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B E A C H P N E U M A T I C

by Joseph Brennan

Alfred Beach’s Pneumatic Subway and the beginnings of rapid transit in New York

HELLO anyone who is coming in from the New York Times story on Sunday, September 13. Most of the material about the Metro North tunnel under Park Avenue is in Chapter 13. However it is mentioned starting in Chapter 9 : look for anything about the New York and Harlem Railroad and about the Fourth Avenue Improvement. I wanted to describe the plan of "sinking the tracks" in Fourth Avenue alongside the other plans for rapid transit railways above or below the streets.

c o n t e n t s

0	INTRODUCTION : 2004
1	“MANY PLANS HAVE BEEN BROUGHT FORWARD” : 1830 - 1866 — The transit problem in New York — Surface transit: Omnibus and streetcar lines — Broadway — The Metropolitan Railway — The Senate Committee of 1866 — Alexander T Stewart
2	“A TUBE, A CAR, A REVOLVING FAN!” : 1866 - 1868 — Atmospheric railways in England — Pneumatic railways in England — Elias P Needham’s pneumatic railway — Alfred E Beach and pneumatic transit in New York — The American Institute Fair of 1867 — Beach’s plans to tunnel New York — The Pneumatic Dispatch — The Beach Pneumatic Transit Company — The New York City Central Underground Railroad — Charles T Harvey and the cable elevated railway — The West Side and Yonkers Patented Railway
3	“TO EXCAVATE THE EARTH” : 1869 — The Post Office and Devlin’s store — The small tube — The large tube — The tunnel shield — Digging the Beach Pneumatic tunnel — The Tower Subway, London — Installing the blower — The West Side Elevated Railroad — The New York City Central Underground Railroad — Struggling companies
4	“THE MYSTERIES OF THE BROADWAY BORE” : 1870 — Sinking pavement — The Beach Pneumatic Transit prepares to go public — The Broadway Tunnel Explored — Official visitors
5	“RECEPTION HELD IN THE BOWELS OF THE EARTH” : 1870 — The Grand Opening — The entrance — The waiting room — The tunnel entrance — The car — The tunnel — No rides — Sponsors
6	“LIKE A SAIL-BOAT BEFORE THE WIND” : 1870 — Pneumatic power — The Roots blower — The cars — The start of operation — Air pressure in the waiting room — Car design — Riding in the pneumatic car — Advertisements for Beach Pneumatic Transit, I — Renovations and the second car — Advertisements for Beach Pneumatic Transit, II — The end of operation — Further use by Beach Pneumatic Transit — The station and tunnel as a rifle range — Closing up the tunnel
7	“AN EXTRAORDINARY PNEUMATIC TUNNEL BILL” : 1870 — Boss Tweed introduces a Beach Pneumatic bill — The Arcade Railway — A T Stewart and the failure of both plans — The New York City Central Underground Railroad — The West Side Elevated Railroad — Cable car operation on the West Side Elevated — Elevated or tunnel?
8	“A VIADUCT ROAD COSTING SIXTY MILLIONS” : 1871 — The need for rapid transit — The Viaduct Railway — Beach Pneumatic versus the Viaduct — The Beach Pneumatic bill passes — The Viaduct bill passes — Beach Pneumatic versus A T Stewart — The governor vetoes the Beach Pneumatic bill — The New York Railway — The route of the viaduct road — Structures and real estate — Finances of the Viaduct road — The end of the viaduct plan — The New York City Central Underground Railroad — The West Side Elevated Railroad — Steam operation on the West Side Elevated — The elevated edges ahead of the underground
9	“SINKING THE TRACKS” : 1872 — A revised history of Beach Pneumatic Transit — The Broadway Underground Railway — Tunnel engineering and the example of London — The Arcade Railway — Swain’s three-tier Metropolitan Transit road — The New York and Harlem Railroad in Fourth Ave — Rufus H Gilbert’s pneumatic elevated railway — An underground railway alliance — Beach Pneumatic versus the Central Underground — The New York and Harlem’s underground railway — Three underground bills — New York City Rapid Transit — The Gilbert Elevated Railway — The New York Elevated Railroad — Everybody wants rapid transit
