New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1902-12-13
SLEET TIES UP ELEVATED
AGAIN ICY COATING ON THE THIRD B1I1 R10c1-S
ELECTRIC TRACTION
Souboamd Crozrds 7Hrong Lnes-Con Situation I'm
proUes-Poor CaredF
PROMISE IMPROVEMENT
Manhattan Officials Say They 4rf
Getting Rail Cleaners.

~CthhS 1tOI S6LUtIS.
The stoppage of traffic on the elevated roads
yesterday morning on account of the ice the
third rails following quickly Sundays tie
UP by a snowstorm. made many NEWCOMERS
believe that the Manhattan Railroad had
taken the precaution to make the electrical sys-
tenn for the elevated lines a success. Never be-
fore had there been such a complete Gripping
of the elevated transportation service.
Beginning Thursday evening when the
sleet and rain formed coatings of ice on the
rails and impeded the progress Of the electrical
trains, the trouble increased in the early hours
of yesterday morning. The lines in Second and
Third-ave-. which steam has been entirely
supplanted by electricity, continued to run
trains, which crawled along at infrequent inter
walls. On the Sixth-ave, line. where there has
been a mixed service of electrical trains and
trains drawn by locomotives, the service broke
down about a. m, and for two hours, While
some hundreds of the old locomotives were being
brought into and hauling stalled cleo
trfcal trains out of the way, traffic on the line
was suspended completely. On the Nlnth-aVe.
line the traffic by steam power was retarded by
blockades in Columbus-ave. and the trains were
overcrowded frightfully-
MANY ExASPERATING EXPERIENCES.
There were many tales of eXasperating and
dangerous experiences on elevated stations and
stalled trains. At many of the stations tick
cts were sold long after the platforms had be-
come crowded with waiting passengers. Many
people fought their way into the crowds at the
stations waited until they became tired or
frightened and then fought their way back to
the street seek transportation by surface
cars Terrific rushes were made to get on
trains arriving at stations. many men climbing
into cars through the windows
Mauy had q particularly terrifying
experience the station at Onehundred-and-
sixteenth-st and Eighth-ave., where the plat
form became dangerously overcrowded Several
pupils Of the Wadleigh High School for Girls. in
One-hundred- and-fourteenth-st left train at
the station and found themselves in a hghuns
mob OF grown people. They were pushed ana
iostled roughly. Two three Of the girls were
thrown down and tramped, and were fortunate
to escape with torn clothing and some bruises.
A badly delayed steam service on the west
Side elevated lines kept in operation nearly
all day after traffic reopened there, after
s a. m Late in the afternoon, when the ice
had been scraped from the third rail- some e!ecs
trio trains began to run between Rector-st. and
Fffty-eighth-st- The work Of removing the ice
from the third rail in Sixth-ave- was performed
by men who wore rubber gloves ana USED cut.
ting tools with long wooden handles some OF
the men were carried along the line on spare
locomotives
FIFTY-EIGHTH-ST. TRAINS
The service Of Fifty-eighth-st- trains. which
has been complained about vigorously for some
time was worse than usual yesterday The
company has persisted in running three car
trains to Fifty-eighth-st-, and these trains
USUALLY are overcrowded. It running three
car trains In the rush hours OF Thursday even
ing when longer trains would have helped to
relieve some of the congestion OF traffic on the
Sixth-ave line. Part of the time yesterday there
were no trains to Fifty-eighth-st.. and when 1t
became possible, late in the afternoon, to run
electric trains there, only short trains were
run The best information to be obtained at
the company's Office was that no better service
20 Fifty-eighth-st- could be given until the road
had its full equipment OF cars
Expectation of repetition OF yesterday morn
ing,s DELAYS whenever another snowstorm or
sIeetstorm comes along increased the grumbling
of the travelling public. A report that the Man
haitian Railway Company might abandon the
electric service for the winter and run trains
with steam locomotives all the lines until
next spring was contradicted at the office OF
Mr.. Skitt, the general manager. Mr. Grape, his
assistant. said:
The third rail system on the elevated roads
| will he all right as we have all the cars
equipped with brushes and other appliances LOT
removing the snow and sleet from the rail- p" e
| sbsn have about loo cars equipped IN about
| three weeks The appliances being manu-
featured and sent here as fast as possible ana
| we have men working night and DAY httachinS
49,
| four steel brushes so attached near the motor
| plough that they can be pushed down on the
| rail- by air pressure when required tach car
! Is to have also a device for spraying zero OIL
| on the rail and a device for sprnkIng SAT-
| solution !.
| Or1r engineers report that the devices WORKED
well last night and this morning but the trounie
was that there were too few cars equipped WIN
| the devices. On the lines IN SECOND ana I'M u
| aves only about half the cars had the Drusnes'
| vet the traffic kept open, although much
| DELAYED On the Sixth-ave. line only rev eieG-
! trio cars had brushes and they were sano
| Wiched in between trains that were without
| brushes and trains by steam power,
and the interval between the passage or cars
| with brushes was so great that the rail- became
| compIeteIy coated with ice and the running Oh
| trains by electricity came to a stop we pelleVe
| We nave the best possible devices for removing
| dc 1roun the rail and that soon as all our
| cars are equipped and in operation tnere VIII
| be no serious delay. even In the worst sieetstorh
| Imaginable.
Some Of the motormen employed on the ele-
| waited roads said that the spraying OF zero oil
| with the ayowed object of keeping the Ice from
| sticking to the rail. had been q great nature
| The oil which was supposed not TO freeze Ole
freeze they said forming a gumrhy substance
nm the rail- over which the motor pioughs snu
and il did not prevent the ice from SUCKING 81
hard TO the rail that the steel brushes cooie
not remove it. Some electrical ens s.,s :;
that there had been great lack OF foresight II
Tho failure TO equip the electrical trains VIII
effective scrapers before winter set In. as re
s,,lt they said the third rail system was settinf
an undeserved black eye
MANY STREET ACCIDENTS
The slippery condition of the citys sIreet'
| Yesterday caused many accidents. Hunareo'
| 90 nersons had bad falls on the 1cecoated size
.ILs and Movements and more than scor'