page_title: Composite (New York City Subway car)
section_title: Interior
hierarchical_section_title: Composite (New York City Subway car) / Description / Interior
caption_attribution_description: English: Drawing of the interior of a Composite IRT subway car
context_page_description: The Composite was a New York City Subway car class built from 1903 to 1904 by the Jewett, St. Louis, Wason, and John Stephenson companies for the Interborough Rapid Transit Company and its successor, the New York City Board of Transportation.
  The Composite derived its name from its build as a "protected wooden car". The car frame was made of steel, while the car body itself was made from wood encased in a layer of copper sheathing. The copper skin was intended to protect the car in the event of a fire in the subway. Therefore, the result was a body composed of several materials and became known simply as a "Composite".
context_section_description: As originally delivered, the cars came only with two doors on each side of the car, located at the end vestibules. The original seating configuration was what was known as "Manhattan Style", a name given because the seating arrangement originated on the cars that ran on the Manhattan Elevated during the 19th century. "Manhattan Style" seating featured eight transverse seats in the center of the car facing each other, and longitudinal benches down the sides of the remainder of the car. No seating was provided in end vestibules as they were primarily for entrance and exit, and to accommodate standees. Each end vestibule was accessible at all times except for the ones at the very front and very rear of a train, which were closed off by sliding vestibule doors to block entry. Because of this layout, crowd conditions were a true New York spectacle. IRT ridership and crowding conditions exceeded the expectations of the IRT's engineers. Exit was difficult, with riders needing to access the car's extremities for a pathway out of the car via the vestibule. Entering riders had to wait while exiting riders alighted from the train before they could begin a longboarding process. Consequently, the most prudent course of action was determined to be adding center doors to each Composite car. This modification took place from 1909–1912. Adding a center door to the car body, however, directly conflicted with the Manhattan style seating, so the center transverse seats had to be removed for these modifications. The car body had also not been designed with the strength necessary to support a center door, so when this modification was made, it was necessary to add fishbelly girders underneath the center doors to provide added strength for the car's frame.
  The cars as delivered featured rattan seats and incandescent lighting, staples of most pre-WWII subway cars in New York City. All areas of the cars were lit, as bulbs were placed along the center roofline and down the sides of each car's interior. Additionally, pairs of bulbs on each end lit each end vestibule. As delivered, they did not come with fans, however, windows and clerestory vents along the upper roof could be opened for ventilation. All windows were drop sash type (rather than rising sash type) for improved safety and to reduce the amount of draught in moving cars. Floors were made of wood (maple), and grab holds were provided along the roof for standees. Originally, these grab holds were made of leather (as on elevated trains), and later replaced with the steel grab holds that were IRT standard for many years.
  As originally delivered, the cars featured manual "Armstrong" doors, a reference to the "strong arm" that would be needed by trainmen to open them. Near each door, a large lever could be thrown by trainmen to open or close the doors. This meant that each train of Composites required a number of trainmen to operate doors at each station stop.
  Route destinations and service patterns were indicated to riders by means of steel signs placed in holders along the side of the cars, near the doors. These signs could be physically removed and changed when a train was assigned to a different service pattern. Marker lights at the front and rear of each car also indicated the routes to crews en route, as well as astute riders who came to recognize their trains' marker light patterns over time.
  Tunnel lighting was accomplished by means of kerosene lanterns hung on the front and rear of each train. Red was to be displayed in the rear of the train, and white was to be displayed at the front. At each terminal turnaround, lanterns would be changed to reflect the train's new direction of travel. Kerosene lamps were chosen because of their reliability. Even in the event of failure of subway third rail power, the kerosene lamps would remain lit.
caption: 1904 Rendering of the interior arrangement of an IRT Composite.
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