10	“PROVING ITS FAITH BY ITS WORKS” : 1873 — Political winds of change — More revised history of Beach Pneumatic Transit — A city railway for rapid transit — The Beach Pneumatic bill, for the fourth time — The governor signs the Beach Pneumatic bill — The New York Elevated Railroad — The New York Elevated at number 7 Broadway — New York Elevated extended to 34th St — Existing and approved routes, 1873 — The Gilbert Elevated Railway — The Fourth Ave Improvement — A tour of the works on Fourth Ave — The Panic — Rapid transit plans to date — The future of rapid transit
11	“THE ‘JOB’ WHICH CHANGES THE NAME” : 1874 — Hard times — Expansion of the New York Elevated Railroad — A city-owned rapid transit railway — An elevated railway for the East Side — Beach Pneumatic Transit to become the Broadway Underground Railway — The Gilbert Elevated Railway — The rejection of city-owned rapid transit railways — More time for the Broadway Underground and Gilbert Elevated — Work done on the Broadway Underground and Gilbert Elevated — The governor vetoes the New York Elevated bill — The Fourth Ave Improvement — The Hudson River tunnel — The ASCE rapid transit committee — The continued need for rapid transit
12	“OVER, ALONG, AND THROUGH” : 1875 — Governor Tilden in charge — The ASCE rapid transit committee — Raising capital for rapid transit — Improvements on the New York Elevated Railroad — The New York Elevated Railroad bill — Action on a Rapid Transit law — The Rapid Transit Act — Petitions for a Rapid Transit Commission — The New York Elevated plans extensions — The Gilbert Elevated Railway — The Broadway Underground Railway — The Fourth Ave Improvement — The Rapid Transit Commission of 1875 — Routes designated by the Rapid Transit Commission — The Rapid Transit Commission and underground railways — Structures designated by the Rapid Transit Commission — New York Elevated extended to 59th St — The Manhattan Railway — Alfred E Beach abandons the station and tunnel
13	“THE UNDERGROUND RAILWAY, NEW YORK CITY” : 1875 — The New York and Harlem as a Rapid Transit route — The Fourth Ave Improvement — 59th St station — The beam tunnels — The southern brick arch tunnel — 72nd St station — The northern brick arch tunnel — 86th St station — The Mount Prospect Tunnel — The stone viaduct — 110th St station — The Harlem cut and the later steel viaduct — Electric operation and Park Ave
14	“FINALLY NEARING A CURIOUS SOLUTION” : 1876 — Lawsuits — Validating the Third Ave route — The New York Elevated extension to South Ferry — Start of construction on the Sixth Ave El — The New York Elevated Railroad — The Patten lawsuit : ownership of Greenwich St — The Spader lawsuit : private use of Battery Park — The Ninth Avenue Railroad lawsuit : the second track — The Sixth Avenue Railroad lawsuit : the type of structure — Rapid Transit service in the Fourth Ave Improvement — Construction stopped by the lawsuits — The Ninth Avenue Railroad suit dismissed — The Sixth Avenue Railroad injunction upheld — Construction of the Gilbert Elevated in Third St — Construction of the Gilbert Elevated in South Fifth Ave — Validating the South Fifth Ave route — Second track on the New York Elevated — The slow progress of rapid transit
15	“SCARCELY A DISSENTING VOICE” : 1877 — Rapid transit almost achieved — Continued opposition to the Gilbert Elevated — New York Elevated extended through Battery Park — Proposals for underground railways — Rapid Transit in 1877 — Arguments at the Court of Appeals about the Rapid Transit Act — The New York Loan and Improvement Company — Cyrus Field in control of New York Elevated — Public meetings — The Sixth Avenue Railroad’s double-deck car — The Court of Appeals upholds the Rapid Transit Act — Rapid transit now certain — The Sixth Avenue Railroad suit dismissed — Construction of the Sixth Ave El — The Story and Patten lawsuits dismissed — Alfred E Beach’s dissenting voice — Last gasp of the New York City Central Underground
16	“AN INTERMINABLE BRIDGE” : 1878 — All clear for elevated railway construction — Alfred E Beach on elevated railways — The Sixth Ave El : types of structure — The Sixth Ave El : stations — The Sixth Ave El : locomotives and cars — The Sixth Ave El : the start of service — The Sixth Ave El : a tour
17	“MOVING IN MID-AIR UPON NOTHING” : 1878 — Second track on the Greenwich St El — The joint line to the Upper West Side — The Third Ave El : types of structure — The Third Ave El : locomotives — The Third Ave El : the start of service — The Third Ave El : a tour — Rapid Transit in September 1878 — Alfred E Beach out of the Broadway Underground Railway
