excavation. We already have a great number of consents, but have not the great corporation and "estate" properties; we have only two of the millionaire estates. Some of the greatest owners have said that they approve the plans, and we have no doubt, as soon as the case in which they are plaintiffs against the Arcade Company is concluded, will consent with the greatest readiness, but will not sign while it may be claimed that they 26 are sustaining one corporation against another. We apprehend no great diffi- culty in getting the necessary consents, based upon the intrinsic goodness and thoroughness of our plans. It is a matter of time only, and when the property owners and such " local authorities " as Mayor Hewitt and General Newton examine the results of your deliberations, and find that the plans contemplate perfect and permanent street surfaces, — electric subways that afford house con- nections, gas and water pipe storage that wholly prevents leakage, as well as real rapid transit, with economy, safety and comfort, — they will, I firmly believe, become ardent and powerful friends. Professor Troii'bridge : Would the Arcade Company, supposing it to be in legal existence, have to get the consent of the property owners ? Colonel Hazard : Not if the corporation exists, which is denied, and the char- ter is good. It would then be in nearly as good a situation on Broadway, as we are on Mulberry Street, Fourth Avenue, Broadway and Madison Avenue, the difference in our favor being this, that the Arcade Company has never acquired any right to lay down railroad tracks, whereas we have acquired a right, and we have a decision of the court to that effect ; our rights have vested, its rights are inchoate. The Arcade Company cannot acquire a right to lay a railroad, under the provisions of its charter, until it has three million dollars in its treasury, has given a certain large bond, etc. It has no existing vested right. So far as the " Underground " road is concerned, we have, because our charter does not require that we should do any of these things. As to the 14th Street and 23d Street supplementary lines, we have got many consents on 23d Street and on 14th Street, a very considerable proportion; both of these we can finish at any time it is desirable, but there is no object in getting them before those on the Broadway line, because we want to go into the Board of Aldermen with a single applica- tion. Therefore, we consider the legal status of the different companies as they stand to-day exceedingly good. Now in the matter of the structure itself. Since the last meeting we have reduced the finished excavation to 9^ feet, an immense saving in time, cost and difficulty of construction, and this has been effected through the adoption of the intermediate truck, which Mr. Barnes has been describing to you. Mr. Barnes : There is a motor car now operated in Woonsocket as success- fully as any electric car on the face of the earth. It is a new motor, and is doing the best work that could be asked for. The car takes two other loaded cars up a grade of 7%. The armature revolves 2000 times a minute, and is 10 inches in diameter. If the car runs off the track into the dirt, the motor is powerful enough to pull it on to the rails again, even though the car is loaded with passengers. 27 Professor Trowbridge : What does it cost to operate it ? Mr. Barnes: Six dollars per clay, but that includes the wages of the engineer in charge of the engine, which are two dollars per day. If the number of cars were increased, the cost per car would be much less, as the wages would then be divided between them. In most electric motors one difficulty has been the sparking. In some cases the sparking was so great as to burn the brushes. This motor has no spark ; the brush is almost constant. The gears are noiseless, and of rawhide, which wears longer than bronze gear; the rawhide cuts away the metal, but if dust could be excluded, the wear would be much less. The rawhide gear costs more than the metal, about $16; but they have such a long life that they are cheaper in the end. There would be very little dust on the "District" or " Underground " roads. With tunnels, as the engineers have explained they intend to have them, we shall keep perfectly free from dust. There is no reason why a motor built of a size to carry 210 passengers up a grade of 7%, as is done in Woonsocket, as fast as the motor can run, could not be enlarged to carry 500 passengers a good deal faster on an underground road. The resistance per ton in a horse car is 1 5 to 25 pounds, whereas in a well-built railroad it would run from 5% to 10 or 11. Mr. Creuzbaur : What speed has the Woonsocket car ? Mr. Barnes : It runs up to fifteen miles an hour. Horses have been run- ning the cars on that line out and back in half an hour ; it now takes just ten minutes for the motor to make the trip, so that it makes three trips instead of one. At high speeds the motor is more economical ; this advantage you would gain in the underground road. This motor carries three cars, 210 passengers, up a grade of 7%, at the rate of about six miles per hour. You have no grade nearly as heavy as that. You cannot speak of the Woonsocket road as an experi- ment. It is a working road, and can be compared very honestly to the stationary engines. It occupies the same relation to large motors as small stationary en- gines do to large ones. A large one would work better and more economically. In your tunnels and on your perfect road-bed the last difficulty would disappear. Prof. Morton: The statements made by Mr. Barnes are correct, unless one carries them forward to an extent they are not intended to be carried. Of course you do not intend it to be understood that you could run trains thirty miles an hour more economically than you could ten miles, counting stops. Mr. Barnes : I can furnish a great number of foot pounds at less per foot pound. That, of course, would be true as to any motor, but not to the same extent. 