New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1922-01-01
Thousands Are
Caught in 3-Hr.
l.. |. Rail 1'ic-Up
turning Gu. Of a Cable
Halle All Electric Trains
During Peak of HOLIDAY
Rush in the Greater CITY
Many Stalled Under River
Lanterns Hung ia Darkcned
Cars Allay Feeling of
Panic; Stations Thron2cd

From 1910 until 20 r. n. Yesterday
the electric system C: ITO Long Island
fs'l-oad was powesless hc,ause OF The
burning OFT Of izh :cnsicu cable in
thc eertra! power plant of the railroad
en- Front Street, lorg Island City.
Fof tVc :sou-s t~o trains were stalled
III the tunnel ben,a.h the East River
without lights. For twenty i've min
les .nothe-- stood in the tunnel west
81 Che Nestrand Avenue station in
Brooklyn.
For more than three hours thousands
q passengers, the regular throngs Of
commuters being augmented by pas
scngers intending to spend the holidays
n Long Island, besicgcd the Long
Island section of the Pennsylvania sta
tion and the Long Isiand Railroad sta
ton at Flatbueh Avenue, Brooklyn.
Through Trains Also DELAYED
in those three hours, constituting
Saturdays traffic peak. not Long
Island train left either station
Through trains entering the Pennsyl-
vania Station from the West and South
AiSV HtIt Ocld}tU, tBOhSn not TO the
same extent, as by agreement between
the two companies power TO move them
was borrowed from the marlborough
Rapid Transit Company.
1t was the peak hour for the Inter
borough. too, however. and Tint com
psny was unable to furnish sufficient
extra power to move the Long Island
trains About 2:30, when the rush
hour traffic on the subways had de-
Clf1Sd iieJ
move the two trains which were stalled
under the East River.
The train in the tunnel beneath At
lantIc Avenue. Brooklyn. near the Nos
trand Avenue station was handed to
Atlantic Avenue by steam locomotive
after delay of about twenty-five min
utes.
The high tension cable which burned
out supplies current for the lights and
signals. 1t took only about half an
hour to make repairs, bat it took more
than two hours for the mos. expert
trouble hunters in the power plant to
fnd out where the break was.
Entire Plant Shut Down
1t was thought at first that a trans
former and switch in the auxiliary ma
chinery had burned out To seek the
source of the trouble without imminent
risk of sudden death to the seekers. it
was necessary 20 smut down the entire
plant
From 1910 until after 2:3O en-
pioyees sought in the shining array of
machinery that fills the bottom of the
fve-story pit in the Front Street power
station without discovering the source
eff the trouble. 1t was not until they
had examined the auxiliary machinery
thoroughly that they were convinced
that the trouble lay elsewhere As
late as $3.50 p. m. employees in the
power house still were confident that a
burned out switch and transformer in
the auxiliary machinery was the cause
Of the tie-up.
With even the men in the power
house in ignorance of the cause of the
tie-up. train men were utterly unable
to satisfy the curiosity of passengers
who wanted to know why they had been
held I'D.
In the darkencd trains beneath the
East River. one OF which left the Penn
sylvania Station at 1926 for Far Rock
away and the other at 123 80 for Hemp
stead, they could only tell their anxious
charges that whatever might be wrong
1t could hold no possible peril for them,
as the current had been shut off com
pletely.
Passengers Besiege Stations
When the tie-up I'D lasted for half
an hour or more a lantern was hung
in each car and shed feeble illumira-
ton upon the nearest passengers. BY
that time. the passengers had lost their
first feeling of panic and were dis
cussing the adventure in as cheerful
= spirit as possible.
At the Long Island stations in Man
haitian and in Brooklyn it was equally
impossible to inform the crowds when
train service might be resumed. The
stations became choked with passen-
gers within an hour after the tie-up
started.
AS the lunch hour approached with
out evidence of resumption of serv-
ice, many OF those waiting for trains
sought restaurants. where they ate
hasty snacks. the likelihood of an
early resumption OF train service be-