Durango semi-weekly herald. (Durango, Colo.) 1899-1907, 1905-05-29
SUBWAY IN GOTHAM
FURNISHES A MODEL
New York System is Declared to be
Best in World in All Respects.
| William E. Curtis Correspondence of
the ChicagoRecord.H Herald

William E Curtis Correspondence of
the observation-disclosures
NEW YORK-On the 9th OF April
trains had been running tnrough the
New York subway for six months.
and during that lime they had car.
ried 56.S12,432 passengers. an aver.
age OF nearly 100000 day. On the
day of the great blizzard In January
i25.S7s people were carried, which is
the record The total receipts from
fares during the six months were $2.-
S15.T25. Five hundred cars have
been in operation, and experience has
taught that 300 more, or total ca.
pable of carrying 100000 passengers,
can be handled daily without crowd
Ing. There are two kinds of trains
-eNpress and local. There are four
tracks-two in the center of the tun-
mel for the express trains and two
on the outside for local trains. There
are platforms between the tracks at
all stations. 30 That passengers can
go from local to an express train
or vice versa by crossing twenty I've
feet OF concrete pavement. The To-
cal trains have five cars, the express
trains eight cars. The locals make
thirty miles an hour, including stops:
the express trains fifty miles an
hour. The expires strains stop FIVE
finag ha
terry Park and One Hundred and
Thirty-fifth street. wnlle the locals
STOP every five or six blocks. You
can 20 from the city hall to the
Grand Central station at Forty-sec-
ond street in seven minutes, to
Ninety-sixth street in thirteen mia.
utes TO One Hundred and Sixteenth
street in sixteen minutes and to One
hundred and thrty-hfth street in
twenty-five minutes. The trains on
the elevated road run at about half
that specific locals al fifteen and
the expresses at twenty-five miles an
hour
In some respects these tunnels are
the greatest trlumpns transportation
science has ever achieved. They are
perfectly satisfactory to the public.
There are 'llickers" and knockers. :"
of course. No public Improvement can
he made without them. and YOU will
occasionally see in the newspapers
letter from some indignant clti-
zen who does not think the manage
ment is wat II should be, because
somebody iostled him. or he was un.
able TO find a seat on a crowded car.
The most serious criticism has been
directed at the advertisements that
hang in the underground stations,
and many of them are shabby and
deface the walls. nave yet to find,
however, anyone who does not CON
graduate the inhabitants of this city
upon having the most perfect sys-
tenn of urban transportation In the
world. The new London tunnels,
or "tuppenny tubes" are equal in
some respects, but their trains do
not run so fast, the stations are far.
Their apart and the ventilation and
light are not near so good. The same
may be said of the underground roads
in Paris. Budapest mad the best sys-
TEN in the world until the New York
subways were completed but the
mileage there is only about one
fourth as much In the New York sub
ways the light. temperature and ven
tilation are perfect There is no dust,
no smoke, no odors and plenty OF
good, pure. fresh air. To some ner-
yous peole the speed OF the express
trains is too rapid for comfort, and
those who nabtually use them are
acquiring subway glare" Just as
YOU have heard of the bicycle stare"
and the Automobile eye"-an express
sion of apprehension, which becomes
fastened upon the face by being fire.
quently hurried through space at the
rate of a mile a minute.
The tunnels now begin at Fulton
street and Broadway. but will be OPP
en- to the Battery. TIE tip end Of Man
haitian Island, in a few weeks; and
they run Under Fourth avenue to
fOTlN SECOND street, WneTe lHey
branch to the westward and follow
Broadway to Sputyten Duyvil creek.
They are fifty feet wide and thirteen
feet high and are lined with steel
casing covered with concrete. The
ceilings are covered with white tiles.
which gives them a bright and cher
full appearance. At some places down
town they are Just below the sur
face. the street above being support.
ed by steel stanchions At other
places the track runs more than a
hundred feet beneath the surface,
The stations at One-mIndTed and Six.
tyninth and One Hundred and Eighty
first streets are 10 feet below the
street and are reached by elevators.
In the work of construction 3,212.O0O
cubic yards OF tunnel were excavated.
from which 100000 cubic yards OF
earth and l,312.O00 cubic yards of
rock were taken. Sixty-flve thousand
tons Of steel and 5000 tons OF iron
were use and SOL 900 tons cubic
yards OF concrete were set. The
cars are built of steel. thirty-two feet
| long and are arranged like those on