{{Short description|Former demonstration subway line in New York City}} {{Use mdy dates|date=January 2017}} {{Infobox rail line | box_width = | name = Beach Pneumatic Transit | color = | logo = | logo_width = | image = WP Beach Pneumatic Transit.jpg | caption = Photograph c.1873 | type = Atmospheric railway | system = | status = Demolished | locale = New York City, United States | start = Warren Street and Broadway | end = Murray Street and Broadway | stations = 1<ref group=note>The terminus at Murray Street was a dead-end, not a station</ref> | routes = | daily_ridership = | open = February 26, 1870<ref name=nycsub/> | close = April, 1873<ref name=nycsub/> | reopen = | owner = Beach Pneumatic Transit Company | operator = Beach Pneumatic Transit Company | character = Underground | depot = | stock = | linelength = {{convert|300|ft|m|-1|abbr=on}}<ref name=nycsub/> | tracklength = | tracks = Single track | gauge = | minradius = | electrification = | maxincline = | racksystem = | speed = | elevation = | map = 270px|The plan of the Beach Pneumatic Transit station and tunnel. | map_state = }} The '''Beach Pneumatic Transit''' was an early technology demonstrator for underground public transit in New York City. Running on pneumatic power, it was built by Alfred Ely Beach between 1869 and early 1870. The original terminus resided in the basement of the Rogers Peet Building in Lower Manhattan, near the old City Hall station. A one-car shuttle carried riders between the building and a dead end approximately {{convert|300|ft}} away. Despite ambitious plans to construct stations along a five-mile route to Central Park, the project never expanded beyond the short demonstration track and closed in 1873.
==History== [[File:Illustrated description of the Broadway underground railway (1872) by New York Parcel Dispatch Company., digitally enhanced by rawpixel-com 2.jpg|thumb|Broadway underground railway (1872), New York]]
Alfred Ely Beach demonstrated a model of basic pneumatic subway system, in which air pressure in the tube pushed the cars, at the American Institute Exhibition in New York in 1867.<ref name="nyt 201308"/> After demonstrating that the model was viable, in 1869 Beach and his '''Beach Pneumatic Transit Company''' began constructing a pneumatically powered subway line beneath Broadway. Funneled through a company he set up, Beach put up $350,000 {{USDCY|350000|1869}} of his own money to pay for the full-scale test project.<ref name=mit>[https://web.archive.org/web/20030628205423/http://web.mit.edu/invent/iow/beach.html "Inventor of the Week - Alfred Beach"] (MIT)</ref> Built with a tunneling shield,<ref name="nyt 201308"/> the tunnel was complete in only 58 days.<ref name=nycsub>{{cite web|url=http://www.nycsubway.org/articles/beach.html|title=www.nycsubway.org}}</ref> Its single tunnel, {{convert|300|ft|m|-1}} long, {{convert|8|ft|m}} in diameter, was completed in 1870 and ran under Broadway from Warren Street to Murray Street.<ref name="nyt 201308">{{cite news|last1=Santora|first1=Marc|title=When the New York City Subway Ran Without Rails|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2013/08/15/nyregion/when-the-new-york-city-subway-ran-without-rails.html?_r=0|date=August 14, 2013|newspaper=The New York Times}}</ref><ref>{{cite web| url=http://www.columbia.edu/~brennan/beach/chapter25.html| title=They found the tube in excellent condition| work=Beach Pneumatic| author=Brennan, Joseph| year=2005| access-date=January 17, 2008| url-status=dead| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071006030205/http://www.columbia.edu/~brennan/beach/chapter25.html| archive-date=October 6, 2007| df=mdy-all}}</ref>
However, one of the city's top politicians of the day, William "Boss" Tweed, refused to support the project. With no initial political support for the project, Beach started the project by claiming he was building postal tubes. The initial permit was to install a pair of smaller postal tubes below Broadway; however, Tweed later amended the permit to allow the excavation of a single large tunnel, wherein the smaller tubes could reside.<ref name="diehl"/>{{rp|12–13}}<ref name=damnint>{{cite web |last=Bellows |first=Alan |date=February 2008 |url=http://www.damninteresting.com/the-remarkable-pneumatic-people-mover |title=The Remarkable Pneumatic People-Mover |website=Damn Interesting}}</ref>