28 Col. Hazard : The question was whether this experiment throws any real light on the tremendous undertaking that we have to deal with here in handling these heavy, rapid, frequent trains. Another question raised by the late Rapid Transit Commission is, whether, in the event of the electric motor proving incompetent or insufficient to accomplish this work, locomotive steam engines could be built to doit; smokeless and unobjectionable, and which would not vitiate the air. I addressed a letter to the Rhode Island Locomotive Works on that subject, and Mr. Barnes replied, and I should be glad to have him now say what he stated to me in regard to it. Mr. Barnes: You need have no fear about the electric locomotive — it will do your work : but the stations being so close together, there is no reason why a steam motor could not be built which would do the work. If the stations were ten miles apart, it would be doubtful if we could do it. A smokeless locomotive, running between stations three or four miles, can readily be supplied. Col. Hazard: Within the dimension of 9^ feet in height, running say a mile from station to station, you could design a perfectly competent engine to haul these heavy trains at speed 5 Mr. Barnes: It is a question of length; the height and width of the tunnel would have nothing to do with it. Mr. Parsons : You would charge the engine with a pressure of 250 pounds ? Mr. Barnes : With more ; they would have low and high pressure engines and high-pressure boilers, for economy in space. Mr. Adams: After seeing the admirable designs that you have shown me. I cannot see anything that you have got to do to better yourself on Broadway. The only question is that of the ventilation of the sewer pipe. There is a method of doing that which I approve. If a connection is made from the top and the sewer allowed to breathe through the houses to the roofs, you would not want anything else. The present system is to carry in the house-pipe at the top of the sewer, and when the sewer is running three-quarters full, the upper part is filled with gas, and must escape somewhere. Col. Hazard: We can take it to the surface of the street very easily. We are confined to 44 feet between the curbs for our railway and galleries, but at every intersecting street there is 18 feet corresponding to the sidewalk and area, and in the roadway of the cross streets we can, therefore, get a room or vault 23 feet by 30 or more, for dealing with the sewers, expansion joints of steam, etc., and to place the openings for surface water substantially where they now are. The sewer ventilation should be there. This vent would be 100 feet from the most distant house connection, usually. 29 Mr. Adams : That might do. It is very improperly and imperfectly done now. It is done with man-holes to a certain degree; but to do it thoroughly it must be drawn off. If a pipe be connected with the top of the sewer, and carried up through the house, you could carry it off without an)- trouble at all, and you would not want anything else. I have done so in my own house for 20 years. When we have laid down the scientific street, all these details must be perfected. What people submit to now they would not stand then. Prof. Chandler : A perforation on the side of the curb-stones, connected with the top of the sewer by a ventilating-pipe as often as required, would answer. Mr. Adams: They have tried ventilation by means of the lamp-posts, but the flow is not sufficient to relieve the pipe. We get on very well now by letting it out in man-holes. They are doing that in Brooklyn to allow it to go into the street. Dilution is ventilation. Diluted with the air, it is innocuous when it comes out into the street. But will you have that facility ? Col. Hazard : We should prefer to ventilate at the inlet for surface water at the curb, but we can take it into the middle of the street. One of the great advantages of our system is that we provide a perfect street surface that need never be disturbed. Mr. Adams : A perforated cast-iron ventilator in the roadway could scarcely be objected to, because it involves no disturbance of the paving in removal for inspection, etc., but -if we could only do the thing quite right and let the sewer gas breathe through the houses it would be perfect. I have carried this idea out to my satisfaction. Bailey is the authority for the system. Prof. Chandler : But it subverts the primary principle of modern house plumbing, which is to have a current of fresh air go in at