Subway cars in Grand Central Terminal?

Today's NY Times has an article titled, "How Did the Subway Get So Bad? Look to the C Train" (https://nyti.ms/2rP2RBo). The article says:

More than half a century ago, a 20-piece marching band in green and gold uniforms assembled near Track 37 at Grand Central Terminal to herald the arrival of what was hailed as an engineering marvel: the city’s first stainless-steel subway cars, known as Brightliners.

Did they really run subway cars into GCT? Are the tracks even interconnected anywhere? Track gauge is one thing. I assume they would push them in with a locomotive, but are subway cars even capable of being pushed like that? The right couplers and brake line fittings? What about clearance for third rail pickup shoes, signal trip-arms, etc?

As I understand it, they simply switched third rail shoes and ran them on their own power, both systems being 600V DC. I think they were delivered on their own wheels, so it was simply a matter of rerouting a set.

The tracks are indeed interconnected. There's a junction between the subway system and the ex-NH Bay Ridge Branch here, https://goo.gl/maps/JsvHbNRpUau, near the New Lots Ave. station on the L train. If you dig around on RR.net, you'll find photos from a few years back of a movement of an LIRR caboose over B division tracks from South Brooklyn to the Transit Museum at Boerum Place & Schermerhorn St.

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There are some photos here

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NorthWest wrote:As I understand it, they simply switched third rail shoes and ran them on their own power, both systems being 600V DC. I think they were delivered on their own wheels, so it was simply a matter of rerouting a set.

Looking at this photo from nyctransitforums.com, you can see that the contact shoe different from the standard NY subway shoe, and it is canted upwards.



JoeD

This was just a one-time promotional run, which of course couldn't happen today since the FRA types would be apoplectic at the thought of rapid transit cars mingling with full sized trains. But it did constitute an effective promotion for the new cars. Trains did a news report on it at the time if you have access to back issues.

NorthWest wrote:As I understand it, they simply switched third rail shoes and ran them on their own power, both systems being 600V DC. I think they were delivered on their own wheels, so it was simply a matter of rerouting a set.

Interesting. I assume they had to fabricate custom shoes?

What holds a subway shoe in contact with the third rail? Is it just the weight of the shoe and gravity? The Metro North shoes must have a spring pulling them up, so if nothing else, you need someplace to attach the other end of that spring. But, I imagine the mounting point is different too.

Over-running (as is with NYC Subway and LIRR) and under-running (Metro-North) shoes use spring tension to press against the third rail - gravity alone isn't enough. The shoe is typically mounted to a beam which spans the truck, and this beam is either pushed up or down via spring. The ends of the third rails are tapered in the appropriate direction, and the shoe is guided onto the rail upon contact.

At a time, the FL9 locomotives (which ran into both Grand Central and Penn Station during the NH days) had retractable third rail shoes which could be used for both over or under running rail via pneumatic pressure.

roysmith wrote:What holds a subway shoe in contact with the third rail? Is it just the weight of the shoe and gravity? The Metro North shoes must have a spring pulling them up, so if nothing else, you need someplace to attach the other end of that spring. But, I imagine the mounting point is different too.

Here are some photos I took back in 2006 of a subway truck assembly.
This holds the actual contact shoe assembly. It is usually it is made of wood, to act as an insulator from the metal track frame.
This shows the contact shoe assembly mounted to the truck frame, less the wheels. The contact shoe is replaceable and the frame it is bolted to has the built in spring to force the shoe to make good contact.
Last but not least the fully assembled truck.

JoeD

PS Hey, wait a minute those are MBTA trucks!

Changing shoe mechanisme is only 4 bolts plus 2 for electric connection, really not rocket science

2 items regarding this posting.

1. The story at the time was that the equipment was pushed into Grand Central with an S Motor. If you look carefully at the photo showing the train leaving the yard, you can see an S Motor and a gap car in the background.

2. There was also a connection between the railroad network and the NYC subway at East 180th Street via the old NYW&B viaduct at this location. This viaduct is gone and apartment buildings now stand in its place. I attended Cardinal Hayes HS which was adjacent to the Mott Haven Yard and in 1962-63?? the yard had R-33 (Redbirds) in them constantly on their way to the IRT via the Port Morris Branch and the NYW&B viaduct.

They operated under their own power though they required 'change in position' to the third rail shoes.
http://www.nytimes.com/1964/09/10/stain ... .html?_r=0
Note the anticipated '35-year operating life'.
In my correspondence with someone on that train in a thread on another forum commemorating their 50th anniversary of entering service, he noted that the trip was smoothly completed at 35MPH and was operated by a NYC engineer with a subway motorman advising him from beside.

TomNelligan wrote:This was just a one-time promotional run, which of course couldn't happen today since the FRA types would be apoplectic at the thought of rapid transit cars mingling with full sized trains. But it did constitute an effective promotion for the new cars. Trains did a news report on it at the time if you have access to back issues.

I might be wrong but you could probably still get away with this if the train was not a revenue run and had no passengers aboard.

yes and no , you could still get a FRA waiver with a lot of conditions, but would railroad violate its own rules for no other purpose of a publicity stunt ?