New-York tribune., 1894-04-15
RUNAWAY CABLE CARS
SIGNAL SYSTEMS TO PREVENT ACCIDENT,
OF THIS KIND.

THE THIRD AVENUE LINE OPERATES oNE-BRoAn
WAY PEOPLE ARE YET BEHIND THE rrMEs.
Within the last ten months two great cable car
lines have been put in operation In this city after
extending large sums Of money on road power
houses machinery. rolling stock and other necessary
appurtenances The constructors OF these lines had
the,beneft Of the experiences OF builders OF similar
oods NOT only In this city but in other places
vbere cabIe lines were established institutions when
New-York still worried along behind the over
worked and underfed car horse.
The Pittsburg and Chicago systems abound m
twists and curves sharper and more numerous
than anv along the Broadway or Third Avenue
svstems while the hills OF Kansas city, San Fran
cisco. Portland and Cincinnati gave the builders
ornn,o onnortunity 10 study the grade question with
,,,ow 70 overcoming obstacles arising from that
source. -, ~,,. -
The extraordinary traffic on the chicago cable
cars during the time of the Columbian hxhipuon
afforded the cable car people the very pest iactles
10 calculate practically cables capacity and to
| &c. tho relative merits Of the various kinds Of
oah,os Furthermore the New-York cable car pro-
iectors had before them the cars IN use on inc
various systems in other cities ana 'he opiohs OF
those who patronlzed them daily ana were the pes'
iudoes az 10 their convenience ana practcaolhv
uore available With all this before them with al
r,ost unlimited means at their disposai and tne
a. urging them to give the city the best sys-
a,, noss,hIe Il was only natural that the citizens
!
| Of New-York should expect the two new caoie TS
TENS to be superior TO all others
IMPROVEMENTS THAT HAVE COME.
u . measure the hopes of the people have oeen
realized The two lines being Soihpieleu q, au'u'
the same time and running almost paiai'eA Cum
narisons are naturally drawn and the deiec's Ok
| ono of the systems become so apparent as 10 war
~ - ,oa,,aot,or The cable cars began running
! on tho Rroadway line about ten months ago. ana
tho change from horse 10 cable from 'ne u'"s''
uncertain oil ampllght TO the prlshe r'''0n sas
light the addition OF cars anu the p,'p 80
ting there" were welcome changes "h'o" '"e pun"
was NOT slow to acknowledge. But almost al tne
start came an accident caused py d iooSe Siam
in the cable; car ran away caus'ns panc ~.
/ dolov in traffic and though no one was injured
showed that the new system hau "s ",""o'eA"
THE company made excuses ana h"u "Oou' sUs'
ceeded in convincing the public that IL was "o ,"1.
NJ theirs when another loose strand "ouhu "se'
about the grip Of car ard another 'une"a'
resulted And SO II has continued up to the present
,,,e. tho runaway car, string OF tnern' Is not
an unusual sight in Broadway ana IN VIC" u s.s
roc, that a public carrier should take all possible
nrecoution toward insuring safety, people begin %
wonder how long they viii De expose - ''' 'A'
gers resulting from these accldentsS .o.-,oA .,x
onlv y few DAYS ago an entanged car carried 81
other cars before 1t. and the seven h ,hat tSor
cars ran up Broadway at a time wnen trdt sao.
o9ghfare was crowded 1t took twenty minutes ,ss
geeb,a stnpped while vehicles and pedestrians had
e"Ur ',rry az hurry 20 avoid being run down; Ipon
inquiry the office Of the c1hphy pinng The line is in
course OF construction. but before IL Td an ~ ~. Ter
OPe,"e P, f.n,fI the act is passed. however the con-
ditions will remain as they ar. 20 Nc chancss
drives or walks in Broadway must take Ms c"ai'''
CONFLICT WITH THE SUBWAY BOARD.
There seems TO be some misunderstanding De-
tween the Board OF Electrical Control ana 'ns
Netropolitan Street Railway Company, when ope''
ates the Broadway line. and 10 avoid complying
with the boards regulations as TO unoersrouha
wires. the railroad people have Fad Dill lhtro-
duced and when once IL has been passed, Presl'
dent Vreeand's representative SAID the ua"Se
OF a runaway car will have been overcome -.
If a strand of the cable became entanSea N h ,hs
mechanism Of cable cars grip today 9 simnraayT W.
same results be looked for as we sa" on Salu'ua''
w s.yes there is danger from that source till We
have our signal system in working order. our cars
rmn through a crowded thoroughfare. where fre-
auent stops are made and where the strain on the
cabie is severe. the curves also wearing, on our
cables and for that reason we ARE Are cass could
stopped promptly II We had our signal system III
working order ,a g. rot likely 10 be
IN operation FOR months. on the other hand the
third Avenue Railroad Company has ben praads
its cable system about two months ana mas aueauy
in working order signal system which, u Is s. ne
cared makes runaway car an has roomy
well-lighted cars: il also has increaseu & 1 nun !,
and then try to cure Superintenoent oon Lad ii NV
.rfE q
runaway accidents were not as numerous on ms
road as on the Broadway line said: 1 kno" notni.s
as @se 70 amy ann here Dee to run this road and believe am
foinr II successfully We are running twenty-Iou,
hours every day. and We have never had nFeah
srca the dav we started. The only coinolalht We
beor IS that our cars are noisy and know that 20
he trro: but we doing our best 10 overcome
the difficulty and will conquer it,
SIGNALS USED on THIS ROAD.
Mr. Robertson explained the system Of signalling
which is in operation his road, and ny means
~ which in case OF accident. the powerhouse can
| no communicated with the nature OF the accldent
made known and the remedy applied code o'
signals and list OF stations are in the possession
OF every grpman and conductor. and each carries
a wrench with which signal boxes. placed all a'Ons
the line can be opened II Third Avenue car
should become unmanag geable and its grip mechan-
ism refuse TO work. II could not be carried oy Ne ns
cable further than block OF two before tne c.o.s
would stop and further danger in that dreeuon
be aYerted. - ....rvs
How long IL would take to put on our reserSse
cable in case of accident 10 the one IN use, az az
not know" said the superintendent S oSarge
never had an accident which made the Chahse
necessary. -, r,.... ,ys,us
Henry Hart president OF the Third Ayenu. emu.
many should have any more accidents than We.
and we have none. Probably II we had a. lns.s
bosses they. should have as many n,isnap s /,
Shn De THIS hH 3aSt is by
poan COMPANY and also the taer sna qmnI nut into
operation traffic in Broadway will be unsate ,y anu
Is urged by some that the Broadway Con,psmi Gnnnis
| soners and accede 10 their demands ., -,
The Third Avenue road never had any troIonr, roin, ~
that because they never disputed 'ns iayine
the subway Commissioners to regulate the ,a.ms
OF wires underground. and when their rosu
built a separate conduit for wires was colst a. tsis
conduit the telephone and signal wires nave ''''
placed