Photo © Scientific American

Broadway Pneumatic Underground Railway

Description

Alfred Ely Beach, who bought Scientific American, proposed a Pneumatic postal system and an underground railway to relieve traffic congestion since Broadway was extremely busy. Beach came up with the idea of using a 300 ft. long pneumatic tube instead of electricity to propel cars and made a proposal for the Broadway Pneumatic Underground Railway. This was vehemently opposed by A.T. Stewart and John Jacob Astor.

However, In 1868 a new method for building subway tunnels used a retaining wall to allow construction without damaging roadways and buildings was developed called The Shield Method.

Beach paid the $350,000 cost for the first prototype. Rides on the one stop train went for 25 cents. 11,000 rides were taken daily translating into over 400,000 total rides in its single year of operation. It closed because of a stock market crash. There is still a plaque at the City Hall Station which is the approximate location of the rail.

Opened, Feb 26, 1870

Stopped, 1873

Factoids

1872 -Speer was not the only one concerned with congestion on Broadway as a few months later Alfred Beech proposed a pneumatic railroad and built a prototype. Beech was publisher of Scientific American which printed an article about Speer's proposal.

Related Sites

IRT City Hall Station

Ninth Avenue Elevated Line-There was another factor in Alfred Ely Beach’s failure: the stunning resurgence of the west side elevated train. During the three years his pneumatic tube had been in operation, Harvey’s train system had miraculously become something of a success,

NYC Underground Subway begins operating-Alfred Ely Beach developed the first demonstration of an underground transit system in New York City in 1869, launching it in February 1870. Known as the Beach Pneumatic Transit, the system spanned just 312 feet under Broadway from Warren Street to Murray Street. It was an experimental atmospheric railway subway. Despite its success, the line was never extended due to political and financial challenges. Today, no part of this original tunnel remains, as it was within the boundaries of the current City Hall station under Broadway.

1870 - Opened

13 Results,Show less

1870 - Opened - Images

3 Images,Show less

Beach Pneumatic Tunnel under Broadway, 1870

Beach Pneumatic Tunnel, Under Broadway, Photographed at Night, with Artificial Light, 1870

Men photographed in Beach Pneumatic Tunnel, 1899

1870 - Opened - Drawings and documents

10 Documents,Show less

Beach got that far, even bragging in this handbill that his transit demonstration was indeed a done deal, or in the common French phrase, “Un Fait Accompli.”

Plan of the Beach Pneumatic Transit station and tunnel, Scientific American - March 5, 1870

“General Plan.” Illustrated Description of the Broadway Pneumatic Underground Railway, 1870

“Advancing the Shield.” Illustrated Description of the Broadway Pneumatic Underground Railway

“A Pneumatic Way-Station.” Illustrated Description of the Broadway Pneumatic Underground Railway, 1870

“Portal of the Broadway Tunnel.” Illustrated Description of the Broadway Pneumatic Underground Railway, 1870

Under Broadway, Interior of Passenger Car, 1871

View looking from within the tunnel toward the station, showing the pneumatic car in motion, 1870

Tunnel under Broadway

“Proposed project.” The Broadway Underground Railway- Route and Plan of Construction, 1872

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