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Metropolitan Railways Rapid Transit in America by William Middleton DJ
Metropolitan Railways Rapid Transit in America by William Middleton
Hard cover with dust jacket
Copyright 2003
275 pages
CONTENTS
Preface vii
1. The Quest for Rapid Transit 1
2. The Era of the Elevated 19
3. Rapid Transit Goes Underground 57
4. Rapid Transit at Midcentury: New Systems and a New Era 95
5. New Metro Technologies 107
6. Light Rail Transit: New Life for an Old Technology 145
7. Conveyances for the Multitudes: The Cars We Rode 163
8. A Metropolitan Railways Renaissance 205
Appendix A. The Technology of Rail Transit 217
Appendix B. North American Metro and Light Rail Transit 237
Bibliography 261
Index 269
MY FIRST ENCOUNTER with the wonders of rapid transit came at a very young age, when an older cousin took me by "L" to visit Chicago's 1933 Century of Progress exhibition. While I have forgotten what we saw at the fair, the memory of that ride on the "L" is with me still, and it marked the beginning of what has been an enduring fascination with rapid transit.
It is no understatement to say that metropolitan railways-the all-embracing term I have chosen to represent the rapid transit subways, elevated railways, and light rail lines that now bind so many of our cities together-have shaped the urban centers they serve in profound ways. Few would question that New York City or Chicago would be unthinkable in their present form without the subway and elevated networks that form their circulatory systems. But even San Diego or Portland, Ore., places inhabited by only a small fraction of the numbers that live in those old-line rapid transit cities, would be much different, and far less livable or attractive, without the new rail systems that are now so significantly altering the patterns of their growth and enhancing their quality of life.
Quite apart from their unquestioned social importance, big city rapid transit railways compel one's interest simply for their great size, their extraordinary complexity, and the efficiency with which they transport such enormous numbers of passengers. The biggest of them all in North America-at New York and Mexico City-board more passengers in an average five-day week than Amtrak does in a year. More passengers pass through the turnstiles each year (43.6 million) at what is probably the single busiest subway station in North America -New York's 42nd Street-Times Square station- than all but a half dozen of the world's busiest airports. The largest of our metro systems dispatch trains by the thousands every day and operate them on headways as close as 90 seconds with a remarkable precision, reliability, and- above all - safety.
It is perhaps a particularly appropriate time to consider the story of these remarkable rapid transit railways. For after a long decline through several decades of neglect and misguided public priorities, metropolitan railways are now in the midst of an unparalleled period of growth and renewal that promises to make them even more a part of North American urban life in the twenty-first century than they had been in its nineteenth or twentieth.
Much of the historical and technical information upon which this book is based is drawn from the detailed contemporary coverage of the industry in the electric railway and railroad trade press; the exceptionally rich historical record developed in the publications of the several electric railway enthusiast organizations, most notably the Electric Railroaders' Association and the Central Electric Railfans' Association; and a wide variety of books and other works on the subject, both technical and popular. These and other sources that have contributed to the story are summarized in the bibliography.
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