J44 



8TRK1-T i: VILROADa 



M> rapid an adrancemcnt <>f appropnat. .;,, trical 

 inventions f<>r BBdttgKNnd jropuUi"ii 



.i.t has been witnessed within the marvelooaly 

 space of titne since ela|Kwd. Already t 



-y>tcm i- . h-uumti"!: 



an-! unreliable compared with the underground 

 trolley system, now accepted an apparently il. 

 best possible method . 



The engineering d i Mi' . ' i with the 



DooitniottM ol tfi Bromdwmj i road wi ra Eu 

 greater than have been eoooantered in tin- ma 

 of steam-railroad enterprises sin. e t he da\ i oi 



A nd Brunei. 'I >r t<> cut 



rough rock as I. .;""<"" i- 



ith the task undertaken 



incident indicative nf the th.-n rapidly approaching 

 triu in ph i-f electricity over other met hod' not only 

 in regard to sp 



uses. 

 Tin- cable was abandoned, because it- operation 



Was tOO COftly. A- a! i!'and Kapld-. din.- \\eiv 



frequmt and' >linrj. ami tin 



\tranlmary rxp.'ii.litiirr fr.-in \s ar and 

 ><rttinity, t- I tin- han- 



dling and placing of imwuldy masses ol cable was 

 welcomed. 



uniplrtiuii ,,f Two Nt \\ ^ .irk i i1\ < .ilil.- 

 IIn.nl-. :..innl UU .\.-\v 



'all' roads Well ad\an<i>l. < >n the I' 



way and S-vmtli .\\-inn- lim- the lino between the. 





D4XOBR Or A KI.AI-K Alll.K 



by the men who accepted contracts for 

 construct; urally they ex- 



pected many obstructions hut the obstacles met 

 with were far more frequent and of a much more 

 aggravating character than was anticipated a t the 



These obstacles included gas and water mains 

 and valves: sewer-, with their manhole-, l.a-in-. 

 and connections ; Kdi-on electric conduit-, man- 

 holes, and subways with vaults; -ervice l,o\,-s and 

 air pi|>es: .il cal.le conduits and vault-; 



i; steam pi|x*with expan-ion joint-, 

 return pipes, valves, and valve -t. in- : and the ad- 

 justment and readjii-tment of the track* for tem- 

 porary and (n-riiianent tracks All difficulties, as 

 will lie MH'ii in a subsequent [mrairruph. w.-r.- event u- 

 ally overcome and passenger traftic duly . 

 lished. How little was known less than a* decade 

 goof the call! may I..- under-tood from 



the follo -jr. 



m - of Mav HV 



ommencernent of contract work on 

 road war cable, laid: "It marks the fir-: 



is a city .f . able ? . The 



street-car horse may. within a few years. ..- almo-t 

 > - ' .,'...-,, .,- 



was, if ; 'o conservative. .\- f- 



- .. f .-1. 



anl ptiblication have j 



the suggested transformation amon' the in, 



Valuable ('ah I i: . I ahainloned at Si I ..ui-. 

 In April an-i St. Ix.ui* ( aJ.h and 



Western Railway which cr^t for wrru_'lit iron 

 alone $150,000-^wa> -il. ami the plant 



sold for a trifling sum. This is mentioned as one 



Mattery and Central Park had readied 

 tioti. The Third Avenue line \va- al-. oomplete 

 except two very short uptown .-tn-tdie- and one 

 at the southern end of the line. A frandii.se was 

 granted for a Le\inu r "n A\einie cahle line, and 

 I. id- wen- hdn^ madr for a similar privil, _ 

 Ninth A Venn.-. 



The Mn.sidwny cal.le n-ad. N 



: yin^ operat ion- on Mav 1 1, 



The caiiie between the Battery and Thirtr- 



>ixth Street were started l>y th. n--oid 



daughter of Mr. .lohn I>. Crimmins. who Iniilt the 

 road. Miniin- opi-ned the -train va 



tin- J/MM-h.r-e-)M.wer en-in-- in the l.a-enieiit of 

 the ^reat j.ower hoii-r of the company at the 1: 

 ton Street -ration. In !-- than five years this vast 



-house chamber, over KM feet 

 in lentrth. under Broadway, and in feet in depth, 

 has passed the highest point in it- career of u-eful- 

 ness. and. the days of the cahle heini: numliered. 

 ruct in-e nin"-t erelong be abandoned for - 



purposes HS unnecc-- 



The Third Avenue line v. 



lurinir the fir-t we, k in Deceml..-!-. ls;i:',i Alt 1 

 this j- a caKle line, there are many vnriatio> 

 ino.le of working, these variati 



1 ^ri|)-operalin{: <le\ ices, and 



differing from the |; plan in many other 



important particular-. 



signal s\-tem- on lahlc Koads. Accidents 

 . where!. v much \e\atjoii< delay to 

 passengers was occasioned owing to the Inability of 

 road i and other officials at a di- 



from power houses to communicate with eniri: 

 brought aKout the installation of a u-eful signal 

 system, placed in operation on the Third Avenue 



