Brooklyn, one of the boroughs of New York City, had in 1904 an extensive elevated railway system which, like that in Manhattan and the Bronx, grew out of independent enterprises which finally consolidated. The first company was chartered 26 May 1874, under the somewhat peculiar name of the Brooklyn Elevated Silent Safety Railway, afterward changed to the Brooklyn Elevated Railway. It encountered vicissitudes, chiefly financial, and was reorgan ized 29 May 1884. Other companies were char tered prior to the date last mentioned, and several later. The Brooklyn Union Elevated Railroad was chartered 30 Jan. 1899, to take over the properties of the Brooklyn Elevated, the Union Elevated and the Seaside and Brook lyn Bridge Elevated railroads. On 7 July, in the same year, the Kings County Elevated Rail road was chartered to succeed an earlier com pany of similar name. This company was re organized in July 1899, absorbing the Fulton Elevated Railway. Early in May 1900 this com pany acquired the Sea View Railroad, and sub sequently it and its acquisitions were merged in the Brooklyn Union Railroad, which was a part of the entire system of elevated and sur face lines operated by the Brooklyn Rapid Transit Corporation. The first elevated line in Brooklyn was opened in May 1885. The vari ous lines comprised in the system had termini at Fulton Ferry, the New York and Brooklyn Bridge, the Broadway Ferry, the Williams burgh Bridge, Ridgewood, East New York, Woodhaven (where trains followed the New York and Rockaway Beach Railroad to Rocka way), and at 65th street, Bay Ridge. All trains to and from the bridge either traversed the full length of the bridge to New York, or trans ferred there to the bridge trains, which were operated formerly by the bridge authorities. The same conditions exist in regard to trains arriving at or leaving the Williamsburgh bridge. The total length of all the elevated lines in 1904 in Brooklyn was 28.70 miles, with a total trackage of 67.82 miles. Electricity was intro duced as motive power in July 1900.
Chicago opened its first elevated railway in October 1893. the pioneer company being the Lake Street Elevated Railway, chartered 24 Aug. 1892. Other companies were subsequently organized, and there was, as in New York and Brooklyn, a series of reorganizations and con solidations which gave to the city a large and convenient system, operated by electricity.
Boston also had a fine system, which from its opening was operated by electricity. The building of an elevated railway system was discussed in Boston as early as 1876, but pop ular opposition and business interests combined successfully for years to defeat any action by the State legislature, which alone was corn potent to give tht necessary authority. The Boston Elevated Railway Company obtained a charter, finally, in 1894, and the road, which was opened 10 June 1901. was constructed in a little over two years. Its total length was about six and two-thirds miles. and the total track age, including sidings, was something over 16 miles.
The total of 308.94 miles of elevated track in 1902 has gradually increased to 429.67 miles in 1918, electricity being the motive power, with the exception of about 16 miles operated by gasoline motors. The present car equipment of the elevated roads in operation is relatively large, averaging about 12 cars per mile of track, and has kept pace in all general im provements with the surface and subway equip ment. As a rule the car body is built through out with structural steel and pressed steel shapes, and is designed with continuous struc tural steel centre sills and plate side girders.
The floor and side framing is designed to in The recent introduction of field control with the interpole motors has 'become a most positive power saver. This is simply a revival of the old control system used in some of the earliest railway motors. The early double reduction motor made the most extensive use of this, since the control was entirely by com mutating the field and employed no external re sistance at all. It was used to a greater or less degree in these motors and in some of the single-reduction motors as well. This system worked with marked success in its application on the locomotives of the New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad. These had single-phase motors of the series-compensated type, which permitted a wide range of variation in the field strength without impairment of the commutation.
In elevated and subway construction the great advantage of heavier rails lies in their in creased conductance which tends to render un necessary a paralleling feeder system. The length of rail used affects the labor of han dling and the number of bonds necessary to a large extent. The present practice of bonding presents no particular difficulty where third rails are properly supported and anchored. There has been much experimental work con ducted with new and original sections for use as third rail. The chief considerations which led to these were (1) to produce a section which had a greater contact surface in propor tion to its weight than the ordinary Trail, thus giving a greater wearing surface and longer dude cross-bearers which transfer the floor load to the side trusses. The entire car body, exterior and interior, is made fireproof and is thoroughly insulated against extremes of heat and cold, noise and the effect of vibration. In the latest pattern, an important feature of the underframing is contained in the body bolsters. These are made of two soft-steel plates with a cast steel separator in the centre. The steel casting, in addition to serving as a separator for the top and bottom plates, is designed to form a housing for the draft springs by ex tending it beyond the bolsters toward the end of the car body. Each bolster is equipped with a roller side bearing.
life, and (2) to obtain a section which could be more easily supported and which would pro vide greater facility for bonding, anchoring, in sulating, etc., than the ordinary Trail. The drawing shows a number of third-rail sections. The section shown at A is the 80-pound stand ard Trail section commonly used. B is a special section used by the Long Island Rail road. C is a similar section used by the New York Municipal Railway. All of these are used for over-running contact. The section shown at D is that used by the New York Central Railroad on rails with under-running contact. It was designed to provide a better support for this type of construction than was available with the standard T-section. Section E is that of the Philadelphia and Western Railway, which was originally designed as an under running rail, but has since been inverted, a change which was found necessary to meet local conditions. The remaining sections shown, F, G, H, K, L, M, 0, are special types for over running third rail, and special shapes brought out to provide a more satisfactory means for supporting these sections and also for support ing a protective covering.