The New York Rapid-transit Subway

Proceedings.] PARSONS ON NEW YORK RAPID-TRANSIT SUBWAY. 9 as the standard design. In the matter of dimensions very serious consideration was naturally given to the question whether the subway should be large enough to accommodate standard steam-railway passenger-coaches. That this question should be answered in the affirmative was strongly urged by many who had doubts as to the successful outcome of the enterprise, and who argued that, should the subway fail to pay as a local-transportation system, it could be utilized by the trunk lines now terminating at the Grand Central Station as an extension for their suburban service to the commercial district, or that, by making tire subway large, it could become a goods- line, especially on the express tracks during the night; as these persons were quite positive that the express service would fall far short of being remunerative, and that at least these tracks would be free for other service. The Author felt confident that there was such an urgent demand for increased local-transit facilities in New York, that the whole capacity of the subway would be taxed to the utmost in performing its legitimate local service, and that there would be no accommodation in it for the standard-size suburban cars of the trunk lines, nor for local goods-service at night. A high-speed service at short intervals can be maintained only when the units are of similar weight and similar power. It is obvious that this condition would not be fulfilled if there were permitted in the subway at the same time cars of the heavy weights of the trunk lines, drawn by a single electric locomotive, and cars of the lighter weights suitable for local service, propelled by a series of motors disposed throughout the train. The accelerating and retarding of the former class would be so much slower tlian in the case of the latter, that the speed of all trains would necessarily be that of the inferior. The Author therefore advised that the subway should be given dimensions only sufficient to accommodate a car of suitable capacity for local service and should be made so small that it would be impossible, at any time, to introduce standard trunk-line equipment. Should it be desirable to run through trains over the rails of the subway and the trunk lines to near-by suburban points, the subway-trains could be better run over the trunk-line system than the trunk-line cars could be introduced into the subway. The making of the subway of small dimensions, as compared with American steam-railway standards, therefore, would not preclude through suburban service. For a size of car that would be satisfactory for an intra-urban service, the Author took the standard car of the Manhattan Elevated Railroad, a type also in use on some of the suburban lines of the