Main Line Elevated Cars

[The MTA Blue Egg]

Anyone know what that box was by the train door on some of the #1 and 2 Main Line Cars?
They seem to have appeared and then vanished.

Mike

[highgreen215]

Just a thought, but I would say they are not at station platforms but maybe end-of-the-run at the yards - so operators can easily access the cabs.

[Gerry6309]

Anyone know what that box was by the train door on some of the #1 and 2 Main Line Cars?
They seem to have appeared and then vanished.

Mike

Looks like a canvas shield to keep rain from getting into the lock on the screen, and them freezing. Only the screens had locks, not the doors. Seems to have been added to the cars when vestibuled, and dropped when the No. 3 cars arrived.

[Type7trolley]

It looks like it has some sort of connection to the headlight, perhaps something electrical? And it looks removable since it's blocking the door. Maybe a low voltage battery that hung on the front car and plugged into the headlight? Then again, not sure why that wouldn't run on whatever circuit the interior lighting did.

[The MTA Blue Egg]

0151 #2 Main Line Elevated Car St Louis Car 1904.jpg

Both explanations sound plausible. That box seemed to take up a lot of room.
I have the train door width at 2 feet, not much room for a a guard to squeeze through and have room to
operate the door controls between cars.
I don't see any provision for it on the #2 builders photo.
Its interesting to see what the early engineering staff of the Elevated came up with.
Just curious.
Mike

[Gerry6309]

It looks like it has some sort of connection to the headlight, perhaps something electrical? And it looks removable since it's blocking the door. Maybe a low voltage battery that hung on the front car and plugged into the headlight? Then again, not sure why that wouldn't run on whatever circuit the interior lighting did.

You may have solved it in a roundabout way. The car has enclosed vestibules, but no levers or switches to operate the doors. This may have been a temporary installation of the six-button door control, battery powered, so it didn't require enclosed wiring. You can see the door levers on 0151. The center door still required a platform man with a key.

[jboutiet]

It could have been taking power from the headlamp, not the other way around.

[Gerry6309]

It could have been taking power from the headlamp, not the other way around.

The headlight was one of a string of 5 across 600 volts - no way.

[The MTA Blue Egg]

Apparently those boxes stayed when trains were laid up.I don't know if they were
just on the front and end of a train or were on the end of each unit.
Note the anti-climber added to the front of car 0101. It appears some wooden cars got them
some didn't.
Mike

[Gerry6309]

Apparently those boxes stayed when trains were laid up.I don't know if they were
just on the front and end of a train or were on the end of each unit.
Note the anti-climber added to the front of car 0101. It appears some wooden cars got them
some didn't.
Mike

Anticlimbers were a product of the No. 3 cars which were much more substantial than their predecessors. Their installation probably began shortly after the No. 3s started arriving. The boxes would have been temporary if they were used for the six button door control, and probably were installed on one or two trains for test purposes. Some wooden cars continued in service into the 1920s, the last being replaced by the No. 9s.

[The MTA Blue Egg]

Sounds good to me Gerry. It got me to thinking, the 45 #3 cars were delivered without anti-climbers.
(The Elevated did train wood and steel cars together though)
The #4 cars (0220-0239) built by Pressed Steel in 1911 were consructed with anti-climbers, which were by that
time, an industry standard.
I'm guessing that the Elevated experimented with different anti-climber designs.

Mike

[Gerry6309]

Sounds good to me Gerry. It got me to thinking, the 45 #3 cars were delivered without anti-climbers.
(The Elevated did train wood and steel cars together though)
The #4 cars (0220-0239) built by Pressed Steel in 1911 were consructed with anti-climbers, which were by that
time, an industry standard.
I'm guessing that the Elevated experimented with different anti-climber designs.

Mike

The anticlimber was intended to prevent telescoping, when two cars collide and one rides up into the other's body, resulting in massive casualties. Good example of the effect of anticlimbers is the 1974 collision in the Beacon Hill Tunnel. 01427, a steel car, struck o1604, an aluminum car. Without anticlimbers, the steel car would have plowed through the aluminum car. The anticlimbers transmitted the impact to the car frames, which absorbed the impact. The steel car bent upwards at the center. The end of the aluminum car accordioned, crushing the cab. Both cars were total losses, but there were (IIRC) no fatalities, and only a few major injuries.

The Elevated constantly tried new things. The six-button door controls allowed all doors in a car to be controlled from one end of the car, eliminating the need for guards between every pair of cars, and platform men at stations to unlock the center doors. Guards between every pair of cars were not completely eliminated until 1918. At that time eight car trains had been run. The six-button system was introduced in 1912 and spread through the Elevated through 1918.

[jonnhrr]

"Guards between every pair of cars were not completely eliminated until 1918."

At what point where Guards for every 2 cars brought back? It was that way in the 1960's and later until the Guard law was repealed.

Jon

[Gerry6309]

"Guards between every pair of cars were not completely eliminated until 1918."

At what point where Guards for every 2 cars brought back? It was that way in the 1960's and later until the Guard law was repealed.

Jon

That is when Guards for every two cars were instituted. Prior to that is was possible to have a guard at each end of every car, except the first and last where the doors didn't open. MUDC, introduced ca. 1930, did two things, tied all doors on a car to one switch, and made it possible for one guard to operate several cars. On behalf of the union the legislature then passed the "Guard Law".

[The MTA Blue Egg]

Just wondering, I do recall riding the "modernized" 0900s in the early 60s.
I was too young to remember the actual operation of the train, just the sashed windows, the single panel sliding
door, and the growl of the traction motors.
On the vestibuled cars, was just the door by the operator cut out or were the doors on both sides of the lead vestibule
disabled?
Anyone know?

Mike