the drain and flush out the pipe several times a minute. Bailey's idea was not to admit fresh air, but to have every private citizen set up his soil-pipe to ventilate the public sewer. I would not think it safe or desirable to place my house at the disposi- tion of the public to ventilate the sewer. Prof. Trowbridge : I understand that by the Bailey proposition you make the ventilation-pipe perfectly tight from the sewer to the top of the house, and ventilate at that point. It is a chimney ? Mr. Adams: Yes, it is merely a chimney. If it is perfect the sewer gas goes to the outside of the roof. There is no question in my mind about the principle of the plan ; the practice may be found impracticable. Col. Hazard: The generation of these sewer gases results in pressure, both on the contents of the sewer and the walls. Therefore, suppose at every 30 one hundred feet there were sufficient ventilators, why would not that pressure be completely relieved by the gas forcing itself out at the ventilators. Prof. Trowbridge: Every one hundred feet will certainly answer. Even two hundred feet would do so satisfactorily. Mr. Adams: It would with dimension enough. You will have no trouble whatever with the sewerage question. Prof. Chandler: A cubic foot of sewerage produces under ordinary condi- tions a cubic foot of gas in twenty- four hours. The provision made in these plans is unquestionably adequate. Prof Trowbridge : At the last meeting of the engineers Mr. Knight told us that a horse-power of draft for an electric train could be produced for four pounds of coal per hour. That, of course, places the question of economy in a very favorable light. I would like to ask whether anything has occurred to change the best opinion on that subject. Professor Morion : It has been brought down to six pounds of coal on the Pennsylvania Railroad, on steam locomotives pulling large trains. Colonel Goddard : That is by no means the average, however. There is a great variation in the engines and the engineers. It is made one of the tests of c xcellence in that department of the road. Some of the roads grade their em- ployees by that, and pay for saving per pound. Mr. Boiler : The Pennsylvania give a premium for the greatest economy, which is doubtless represented by the case stated. I would like to see a work- ing electric railroad in operation, with a record as to the cost of maintenance and operation, etc. I suppose you are preparing data of the experience on these facts for those of us who have still to be convinced of the comparative economy and efficiency of the electric system of propulsion. Professor Morton : I must say that I foresee no difficulty beyond what would be met by ordinary mechanical skill in the construction of the apparatus ; in other words, there have been so many electrical roads run with so many varieties of motors, and some of them have been so large and the weight car- ried so great, that it is not a very great jump to pass from the largest train and the most powerful electric motor heretofore used to such trains and such electric motors as you propose to use on this road. Mr. Barnes: The records are carefully kept. The only thing which gave any trouble was the brushes, and we have succeeded in eliminating that by hav- ing a motor with a constant lead. Professor Trowbridge: Is there any inconvenience from noise from the motor now in use at Woonsocket ? 31 Mr. Barnes: There is absolutely no complaint from noise; it does not make half the noise of an ordinary horse-car. The line is four miles long. One motor car draws several others, constituting an actual electric railway train. It consumes a ton of coal in 16 hours' running, 125 pounds per hour. Prof. Troivbridge : There is uncertainty in the public mind about the sta- tus of the "District" as compared with the "Arcade" Road, whether they are both to take the same route, and how far one interferes with the other. In speaking of the District Railway people do not fully understand its great advan- tages. Col. Hazard : The managers of the Arcade scheme raised about $250,000 from some very respectable people, and went to Albany in 1885 and spent a large amount of it. This was done, I suppose, to try to supplant the District Road which had then been organized. It has been and is, in my opinion, simply a concern to raise money to spend in legislation and " current ex- penses." After they raised this money, and got their bill passed and signed by Governor Hill, the citizens became really alarmed, and commenced a suit, in which Mr. John Jacob Astor and nearly all the large estates on Broadway, over one hundred in all, were and are plaintiffs. The suit is to set aside the charter of the Arcade on the ground that the corporation died and the charter lapsed many years ago. Subsequently another suit was commenced by Bailey for some other property-holders, the ground being that the Company had acquired absolutely no right to lay railroad tracks prior to 1875, smce which date the Legislature has been incompetent to grant such right. I, my- self, fully believe that the Act of 1886 is unconstitutional, and that the Court of Appeals will so declare ; but there is one thing certain, no matter what the "Arcade" is or is not, if we commence to build