Evolution Of New York City Subways

Photographs, line drawings, and narratives record the development of the New York City subway system's rolling stock. A collaborative labor of love by the Metropolitan Transportation Authority and the New York Transit Museum, Gene Sansone's Evolution of New York City Subways: An Illustrated History of New York City's Transit Cars, 1867-1997-now available from the Johns Hopkins University Press with a new foreword by Clifton Hood-offers an extensive array of photographs, line drawings, and stories about the city's most treasured railcars. Subway buffs, railfans, students of New York City history, and specialists in the history of technology will appreciate this authoritative account. MTA New York City Transit and Sansone provide a record of the rolling stock that helped make New York City one of the great cities of the world.

The first subway line in New York City opened on October 27, 1904. To celebrate the centennial of this event, the Johns Hopkins University Press presents a new edition of Gene Sansone's acclaimed book, Evolution of New York City Subways. Produced under the auspices of New York's Metropolitan Transit Authority, this comprehensive account of the rapid transit system's design and engineering history offers an extensive array of photographs, engineering plans, and technical data for nearly every subway car in the New York City system from the days of steam and cable to the present. The product of years of meticulous research in various city archives, this book is organized by type of car, from the 1903–04 wood and steel Composite cars to the R142 cars put into service in 2000. For each car type, Sansone provides a brief narrative history of its design, construction, and service record, followed by detailed schematic drawings and accompanying tables that provide complete technical data, from the average cost per car and passenger capacity to seat and structure material, axle load, and car weight. Sansone also includes a helpful subway glossary from A Car (the end car in a multiple car coupled unit) to Zone (a section of the train to the conductor's left or right side). Subway and train enthusiasts, students of New York City history, and specialists in the history of technology will appreciate this updated and authoritative reference work about one of the twentieth century's greatest urban achievements.

When it first opened on October 27, 1904, the New York City subway ran twenty-two miles from City Hall to 145th Street and Lenox Avenue—the longest stretch ever built at one time. From that initial route through the completion of the IND or Independent Subway line in the 1940s, the subway grew to cover 722 miles—long enough to reach from New York to Chicago. In this definitive history, Clifton Hood traces the complex and fascinating story of the New York City subway system, one of the urban engineering marvels of the twentieth century. For the subway's centennial the author supplies a new foreward explaining that now, after a century, "we can see more clearly than ever that this rapid transit system is among the twentieth century's greatest urban achievements."

A fascinating journey into the past—and under the ground—that offers “an insightful look at the what-might-have-beens of urban mass transit” (The New York Times). From the day it broke ground by City Hall in 1900, it took about four and half years to build New York’s first subway line to West 145th Street in Harlem. Things rarely went that quickly ever again. The Routes Not Taken explores the often-dramatic stories behind unbuilt or unfinished subway lines. The city’s efforts to expand its underground labyrinth were often met with unexpected obstacles—financial shortfalls, clashing political agendas, battles with community groups, and more. After discovering a copy of the 1929 subway expansion map, Joseph B. Raskin began his own investigation into the city’s underbelly. Here he provides an extensively researched history of the Big Apple’s unfinished business. The Routes Not Taken sheds light on: *the efforts to expand the Hudson Tubes into a full-fledged subway *the Flushing line, and why it never made it past Flushing *a platform under Brooklyn’s Nevins Street station unused for more than a century *the 2nd Avenue line—long the symbol of dashed dreams—deferred countless times since the original plans were presented in 1929 Raskin reveals the personalities involved, explaining why Fiorello H. La Guardia couldn’t grasp the importance of subway lines and why Robert Moses found them old and boring. By focusing on unbuilt lines, he illustrates how the existing system is actually a Herculean feat of countless compromises. Filled with illustrations, this is an enduring contribution to the history of transportation and the history of New York City.

"New York wouldn't be New York without the subway. This one-time engineering marvel that united and expanded the city has been a cultural touchstone for the last 114 years. Somehow though, there has never been a book that celebrates the subway from the scars it left on the city's fabric to the romantic fantasies it unleashed. Subway will convey a sense of wonder and fun about the world's largest transit system. The book will include a complete, concise history of the subway beginning with the technical obstacles and corruption that impeded plans for an underground rail line in the late 1800s, and the visionary and sometimes wacky schemes put forward in that era for subterranean and elevated transport. It will also tell how additional lines were built and how three independent subway systems were merged, creating the mishmash of numbered and lettered lines we have today.Interspersed throughout will be sidebars and stand-alone sections including profiles of characters that helped make the subway what it is (including the mostly forgotten August Belmont Jr., a flamboyant financier who bankrolled the first subway); graphics and imagery showing the evolution of subway cars, tokens and MetroCards, graffiti, and even subway etiquette ads; how the subway has been characterized in movies, television, and music; a look at abandoned cars and stations and more. Packed with compelling stories, fascinating facts and anecdotes, vivid portraits of the people who made the subway and those who saved it, all supplemented with engrossing imagery and a dynamic design, Subway will be a visual feast and must-have gift book, perfect for any coffee table"--

In "Subways," her highly anticipated follow-up to "The Automat," Diehl sets off on another sentimental journey, recounting the true story of a city transformed by underground passageways.

A history of New York subway passengers as they navigated the system's constraints while striving for individuality, or at least a smooth ride. When the subway first opened with much fanfare on October 27, 1904, New York became a city of underground passengers almost overnight. In this book, Stefan HOhne examines how the experiences of subway passengers in New York City were intertwined with cultural changes in urban mass society throughout the twentieth century. HOhne argues that underground transportation--which early passengers found both exhilarating and distressing--changed perceptions, interactions, and the organization of everyday life.

More than 250 extraordinary photographs--including both newly commissioned color photographs and period images from the New York Transit Museum archives--chronicle one hundred years of architectural and design history from the New York City subway system, including everything from the interiors of t