REPAIR AND INSPECTION SHED
While popularly and not inaccurately known as the "Subway System," the
lines of the Interborough Company comprise also a large amount of
trackage in the open air, and hence the rolling stock which has
already been described is devised with the view to satisfying all the
peculiar and special conditions thus involved. A necessary corollary
is the requirement of adequate inspection and repair shops, so that
all the rolling stock may at all times be in the highest state of
efficiency; and in this respect the provision made by the company has
been lavish and liberal to a degree.
The repair and inspection shop of the Interborough Rapid Transit
Company adjoins the car yards of the company and occupies the entire
block between Seventh Avenue on the west, Lenox Avenue and the Harlem
River on the east, 148th Street on the south, and 149th Street on the
north. The electric subway trains will enter the shops and car yard by
means of the Lenox Avenue extension, which runs directly north from
the junction at 142d Street and Lenox Avenue of the East Side main
line. The branch leaves the main line at 142d Street, gradually
approaches the surface, and emerges at about 147th Street.
[Sidenote: _General
Arrangement_]
The inspection shed is at the southern end of the property and
occupies an area of approximately 336 feet by 240 feet. It is divided
into three bays, of which the north bay is equipped with four tracks
running its entire length, and the middle bay with five tracks. The
south bay contains the machine-tool equipment, and consists of
eighteen electrically driven machines, locker and wash rooms, heating
boilers, etc., and has only one track extending through it.
[Sidenote: _Construction_]
The construction of the inspection shops is that which is ordinarily
known as "reinforced concrete," and no wood is employed in the walls
or roof. The building is a steel structure made up of four rows of
center columns, which consist of twenty-one bays of 16 feet each,
supporting the roof trusses. The foundations for these center columns
are concrete piers mounted on piles. After the erection of the steel
skeleton, the sides of the building and the interior walls are
constructed by the use of 3/4-inch furring channels, located 16 inches
apart, on which are fastened a series of expanded metal laths. The
concrete is then applied to these laths in six coats, three on each
side, and termed respectively the scratch coat, the rough coat, and
the fining coat. In the later, the concrete is made with white sand,
to give a finished appearance to the building.
The roof is composed of concrete slabs, reinforced with expanded metal
laths and finished with cement and mortar. It is then water-proofed
with vulcanite water-proofing and gravel.
In this connection it might be said that, although this system of
construction has been employed before, the building under
consideration is the largest example of this kind of work yet done in
the neighborhood of New York City. It was adopted instead of
corrugated iron, as it is much more substantial, and it was considered
preferable to brick, as the later would have required much more
extensive foundations.
The doors at each of the bays of the building are of rolling steel
shutter type, and are composed of rolled-steel strips which interloop
with each other, so that while the entire door is of steel, it can
easily be raised and lowered.
[Sidenote: _Capacity and
Pit Room_]
All of the tracks in the north and middle bays are supplied with pits
for inspecting purposes, and as each track has a length sufficient to
hold six cars, the capacity of these two bays is fifty-four cars.
The inspection pits are heated by steam and lighted by electric light,
for which latter purpose frequent sockets are provided, and are also
equipped with gas pipes, so that gas torches can be used instead of
gasoline.
[Sidenote: _Trolley
Connection_]
As usual in shops of this kind, the third rail is not carried into the
shops, but the cars will be moved about by means of a special trolley.
In the middle bay this trolley consists of a four-wheeled light-frame
carriage, which will run on a conductor located in the pit. The
carriage has attached to it a flexible wire which can be connected to
the shoe-hanger of the truck or to the end plug of the car, so that
the cars can be moved around in the shops by means of their own
motors. In the north bay, where the pits are very shallow, the
conductor is carried overhead and consists of an 8-pound T-rail
supported from the roof girders.
The middle bay is provided with a 50-ton electric crane, which spans
all of the tracks in this shop and is so arranged that it can serve
any one of the thirty cars on the five tracks, and can deliver the
trucks, wheels, motors, and other repair parts at either end of the
shops, where they can be transferred to the telpherage hoist.