our road, if we proceed forth- with to get the necessary consents on Broadway for the " District," or if we commence the "Underground" road for which we require no consents, and show a determination to proceed to completion with our work, there is nothing in our way. Our policy is to perfect our plans as rapidly as possible, and commence w ork as speedily as possible, and when we once strike a spade into the ground, under a full contract for construction, that is the end of all anxiety. Resistance there will be, of course, from adverse interests, and from the ignorant, the prej- udiced, or the unreasoning, but it will avail nothing. There is one point on the Underground Road which ought to be straightened, that is the elbow at Mul- berry Street ; we asked the late Rapid Transit Commission to straighten it for us, but it refused. The Rapid Transit Commission thought that no road ought to be built but a viaduct. A viaduct road will destroy more valuable property 32 in the city of New- York than the Boston or the Chicago fires destroyed in those cities, and destroy it more completely. It would ruin the other property through which it runs because of the terrific noise of the trains and the vibration. No matter how well constructed, the noise consequent upon the passage of rapid trains across viaducts, past lofty walls, open side-streets, and the vacant centres of blocks could not be avoided. To be of any value the line must be central, and it would instantly reduce miles of the best business and residential property to second and third class. Everybody who has lived in London knows exactly what that is, though in no case do the lines penetrate the best quarters, or cut through residential blocks. Professor Chandler : In this city every square foot of surface is valuable for residential or business uses. To consume it for a viaduct road would be unwar- rantable waste, to destroy existing structural values in addition would be unpar- donable extravagance. Hence I agree that a viaduct road ought not to be built. Beneath the surface of the street the unused space is valueless, and that is the place for precisely this structure and equipment. Mr. Parsons: In a subway railway and there only, in equable temperature summer and winter, protected alike from heat and cold and storms, can great speed be attained, and there alone can perfect ventilation be secured, because there all the conditions are under complete control. Colonel Goddard : The cars of this company, being of standard gauge, may run over the New Haven, Harlem, N. Y. City and Northern, Hudson River, or any future bridge or tunnel lines where desirable to make connections at stations, junctions, etc. Mr. Barnes : Assuredly ; and it is to be hoped that the improved truck will be adopted to replace the present system for all first-class express trains. The advantages of the low unbreakable car are many and important. The dimensions are the same as the Pullman ; the wheels 42 inches in diameter ; the train length the same as the Pullman ; the weight loaded the same or less than the Pullman, according to finish ; the lavatories and smoking-rooms would have the same general arrangements ; the closets and porters' quarters would be larger and more commodious for the same length of car than the Pullman. Owing to the absence of platforms, that space is available for these purposes. The floor of the car being but one foot above the rails, and the entrances and exits being four in number, two upon either side, one at either end, the passen- gers step directly from the platforms or ground at the stations into the car, and distribute themselves at will throughout its length. 33 The passage between cars is raised slightly above the floors. There are two low broad steps, to the level of a wide passage from car to car, between the lavatories, toilet apartments, and smoking-rooms. The car-frames throughout are made of mild steel of 60,000 lbs. tensile strength per square inch, and riveted with steel rivets. The bodies of all stays and tension-pieces are reduced to have the same tensile strength at the joints. The sides, floor, ends, and top are covered with "ferflax," two thicknesses on bottom and sides, one on top, fastened continuously along the edges. "Ferflax " is a permanent tough flexible compound building material, not unlike horn in character, composed essentially of steel netting of any strength, flax fibre, and oxidized oil. Its strength is the same as steel wire netting. Its flexibility approximately that of soft steel wire. Its toughness approximates horn. It is non-fragile and unbreakable by bending. Not liable in the least degree to shatter under shocks. The advantages of this style and form of car and truck are its indestructi- bility. The material is such that when receiving the force of the most severe collisions, side-thrusts, falling blows, and thumping when off the rails, they can- not shatter and the passengers become transfixed with splinters or injured by the fragile nature of the material, as is the case with the wooden car now in use. Such structures, being incombustible and non-fragile, can in the most severe and heavy collisions and overturning accidents but bend and twist out of shape. No flying parts and pieces can