LOCOMOTION IN NEW YORK.

Colonist, Volume LI, Issue 12400, 16 November 1908, Page 4

LOCOMOTION IN NEW YORK.

■ ' ' ■ ' ■ : 0, • * ■ THE SUBAQUEOUS TUBES. , (By William Lock). No place has gr eater faoilities for the transit of passengers than New York. There exists the best electric oars, from twoto four lines running down all ths mam streets. The oars are driven without the dangerou3 overhead gear. There are also four lines of the Elevated Railway, away in the air, as high in some plnoes as 60 and .70 feet from the ground. Then there are the underground and subaqueous tubes and tunnels. These last are supposed to bo the moat. up-to-date and most wonderful ihthe wjrld.- A description. of the Manhattan and Hudson tunnels',supplied to me: by one of the. officials, is given herewith. Enormous numbers of people can be quiokly transported and ( handled, the accidents being very few. mdcc, by underground electric cars-and' tubes. The number of aocidents on the Elevated Railways is also very small, though these are considered the more dangerous. While 1 was in New (York two cars were thrown off- the line and nearly capsized on. the street. Had that happened there would have been great, loss of life.. In oonnecfion with the Manhattan and Hudson tube, uniting JNew York with New Jersey, there .ara four tunnels extending "under the river Hudson, connecting the Penhslyvannia, Delaware and Western Railroads, and the Americans consider it the greatest undertaking made by man. The. originator of this great scheme was MrW. U. McArioo. . The traffic on the Hudson river is 'very great at any time, and Mr AlcAdoo, noticing tne great delay and inconvenience' caused byp fog and also the danger to shipping, thought something should be done to obviate this. • Uis idea was that a tube should be con structed under the Hudson. It wasconsidered a stupendous engineeringfeat, but the .first "tube was completed m 1905, and .two others were aiao constructed and opened by President Roosevelt on February ,25th, 1908. These have proved of enormous advantage to the tratelling public,, and evertyhing ; has been done to make the' tubes safe, ana the cars are all. made of steal, acd are. fireproof. Thirty feet below the lev6.lof.the street are located the. loops and station platforms, where lOOOpersons a minute, or 500,000 a day can easily be handled. Abovß this floor -is- located ' what is known as the "concourse,"' where there is a restaruant, lunoh c6unter, flower booth, telephone booth, and telegraph stand-, and also a newspaper ; bootn, and boot black stand. The company have the largest office structure _ia existence, called "The HudsonTerminal Buidirigs," comprising 22 storey buildings, having 1834 Bullion square feet (more than 29 acres) of floor space, affording comfortable office accummbdation for the 10,000 office tenants. • Fifty-two elevators afford prompt, comfortable, safe, and easy access, to the various floors. There is a dining club on the roof of each. • ■ In : tunnelling the tubes,, both compressed air and electricity were used. Behind the high pressure air chambered shield men . can •' labour without fear of a cave in, as the highair pressure for the chamber holds the mud, sand and silt in place until loosened and removed with pick and shovel or dynamite. The shield is forced forward into the soil by huge sjcrew-jacks, and its : correct path is maintained to a fraction pf an Inch by careful mathematical; calculation. Electricity for light and power is also used. Each tube is 15ft 3in in diameter, and lies from 60 to 90 feet below the surface of the water, and from. 15: to 30 feet below the bod of the river. The total length" of the subaqueous; portion, of the tube is ap-: proximately 5700 feet, about 2 \ miles. ■ Soj beautifully are the tunnels : lighted under the river that you "can see i far into ..the tube, on whose bosom flp.ats the commerce 'oft a nation, and from ..whose piers departures may be made to almost any habitable part of the globe. -And on- it. ride tho grandest and most luxurious floating palaces .built. At .the: platforms in each ter- ' minus the arriving and ■departing passengers are -given ingress and egress ;on opposite sides,' thus avoiding de-~ -lays,- etc. ■-: The steel '-'.and concrete above enter into "the construction .of these stations. Vaulted arches, electric bulbs, lite an halo of -early sunlight, give a dim religious 'light.- Security, stability, : and artistic appearance^ is also ■present and , apparent, and the tubes areno doubt - justly considered a monument to American engineering enterprise^ Always; a gentle breeze, the trains passing to and fro act as great pistons, forcing the foul air and creatihg^a yacuum. at the rear, which draws in a supply of fresh ' air .from the surface,^ and giving perfect ventilation. Twenty; miles of the undergrbund andunder-river construction in the metrppplitan district employed a large quantity of labour, as many as 8500 being .employed at one time. The tbtal'cpst.; was 'above 70,000,000 dollars. The" cars are made exclusively of steel and. carborundrum, and are absolutely fire-proof. The trains are " TOistibuled and the cars divided into ! sections,' entrance- and exit .being ob- : t^ned; through, sliding doors at both ends' and middle'of each car, controlled "and operated by compressed air. There are eight' car's to a train, forming a complete compressed air system; automatically : signalling to the motor man to "go ahead" when every door on the train has been securely, closed. No ; bell or other form pf "signalling is "used,.and whilst- any door oh the, train is even slightly; ajar. 'no signal; to" "go ahead" can possibly reach -the' 'motor man. - "All cars are electrically propelled, - lighted . and heated,, and ; run under a heading of ten minutes;: completing the trip from thb-Hoboken, Terminal in about ten minutes. The system is claimed to. be the greatest engineering 'work .ever attempted, artd. the, most suolime and far r reaching beneficence .for mankind. ;,