[Sidenote: _The
Telpherage
System_]
One of the most interesting features of the shops is the electric
telpherage system. This system runs the entire length of the north and
south bays crossing the middle bay or erection shop at each end, so
that the telpherage hoist can pick up in the main room any wheels,
trucks, or other apparatus which may be required, and can take them
either into the north bay for painting, or into the south bay or
machine shop for machine-tool work. The telpherage system extends
across the transfer table pit at the west end of the shops and into
the storehouse and blacksmith shop at the Seventh Avenue end of the
grounds.
The traveling telpherage hoist has a capacity of 6,000 pounds. The
girders upon which it runs consist of 12-inch I-beams, which are hung
from the roof trusses. The car has a weight of one ton and is
supported by and runs on the I-beam girders by means of four 9-inch
diameter wheels, one on each side. The hoist is equipped with two
motors. The driving motor of two horse power is geared by double
reduction gearing to the driving wheels at one end of the hoist. The
hoist motor is of eight horse power, and is connected by worm gearing
and then by triple reduction gearing to the hoist drum. The motors are
controlled by rheostatic controllers, one for each motor. The hoist
motor is also fitted with an electric brake by which, when the power
is cut off, a band brake is applied to the hoisting drum. There is
also an automatic cut-out, consisting of a lever operated by a nut,
which travels on the threaded extension of the hoisting drum shaft,
and by which the current on the motor is cut off and the brake applied
if the chain hook is wound up too close to the hoist.
[Sidenote: _Heating and
Lighting_]
The buildings are heated throughout with steam, with vacuum system of
return. The steam is supplied by two 100 horse power return tubular
boilers, located at the southeastern corner of the building and
provided with a 28-inch stack 60 feet high. The heat is distributed at
15 pounds pressure throughout the three bays by means of coil
radiators, which are placed vertically against the side walls of the
shop and storeroom. In addition, heating pipes are carried through the
pits as already described. The shops are well lighted by large windows
and skylights, and at night by enclosed arc lights.
[Illustration: INTERIOR VIEW OF 148TH STREET REPAIR SHOPS]
[Sidenote: _Fire
Protection_]
The shops and yards are equipped throughout with fire hydrants and
fire plugs, hose and fire extinguishers. The water supply taps the
city main at the corner of Fifth Avenue and 148th Street, and pipes
are carried along the side of the north and south shops, with three
reel connections on each line. A fire line is also carried through the
yards, where there are four hydrants, also into the general storeroom.
[Sidenote: _General
Store Room_]
The general storeroom, oil room, and blacksmith shop occupy a building
199 feet by 22 feet in the southwestern corner of the property. This
building is of the same general construction as that of the inspection
shops. The general storeroom, which is that fronting on 148th Street,
is below the street grade, so that supplies can be loaded directly
onto the telpherage hoist at the time of their receipt, and can be
carried to any part of the works, or transferred to the proper
compartments in the storeroom. Adjoining the general room is the oil
and paint storeroom, which is separated from the rest of the building
by fire walls. This room is fitted with a set of eight tanks, each
with a capacity of 200 gallons. As the barrels filled with oil and
other combustible material are brought into this room by the
telpherage system they are deposited on elevated platforms, from which
their contents can be tapped directly into the tank.
[Sidenote: _Blacksmith
Shop_]
The final division of the west shops is that in the northeastern
corner, which is devoted to a blacksmith shop. This shop contains six
down-draught forges and one drop-hammer, and is also served by the
telpherage system.
[Sidenote: _Transfer
Table_]
Connecting the main shops with the storeroom and blacksmith or west
shops is a rotary transfer table 46 feet 16-13/16 inches long and with
a run of 219 feet. The transfer table is driven by a large electric
motor the current being supplied through a conductor rail and sliding
contact shoe. The transfer table runs on two tracks and is mounted on
33-inch standard car wheels.
[Sidenote: _Employees_]
The south side of the shop is fitted with offices for the Master
Mechanic and his department.
The working force will comprise about 250 in the shops, and their
lockers, lavatories, etc., are located in the south bay.