The exact location of the tubes was determined during construction by compass and survey as well as verified by driving jointed rods of iron up through the roof of the tunnel to the pavement.<ref>[http://www.columbia.edu/~brennan/beach/chapter3.html "To excavate the Earth"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110226091258/http://www.columbia.edu/~brennan/beach/chapter3.html |date=February 26, 2011 }} (Columbia University)</ref> The line was built as a demonstration of a pneumatic transit system, open to the public with a 25-cent fare per person.<ref name="nyt 201308"/> Proceeds for the admission went to the Union Home and School for Soldiers' and Sailors' Orphans.<ref name=capsu>{{Cite web |url=http://www.capsu.org/library/documents/0009.html |title=Beach Pneumatic Transit on capsu.org website |access-date=November 12, 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110719032600/http://www.capsu.org/library/documents/0009.html |archive-date=July 19, 2011 |url-status=dead |df=mdy-all }}</ref> It was planned to run about {{convert|5|mi|km|0}} in total, to Central Park, if it were ever completed.<ref name=diehl>{{cite book | title=The Tracks that Built New York City | author=Diehl, Lorraine | year=2004 | location=New York | isbn=9781400052271 | url-access=registration | url=https://archive.org/details/subwaystrackstha0000dieh }}</ref>{{rp|11}}
For the public, the project was used as an attraction. It ran only a single car on its one-block-long track to a dead-end at its terminus, and passengers would simply ride out and back, to see what the proposed subway might be like. During its first two weeks of operation, the Beach Pneumatic Transit sold over 11,000 rides, and over 400,000 total rides in its single year of operation.<ref name=damnint/><ref>[https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/features/nyunderground-secret-subway/ "The Secret Subway"] (PBS)</ref><ref name="nyt1996"/>
Although the public showed initial approval, Beach was delayed in getting permission to expand it due to official obstruction for various reasons. By the time he finally gained permission in 1873, public and financial support had waned, and the subway was closed down within the year.<ref name="nyt1996">{{cite web|last1=Martin|first1=Douglas|title=Subway Planners' Lofty Ambitions Are Buried as Dead-End Curiosities|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1996/11/17/nyregion/subway-planners-lofty-ambitions-are-buried-as-dead-end-curiosities.html?pagewanted=all|website=The New York Times|access-date=June 27, 2015|date=November 17, 1996}}</ref> The project was shut down when a stock market crash caused investors to withdraw support. It is unclear that such a system could have been practical for a large-scale subway network.<ref name="nyt 201308"/><ref name="diehl"/>{{rp|14}}<ref>[http://www.prlog.org/10696948-beach-pneumatic-transit-the-interborough-rapid-transit-subway.html "Beach Pneumatic Transit - The Interborough Rapid Transit subway"] (plrog.org)</ref>
After the project was shut down, the tunnel entrance was sealed. The station, built in part of the basement of the Rogers Peet Building, was reclaimed for other uses until the entire building was lost to fire in 1898.<ref>{{cite magazine| url=https://www.wired.com/thisdayintech/2010/02/0226new-york-pneumatic-subway/ | magazine=Wired | first=Keith | last=Barry | title=Feb. 26, 1870: New York City Blows Subway Opportunity | date=February 26, 2010}}</ref> In 1912, workers excavating for the BMT Broadway Line (serving the present-day {{NYCS trains|Broadway south}}) dug into the old Beach tunnel, where they found the remains of the car, the tunnelling shield used during initial construction, and even the piano in the subway's waiting room.<ref name="nyt 201308"/><ref name="nyt1996"/> The shield was removed and donated to Cornell University, which has since lost track of its whereabouts.<ref>{{cite journal|last1=Worthington|first1=George|title=A Subway Relic|journal=Electrical Review and Western Electrician|date=December 12, 1912|volume=61|page=1137}}</ref>
The tunnel was almost completely within the limits of the Broadway Line's City Hall station, near the old City Hall station, but it is rumored that a small portion could still be accessed by a manhole on Reade Street.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://untappedcities.com/2014/08/27/top-10-secrets-of-the-nyc-subway/11/|title=Top 12 Secrets of the NYC Subway|work=Untapped Cities|date=April 10, 2019}}</ref> The New-York Historical Society commissioned a plaque honoring Alfred Beach to be placed in the City Hall station.<ref name=mit/><ref name=damnint/>
Although the Beach Pneumatic Transit lasted for only three years, the project gave rise to the New York pneumatic tube mail system, which was based on the request that Beach had made to Tweed and which ran until 1953.<ref name=diehl/>{{rp|14}}
==Design== thumb|Pneumatic Dispatch showing the tube pneumatic system thumb|Illustration of the interior of the pneumatic passenger-car, 1872
===Aesthetics=== thumb|Socialites waiting in the underground station
The ornate station had frescoes and {{linktext|easy chair}}s. It was illuminated by zirconia lamps that revealed the luxurious interior.<ref>[http://about.usps.com/who-we-are/postal-history/pneumatic-tubes.pdf "The Pneumatic Mail Tubes"] (USPS)</ref> There were statues and a goldfish pond in the station that people could view while they waited to enter the ride.
