The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1905-07-16
Not only Ia II much quicker for passen-

Not only is it much quicker for passen-
gers to step directly into a car through
doorway than to go around the corner by
way Of a platform, but the delay caused
by opening and closing platform gates is
avoided.
The old cars are being rebuilt into cars
of this type, with the idea that in time the
whole elevated train service will be OF easy
access. Many seconds are saved in days
run and added to the credit Of rapid transit
by the new equipment but the economy
of time is helped out good deal by another
device that passengers may ride with LOT
days without noticing, useful as it has al
ready shown itself to bottle motorman's
automatic electric signal.
The elevated management has always
maintained that the only safe wayto run
its trains Is to have all doors and gates
closed tightly before the starting bell Ia
given, and its Judgment has been amply JUS
tilted Of course. But the operating officials
who stand around the busiest stations
with stop watches in their hands and worry
over the loss of three-ffths Of a second
sat up nights wondering how they were
going to hurry things If the first four cars
of a train were all ready to start before
the fifth one was and had to wait until
bell signal was passed along from platform
to platform by the pulling of cord. This
was a special trouble here. because the
last car on all Boston elevated trains is a
smoker and is likely to be slowest in dis
charging and taking on its passengers.
Finally somebody conceived the idea
that on the easy access cars. anyway, the
closing Of the doors might be made to give
an electric signal automatically. Each
door is connected with an electrical circuit
which is broken by the opening Of the doors
and is completed only when all the doors
are closed. AS one car after another dis
charges and loads the signal circuit Is built
up section by section and the shutting OF
the last door completes 1t and rings the
starting bell.
The trains got away from stations 80
much more promptly as result OF this
scheme that the engineers cast about for
something similar that they could apply
to the oldfashioned cars. After expert
menting variously they adopted a modifica-
ton of the same principle.
In the hood over the platform is con-
oealed a lever which when pulled down
closes a section OF the electric circuit that
rings the motormans signal The levers
on the adjoining platforms are connected
by means of a piece OF bell cord. and when
the side doors and gates are closed the train
man at each car interval pulls down his
cord and holds it until the motor starts.
OF course, when the last section Of the cir
cult is closed by pulling down the cord on
the last car ready and the closing of
the last door, the motorman's bell rings
automatically
1t seems as If the time saved by these
means would be inf1nitesimal but the
train despatchers at the terminals know
what difference it makes, though the
men with the stop watches cannot figure 1t
out in seconds or their fractions.
1t used to be the case that in the rush
hours. and not infrequently at other times,
the despatohers had to put in relay trains
to keep up the regularity Of the running
schedule when a regular train was late in
getting to it's terminal. The overhead lines
here are really q series Of loops. and the
close schedule on which the service Is run
is so complicated that even slight inter-
ference at one point might affect the run
ming sheet Of the whole system.
so il the office building or shopping
or theater crowd was particularly heavy,
and the progress through the subway was
consequently slow, bringing a train to a
terminal is or 20 seconds after il should
have started on its return trip. a relay
was run in to keep the schedule working
smoothly and the regular was sent out to
the yard track to take the relays place.
Since all the trains have been equipped
signals, these relays have become almost
nnnaceSSary