endanger in a secondary manner lives that need not be sacrificed from the primary character of the accident. The action of ferflax under such stresses is similar to that of stiff leather. The actual stability of a car (the conditions of rails, tracks, and speed remain- ing the same) depends upon the Jieight of the centre of gravity above the rails or the turning-point. The centre of gravity in this form of car is much lower than in the modern Pullman, being in the ratio of four to seven. The actual stability is therefore vastly increased ; much more, in fact, than these figures signify. Two motions of railway carriages cause passengers a feeling of apparent insecurity and unstability, — the rolling and swaying motions. The rolling motion depends upon the positions of the centre of gravity and point of support. When the centre of gravity is above the point of support there is a tendency to roll outward upon curves, and toward the lower rail upon tangents, causing a feeling of tipping over. If the centre of gravity is at the 34 point of support then the rolling motion upon such curves and such places ceases, and a lateral displacement takes place at the "swing links," and no tipping motion is felt. If the centre of gravity is below the point of support, the tip- ping gives rather an increased feeling of security, owing to the direction of the movement. The swaying motion is caused by a combined rolling motion and indepen- dent action of the cars. The large decrease in rolling motion, as well as the addition of the "compression buffers" at the corners of the car, making the train practically a unit, removes this dangerous and objectionable motion, and allows the passengers to walk with security. Unsteadiness depends upon the rolling and swaying motions, and the sud- den lateral displacement of the bodies of the cars. The first causes depend almost wholly upon the continuous character of the train and the individual cars and trucks, the last upon the conditions of the rails as well. The reduction of the two motions and the unit character of the train will cause this train to move with great steadiness, and allow passengers to walk about, or to proceed from car to car, without being thrown against the seats. The roofs of the cars being much lower than the present types, the cinders pass directly over the top with the smoke and gases from the locomotive stack. A train made up of these cars, and a locomotive fitted with the modern appli- ances, ought to be practically free from cinders, even when soft coal is used as fuel. The inclosed nature of the trucks and the proximity of the car to the rail keep the dust under the train. The whirling of the wheels cannot roll up the dust, as with the present type. The ventilation and heating the whole train as one long room, allows more perfect heating and ventilation in many respects. The passage of passengers, conductors, and trainmen from one car to another does not in each case necessitate a rush of air into the different cars, as the doors need never be closed between them. The disagreeable sounds incidental to the ordinary trucks are to a great extent overcome in these, owing to the design and inclosed position. The side area, the end area, and the uneven ness of the surface of the cars being less, the air resistance will not be as great. The reduced number of wheels per train will, of necessity, reduce the roll- ing friction. The reduced number of axles will materially reduce the sliding friction, as it does not depend so directly upon the weight as it does upon the number of axles. 35 The perpendicular distance (steps up) through which each passenger, upon an average, has to be raised to travel within the cars, is about eight per cent, of the modern Pullman, while the cost is about ten per cent, less, assuming the same inside finish. Colonel Hazard : Although the necessity for diminishing the excavation of the Underground Railway from motives of convenience and economy, and to keep above tide-water and escape rock-excavation, originally led to the inven- tion of this form of car and truck ; yet, upon working the problem out in detail, we find that it possesses immense advantages over the existing type for the first- class passenger traffic of all railways, and that, instead of wasting millions in making deep and dangerous excavations under the street to admit " standard cars," we have established a new standard, and shown that the horrors of Chats- worth, and kindred slaughters, are preventable. It is not too much to say that no serious accident can happen to a passenger traveling in this car within the structure of the Underground or District roads. Mr. Schneider : I have prepared some designs for portions of the steel work, which I think present advantages over the forms generally used. Blue- prints will be sent to members of the board, so that the subject of metallic struc- ture may be finally considered at the next meeting. Professor Trowbridge : We may congratulate ourselves upon the legal and financial status of the companies, and upon the original and successful treatment of the engineering and mechanical problems presented by the undertaking. The preparation is adequate and complete. We are now ready for practical demon- stration. 36