The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1902-12-12
ICY RAILS BLOCK ELEVATED.
TRAFFIC TIED jP FROM EARLY
~ THE EVENING.
Scrspcrs Not Yet Provided and brushes
and OIL Sprinkiers Gail gers
How Win Guards for q Chance to
Naik-'NO Trains" SIgn Huns Out

]
with the third rail electric system were
almost completely tied up last night iy
| he coating of seet on the power rail. Last
Friday the blocking Of the trains was not
felt much until folks We're going home
from the theatres. hut this time the service
got tangled in tim, to delay downtown
! business men bound for the dinner table
and tn force the hig crowds bound downtown
/ 20 the theatres to take surface cars or take
! long chances on ever seeing their theatre
/ seats
! The officers of the Manhattan gave the
"a me- excuse a. hey did last Friday-that
! the motor cars were not equipped with the
| iron scrapcrs which the Brooklyn elevated
| railroads use. but were merely provided
! with steel brushes in front Of the power
! shoes" r,eaforce! by oil-sprinklers to
| loosen up the ice.
The Brooklyn elevated trains had little
or no trouble last Friday. They had some
! on the Bath Beach and Sheepshead Bay lines
last night but it wasn't circumstance 10
the difficulty in this borough. The steel
brushes weren't up TO the mark. II was
said last night, however, that the Man
haitian officers had ordered scrapers and that
they would be put on a. soon as possible.
The combination of sleet and rain which
| began to descend late in the afternoon
| didn't cause any trouble until about i. NJ.
, Then a coating of ice began to form on
the rails and the brushes made little i'm
! precision on it. The ice had the effect of
causing arcs between the power rail and
! every power shoe that came over 1t. The
result was continuous blush Fourth Of
July all along the Manhattan's lines.
According to the railroad mems way Of
talking about traffic. there wasn't com
pletc block anywhere on the system until
about p. NJ That isn't the view Of those
who tried travelling Oh the road one or
two hours bcfor" that
/ The first serious tTuupl" came on the
| uptown track a. Columbus avenue and
| Nmety-thild street about $50 i. NJ.
! train got stuck there and other, massed
behind il. Then a downtown train wa
, held up a. l2j'h street and Eighth avenue.
Very few trains ran downtown on the West
Side for several hours.
According to TIA. train dc-patchcrs, there
was pretty nearly OF" continuous block
on the West Side from South ferry to i55th
street by 9i5. The rains moved only
i"" inches al time and fifteen MGutes
later ticket agents were told to warn -raNe-
! lcrS Of the exact Cordit ion and If need be
/ to pat up the "uo-iran-" signs
All tralnrneu We're also il~tru ted to
= warn the Passengers on stalled trains that
+ they got Of To walk 10 the nearest station
/ they wer" Ill danger Of being -cleCtrOCutcd.
! For the same reason section hands who
tiicd 10 clean off the power rails had 10 b.
, mighty careful.
| One of the worst Jams on the road &C.
/ currcd on the 10th street curve Trains
' were stalled there sonnet lines for half al,
, hour, and tn" trainmen CT into hume rols
, fights with "a S-engers who " lnted 10 get of
| ard get TO n" street Many did get on
| there ard among them were "A number of
women, several of whom became dizzy
a l,n 10 ..ll n,lF 10 ,att..
\ sample Of he trouble Passengers had
was af rted in the experience Of several
hundred persons who were on an uphourd
Sixth avenue train which should hav,
coached the l5jih street station AZ u. VI
l. got IN long after p. NJ The train spent
zen ininT"s rounding ~" high curve at
10th street and all tho trip mp was accom-
pani"d by lmc fireworks y At made fun
for everybody who wasn't nervous.
After the train passed IN" 10th stree
station it still held about 800 passengers
Three blocks above. Il ran into the block
AIDED district, and nftcr wait of twenty
minutes N" passengers started for IN"
doors At first the train guards wouldn't
lot ANYBODY of, but al last several hungry
mon pushed a guard aside, opened the
gate and got "A.
1hcr the guards on the other cas- gave
in, too, and IN few minutes 200 persons
were walking along the ICY lS-inch foot
path. A. the side "a- a guard rail, swul' n
with clingiug sl"ct to twice it, normal size,
For som. reason nobody wanted To ~"
the rail a. prccaution. They were en-
couragrd to leave il alone by cynical
; motorman, who yelled
, IF YOU start 10 fall don't grab anythin
Just fall T. won't hurt You half 80 much
{" fall a. 10 touch some of those things
p The crowd flcd by in a careful, dainty
| loCk-'sp. The crowd went north prin-
, Cipillv beCnusr IN" first man started to
, walk up six blocks tn the i25th street sta
tiou instead If going back two blocks to
} ll8'h street
IT." railroad managers tried a new tack
about 1890 and put on a f"w Of IN" old
"uri 90, which helped som" hv pushing
| IT.. blocked ~ in IT, front
Traffic ON the Third avenue lire was nj
no time totally suspended, but the trains
moved only by f'S and starts. and every
few yards there was arrow halt because
, somewhere on the line n fuse had blown
, | out. On tn" Second avenue branch. be-
: tween Chatham Square and the Battery,
traffic was entirely at "A standstiil from
about $50 until ! p, NJ The Journey from
the Bridge terminal 10 I29th street took an
hour and half during the worst period Of
the tie-up The schedule time is less than
! forty minutes.
The crush at the Bridge station between
Sand 7o'clock was 50 great that the sale of
! tickets had 10 be suspended Trains moved
out az long intervals instead ~ the usual
tour-ininute schedule and no express trains
: were run. About O'Clock IN" current
e from the power house was reduced to half
I, power to save blowing out fuses The ro-
suit was that although the trains moved
only al half speed and were but dimly lii,
l they were It least kept moving
a Along Third avenue and nj Fort " second
, and l25th street on the Second avenue line
: block" tickets were ISSUED which allowed
Passengers Ia continu" their journey on the
= surface" cars of the Third Avenue system.
II The surface car were crowded all night
q Tie ice and sle"t made little trouble for
= them. When the theatres closed most of
= tn people took tcpllCV- t. get home
v " II O'Clock last night n crowd that
: wanted tn g"t uptown damned the Twenty
;, third street station Of IN" Second avenue
. line and half a dozen policemen wore sum
moned to straighten things out The
crush was 50 great that several windows
| i'm the station were smashed
Among the p'omi l"ut hight working
. business men who got downtown late for
work was Handsome Bill" Morrison. cashier
Of Dulan' : hocf-and restaurant. II was Ia.
Il A-st tim" he had been taydy for thirty-on,
d ysafs