Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1904-11-04
SAFEGUARDING A SUBWAY.

The Elaborate Appliances for Protecting
the Passengers In the New York Rapid
Transit Tunnel.
To begin with the trains themselves are
fitted out with every safety appliance
known to modern railway engineers
The vestibued doors, successors to the
old gates seen on the elevated railway
trains, are designed to prevent accidents
from crowding on station platforms and
to shut out the possibility of a passenger
falling off while the train is in motion.
The electric motor of each car is so
arranged that ii ceases to move when the
pressure of the motorman's hand is re-
Taxed on the controller This is not new
the elevated train motors are the same
but the tunnel train has a supplement
tary mechanism that shuts the brakes
automatically in case the train tries to
rush past a danger signal. If the motor
man should die or fall i'll in his box, the
current would cease to turn the wheels
at once. If the grade were upward the
train would stop without the help of the
brakes but If 1t were a down grade the
air brakes would force it to stop as soon
the next danger signal had been pass
ed.
The signals are set automatically by
the passing trains and the arrangement
by which no two trains can run in ad
joining blocks simultaneously de-
signed to prevent a collision due to a
failure of the automatic brakes. Should
the brakes refuse to work altogether, al
lowing the train to rush into the block
ahead of the danger signal, it could not
strike the forward train before running
a considerable distance unchecked. In
the interval there would be second
chance for the automatic apparatus to
get in it's fine work, as well as almost
rear cars would discover something
wrong" Any guard through the entire
length of the train is enabled to stop the
train from his platform, and any switch
man or other employe along the tracks
can stop it by pressing an electric but
ton that shuts off all power on every
track
The electric button is an all-important
feature of the subway. 1t is handy at
stations and in little boxes placed at fire.
quent intervals along the tracks. There
is no point from which a button cannot
be reached in a few seconds, and one
press of the button brings everything to
a standstill.
At frequent intervals throughout the
tunnel are hydrants and long lines of
hose, which can be brought into use on
the instant. These are for a last resort.
The tunnel company does not expect a
fire to get started The only way a
dangerous fire can originate in an electric
train, 1t is asserted is through some ac-
cident in the machinery beneath the car,
where the electricity is converted into
power. The subway cars are built to
make this impossible. Every car floor is
multiple affair-practically five floors
laid on top of each other. The lowest
one is made of asbestos a quarter of an
inch thick. Next to this comes a layer OF
wood, replaced over the motors by plates
of steel. Then there is layer of fire.
proof felt, above which is a maple floor
with an asbestos lining The top floor,
on which the passengers walk, is a stra-
tum of wood seven-eighths of an inch
in thickness. Besides the fivefold pro-
tecting floor, the car is shielded from
flames by a covering of lacquered copper
extending from the bottom up to the win
dow stills.
One feature of the tunnels safeguard
ing is the separation of the electric pow
er. The current that operates trains is
entirely different from that which regu-
lates the signals. Both are different from
the current for the thousands of lights
strung along the walls. Though an ac-
cident should render useless the third raj
and the signals, the lights would remain
as brilliant as ever. 1t would be next
to impossible to meet such catastrophe
in New Yorks tunnel was suffered ir
Paris last year. When the Paris subway
train was destroyed by fire all the lights
went out, and probably scores who NIGH
have escaped We're consumed because OF
the sudden darkness