===Technical specifications=== The car could hold 22 people,<ref name=fdelaitre>{{cite web|url=http://fdelaitre.perso.sfr.fr/Beach.htm|title=Frederic Delaitre's Lost Subways / Beach Pneumatic Subway|work=sfr.fr|access-date=November 12, 2010|archive-date=April 29, 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160429171228/http://fdelaitre.perso.sfr.fr/Beach.htm|url-status=dead}}</ref> and the riders would enter the site at Devlin's Clothing Store, a well-known shop at 260 Broadway, on the southwest corner of Warren Street.<ref name=capsu/><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.shohola.com/AlfredBeach/|title=Alfred Ely Beach and NYC's First Subway|access-date=September 30, 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130509044612/http://www.shohola.com/AlfredBeach/|archive-date=May 9, 2013|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>[http://www.columbia.edu/~brennan/beach/chapter25.html "They found the tube in excellent condition"] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071006030205/http://www.columbia.edu/~brennan/beach/chapter25.html |date=October 6, 2007 }} (Columbia University)</ref>
The ride was controlled by a {{convert|48|ST|adj=on}} Roots blower,<ref name=damnint/> nicknamed "the Western Tornado", built by Roots Patent Force Rotary Blowers (see Roots Blower Company). When the car reached the end, baffles on the blower system were reversed, and the car was pulled back by the suction.<ref name=fdelaitre/>
For the tunnels, Beach used a circular design based upon Brunel's rectangular shield, which may represent the shift in design from rectangular to cylindrical. It was unclear when or who transitioned the tunneling shield design from rectangular to circular until ''The New York Times'' wrote an article describing the original Beach tunneling shield in 1870.<ref>{{cite web | title=www.nycsubway.org: Beach Pneumatic Transit | website=www.nycsubway.org | date=February 4, 1912 | url=https://www.nycsubway.org/wiki/Beach_Pneumatic_Transit | access-date=January 2, 2019}} * See also: {{cite web | title=The Broadway Tunnel; Opening the Bore to Public Inspection – Success of the Undertaking Great Crowd of Visitors. | website=The New York Times | date=February 27, 1870 | url=https://www.nytimes.com/1870/02/27/archives/the-broadway-tunnel-opening-the-bore-to-public-inspectionsuccess-of.html | access-date=January 2, 2019}}</ref>
==Related developments==
The Crystal Palace pneumatic railway was a similar but longer system which operated in 1864 on the grounds of the Crystal Palace in London.<ref>{{cite web| url=http://fdelaitre.club.fr/Crystal.htm| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20050319185208/http://fdelaitre.club.fr/Crystal.htm| url-status=dead| archive-date=March 19, 2005| title=Crystal Palace Atmospheric Railway| work=Lost Subways| author=Delaitre, Frédéric| date=July 10, 2002| access-date=January 17, 2008}}</ref>
==In pop culture== * The Beach Pneumatic Transit is featured in the direct-to-video sequel ''An American Tail: The Treasure of Manhattan Island'' and serves as a plot point of the story. * "Sub-Rosa Subway" is a 1976 song by Klaatu which describes the subway's construction, station, and its public reception. * In the 1989 film ''Ghostbusters II'', a fictional pneumatic transit station and tunnel reminiscent of the Beach system is discovered by the Ghostbusters beneath First Avenue in Manhattan; the tunnel's completion date appears on-screen as 1870, the same year that the Warren-to-Murray tunnel was completed. * In the 1990 film ''Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles'', the abandoned subway tunnel they live in is in reference to the pneumatic transit. * In the 2012 series ''Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles'' Season 2 Episode 13, the pneumatic subway system was used as a lair by the Kraang. *In the 2015 novel, ''Lair of Dreams'' by Libba Bray (sequel to 2012's ''The Diviners''), the tunnel serves as a main plot point. The abandoned City Hall tunnel features heavily as a setting in both the real world and the dream world.
