Did the NYC subway system ever had a cab signal system as a test?
Railroad Forums
Moderator: GirlOnTheTrain
DaveBarraza wrote:Yes.I believe the rear-ender between Lex/53rd and Fifth/53rd happened with R46 cars, not R44s. The 46s had a lot of improvements over the 44s. Their North American Rockwell air-bellows suspension equalized trucks gave a much smoother, isolated ride than the older type trucks used on all other contemporary subway cars. Yes, they began to crack, partly because the 46s were overweight compaired to spec, but I think that a beefier version of this truck, with thicker components, should have been substituted, rather than going backwards with the older, but proven, truck. I also never understood the flimsy single-point third rail shoe mounting, which let to countless pickup shoes being broken off. All this was a result of '70s era committee-think. The cars were not designed for the job in the real-world environment.
Cab signaling was tested on the Sea Beach in the 1960's. There are pictures out there of an R-32 with equipment set up on a card table.
An ATC system was completely planned out in the early 1970's before the system completely ran out of money.
The R-44's came equipped for ATP/ATO using a cab carrier frequency of 990Hz in the track circuits, and Jamaica Yard had departure test loops for the R-44's.
The original controllers on the R-44's had the normal Switching/Series/Parallel positions on one side and on the other they had speeds in MPH, when the T/O would use this function, the train would drive the speed the controller was set to regardless of curvature or grade, as if there were a speed command for that speed coming in through the cab signal system. It was intended for use in non-resignaled portions of the system. The feature led to an uphill rear end collision between Lex/35rd and 5th/53rd and was then disabled. It disappeared altogether when the 44's were GOH'd.
The R-44's were bought for service on the 2nd ave line which was (famously) begun on the 1970's and the 2nd ave line was to be 100% ATP/ATO using cab coded track circuits.
(All of this information is first hand to me from my old boss who was working for the system at the time - so no griping about authenticity please.)
jonnhrr wrote:It's sad that the SAS construction has outlived the cars that were bought for it!That is New York State politics, there will never be SAS in our lifetime. But let's stay on topic.
Jon
DaveBarraza wrote:Yes.Mezzanine of Court Square (supposedly) had a few cases with wayside cab signal equipment for training purposes, Archer Ave line has double rail track circuits (so cab could work), 63rd street connector initially had double rail tc too...
Cab signaling was tested on the Sea Beach in the 1960's. There are pictures out there of an R-32 with equipment set up on a card table.
An ATC system was completely planned out in the early 1970's before the system completely ran out of money.
The R-44's came equipped for ATP/ATO using a cab carrier frequency of 990Hz in the track circuits, and Jamaica Yard had departure test loops for the R-44's.
DaveBarraza wrote:Yes.You told it right. You are sharp.
Cab signaling was tested on the Sea Beach in the 1960's. There are pictures out there of an R-32 with equipment set up on a card table.
An ATC system was completely planned out in the early 1970's before the system completely ran out of money.
The R-44's came equipped for ATP/ATO using a cab carrier frequency of 990Hz in the track circuits, and Jamaica Yard had departure test loops for the R-44's.
The original controllers on the R-44's had the normal Switching/Series/Parallel positions on one side and on the other they had speeds in MPH, when the T/O would use this function, the train would drive the speed the controller was set to regardless of curvature or grade, as if there were a speed command for that speed coming in through the cab signal system. It was intended for use in non-resignaled portions of the system. The feature led to an uphill rear end collision between Lex/35rd and 5th/53rd and was then disabled. It disappeared altogether when the 44's were GOH'd.
The R-44's were bought for service on the 2nd ave line which was (famously) begun on the 1970's and the 2nd ave line was to be 100% ATP/ATO using cab coded track circuits.
(All of this information is first hand to me from my old boss who was working for the system at the time - so no griping about authenticity please.)