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Engineering for Engines
Question by Ethan Gelber

The Question:

After the Industrial Revolution, when steam trains began to play a major role in moving people and goods around, port cities saw the arrival of rapid (and sometimes urban) transport. Trains would arrive to meet boats and barges and deliver or carry away material for distribution elsewhere. Unfortunately, since air brakes had not yet been invented, it took these trains almost 900 feet to stop. And when trains zipped through crowded city streets, unheeding pedestrians suffered the consequences.

One of the wise decisions that followed was to move trains underground and spare street-level traffic from the scourge of these steam behemoths.

What was the first city ever to build a subway tunnel?

The Answer:

Yes, a great deal of work was done in London: The Thames Tunnel was opened in 1843 and trains ran through it about ten years later; additionally a cut-and-cover underground track area was proposed in 1860 and on January 10, 1863, trains ran on it for the first time.

However, the city with the honor of having the first underground train tunnel is actually New York City. What is today known as the Atlantic Avenue Tunnel was built (also using the cut-and-cover method) in seven months in 1844. The Long Island Rail Road designed it to ease congestion in the downtown area of what was then the independent city of Brooklyn. Unfortunately, due to complicated politics, it was closed soon after; the last trains barrelled through in 1859. The 17-foot-high, 21-foot-wide, 2000-foot-long tunnel was sealed in 1861 and not rediscoverd until 1980.

The Winners:

This week's first five correct answers came from Mike Mackerer, Bob Hadley, Jeff Lecuit, Roger Maki, and Ken Guarino.

Special honors go to Leslie Zillman, the only respondent to specify Brooklyn in her answer.

Other correct answers came from Christine McBeth, George Farwell, Kathleen Clark, Jennifer Stadtler, Bob Lobb, Jerilyn Donovan, and Ronald Lane.

THANKS for your contributions!