==Gallery== <gallery widths="200px" heights="200px"> Illustration of Broadway underground railway - the experimental section from Illustrated description of the Broadway underground railway (1872) by New York Parcel Dispatch Company.jpg Illustration of underground tunneling-machine from Illustrated description of the Broadway underground railway (1872) by New York Parcel Dispatch Company.jpg Illustration of the underground tunneling machine - driving the machine ahead from Illustrated description of the Broadway underground railway (1872) by New York Parcel Dispatch Company.jpg Illustrated description of the Broadway underground railway (1872) by New York Parcel Dispatch Company., digitally enhanced by rawpixel-com 6.jpg </gallery>
==See also== {{Portal|Railways|New York City}} * Atmospheric railway * Cobble Hill Tunnel, a similar abandoned tunnel in New York City * Gravity-vacuum transit * Track 61 (New York City), another private railroad tunnel in New York City
==References== '''Notes''' {{Reflist|group=note}}
'''Citations''' {{Reflist|30em}}
'''Further reading''' {{Refbegin|45em}} * Most, Doug, ''The Race Underground : Boston, New York, and the incredible rivalry that built America's first subway'' (New York: St. Martin's Press, 2014), {{ISBN|9780312591328}}. *[http://sometimes-interesting.com/2012/05/19/the-first-attempted-new-york-subway-beach-pneumatic-transit/ The First New York Subway: Beach Pneumatic Transit] ''Sometimes Interesting''. May 19, 2012 *[https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/features/nyunderground-secret-subway/ ''The Secret Subway'']: Episode of ''American Experience'' about the subway *[http://www.uh.edu/engines/epi1474.htm ''No. 1474: Beach's Secret Subway'']: Episode of ''The Engines of Our Ingenuity'' about the subway [https://web.archive.org/web/20170613123717/http://abbydigital.com/movie09_pneuma.html"Pneumatic Transit" Animation by Abby Digital] *[http://mcnyblog.org/2012/09/18/the-beach-pneumatic-transit-company-just-a-bunch-of-hot-air/ The Beach Pneumatic Transit Company - Just a Bunch of Hot Air?] from the [http://mcnyblog.org/ Museum of the City of New York Collections blog] *{{cite journal|title=The Pneumatic Tunnel Under Broadway, N.Y.|journal=Scientific American|first=Alfred Ely|last=Beach|volume=22|issue=10|pages=154–156|date=March 5, 1870|doi=10.1038/scientificamerican03051870-154}} {{Refend}}
==External links== {{Commons category|Beach Pneumatic Transit}} *[https://web.archive.org/web/20050806015341/http://www.columbia.edu/~brennan/beach/ "Beach Pneumatic Transit"] at Abandoned Stations, by Joseph Brennan *[http://www.nycsubway.org/wiki/Beach_Pneumatic_Transit "Beach Pneumatic Transit"] on nycsubway.org
{{NYCS navbox}} {{Authority control}} {{Coord|40.71332|N|74.00701|W|region:US|display=title}}
Category:Pneumatics Category:History of transportation in New York City Category:History of rail transportation in the United States Category:Railway lines opened in 1870 Category:1873 disestablishments in New York (state) Category:Transportation in Manhattan Category:Former buildings and structures in Manhattan Category:1870 establishments in New York (state)