18	“THE TWO ROADS ARE IN PERFECT ACCORD” : 1878 - 1879 — The success of elevated railways — The noise on Sixth Ave — Dangerous riding — The Third Ave El completed to Harlem — The Upper West Side : New York Elevated construction — The Second Ave El : start of construction — The City Hall Branch — The 42nd St collision — Grade crossings prohibited — Rapid transit for the Annexed District — The Manhattan Railway Company reborn — The Upper West Side : open to 104th St — The Rapid Transit Commission of 1879 — The Upper West Side : completed to 155th St — Progress of the Manhattan Railway
19	“A COMPREHENSIVE SYSTEM” : 1880 — The Rapid Transit Commissions of 1879-1880 — The Second Ave El : opened to 65th St — The crossing at Chatham Square — The Ninth Ave El — The 34th St Branch — The Second Ave El: completed to Harlem — Raven Rock Road bridge — The Manhattan Railway, 1880
20	“IT IS CONTEMPLATED TO AMALGAMATE” : 1881-1891 — Extending the elevated system — The Rapid Transit Commission of 1881 — The West Side and Yonkers Railway — Jay Gould in control of the Manhattan Railway — The crossing at Chatham Square — Gould and the New York City and Northern — The Suburban Rapid Transit and the New York, Fordham and Bronx — The Yonkers Rapid Transit and the Putnam Division — The death of Rufus H Gilbert — The later career of Charles T Harvey — The Story lawsuit — The Manhattan Railway and the Interborough Rapid Transit
21	“CONTRARY TO THE ADVICE OF ENGINEERS” : 1879-1880 — The Hudson Tunnel — The start of work in Jersey City — Progress of the tunnels to July 1880 — The temporary entranceway — The collapse of the temporary entranceway — Survivors’ tales — Reopening the tunnel with a cofferdam — Sinking a caisson — The coroner’s jury
22	“THE BEACH SHIELD HAS BEEN INTRODUCED” : 1880-1908 — Restarting the Hudson Tunnel from Jersey City — The problem of the south tunnel — Hudson Tunnel progress under Haskin — The Hudson Tunnel in New York — The end of construction — Attempts to revive the Hudson Tunnel — Revival with English capital — The Beach or Greathead shield — Engineering success, financial failure — The New York and Jersey Railroad — Completion of the Hudson Tunnel — The Hudson Tunnel open for passengers — The Hudson Tunnel today
23	“TO SQUIRT PEOPLE THROUGH A DARK HOLE” : 1880-1893 — Dixon v Beach — New underground railway plans — The Broadway Underground Connecting Railway — The Central Tunnel Railroad — Revival of the Broadway Underground Railway — The Broadway Underground Connecting Railway Commission — Revival of the Metropolitan Transit Company — Plans for the Broadway Underground Railway — The Broadway Underground Connecting Railway denied — Plans for the New York Arcade Railway — The New York District Railway — The Arcade and the District — The Broadway Elevated — Hewitt proposes the Elm St route and city construction — Last battles for the underground roads — The end of the New York Arcade Railway — The end of the New York Underground Railway — The Rapid Transit Board of 1891 — The legacy of the nineteenth century projects — The death of Vandenburgh and Smith
24	“HIS LIFE’S WORK IS OF PERENNIAL CHARACTER” : 1894-1909 — Death of Alfred E Beach — The Western Union tubes — The Post Office tubes — The New York Parcel Dispatch Company
25	“THEY FOUND THE TUBE IN EXCELLENT CONDITION” : 1898-1912 —The destruction of Devlin’s clothing store — A visit to the tunnel in 1899 — The new Rogers, Peet building — The grate in City Hall Park — The destruction of the Beach Pneumatic tunnel — The Broadway subway — Relics of Beach Pneumatic Transit — Monuments to Beach
26	“THE WORLD BENEATH THE CITY” : 1903-2004 — The legend — Beach’s spin on the story — ‘Oldtime Tunnels’ — Stories from 1912 — Deaths of the last Beach Pneumatic officials — Fifty Years of Rapid Transit — ‘Broadway Tube Proposed in ’49’ — Underneath New York — The New-York Historical Society exhibit in 1950 — The World Beneath the City — American Heritage — Poison in the academic well — Uptown Downtown — Under the Sidewalks of New York — Labyrinths of Iron — 722 Miles — Mole People — The legend continues — ‘Sub Rosa Subway’
S	SOURCES

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