Motor Trucks Pull Subway Cars 



Construction work is facilitated by trusty gaso- 

 line tractors that rush materials where needed 



MOTOR trucks are todaj' running in 

 New York's subways. To be 

 sure, they are not carrying passen- 

 gers, because the portions of the tubes in 

 which they are utilized are not yet com- 

 pleted. Still, they are performing the 

 very good service of rapidly transporting 

 earth and rock, or bricks and steel, from 

 one point in the system to another. The 

 great amount of material which must be 

 handled inside of the tubes may be 

 realized when it is considered that the 

 streets over the subway have to be kept 

 open while the construction is going on. 

 The torn-up portions of the roadway have 

 to be put down just as soon as the con- 

 crete roof is finished, leaving the placing 

 of the rails, switches, and signal equip- 

 ment for a later time. In order not to 

 impede street traffic, the shafts down 

 which the material is dropped are placed 

 as far apart as possible. This makes long 

 hauls necessary inside the tube itself. 



As the current will not be turned on in 

 the third rail until the regular passenger 

 trains are put into operation, the problem 

 of getting long, sixty-foot rails and heavy 



switches to the proper points on hand cars 

 seemed too formidable for solution. 

 Finally the superintendent decided to use 

 a regular motor truck fitted with flanged 

 wheels. There was none of the smoke 

 and steam that accompany the use of 

 locomotives. Moreover the regular flat 

 car was rendered unnecessary, because the 

 motor truck was converted into a tractor 

 with a fifth-wheel at the rear instead of 

 the usual body. 



Ten to fifteen tons of sixty-foot rails are 

 in this way pulled by a one-ton truck. 

 The weight of the front ends of the rails 

 rests on the truck fifth-wheel and the 

 weight of the rear ends on an ordinary 

 hand car, as shown in the illustration. 

 The fifth-wheel support enables the truck 

 to turn curves and run over cross-over 

 tracks just like any locomotive. The 

 truck is furnished with a searchlight 

 mounted high on a rod extending up from 

 the dash. This and a regular truck horn 

 give men working along the. track a warn- 

 ing of the approach of the unusual vehicle. 



This adaptation of the familiar motor 

 truck has much facilitated the work. 



A fifth-wheel is mounted on the rear of the motor truck. Rails and beams ride on it and on 

 the small hand car in the background. There is no smoke, as with an ordinary locomotive 



399 



