[GreenKeys] Secret DC Basement in NYC - Great History

[John Nagle]

    What they had down there was mostly power conversion for Grand
Central and the immediate track area. The NYC subways distributed power
at 25HZ 11KV, which was converted to 600 VDC at many rotary converter
stations around the city. The New York, New Haven, and Hartford also ran
25Hz but  was independent of NYC subway power.  What's now Metro
North runs  12.5 kV 60 Hz AC catenary; 650V DC third rail, and 12.5 kV
60 Hz and 25 kV 60 Hz AC catenary.  They now have locomotives that
can adapt to all of that.  Some even run on Diesel power as well. There
were also several other power systems; Edison-era 100VDC power circuits
within Grand Central, NYC subway signaling power (distributed separately
from traction power), and ordinary 60HZ power.

    That's why Grand Central needed a huge bay of power conversion
equipment.  All those incompatible systems came together there.
But nothing there powered anything outside Manhattan.

    They still have the rotary converters, but they're just to
look at. All conversion has been solid state since the 1990s.

    Amtrak's Northeast Corridor is still 25Hz.

			John Nagle

On 05/12/2015 06:19 PM, greenkeys-request at mailman.qth.net wrote:
> On May 12, 2015, at 12:09 PM, Don Robert House K9TTY wrote:
>>> Interesting story.  It tells the story that the converters
>>> provided DC current for hundreds of miles.
>>>
>>> The Secret Basement in New York City What a story, great history
>>> ! 10 stories beneath the city
>>>
>>> <http://www.chonday.com/Videos/newyobasemese2>
> They got one fact wrong:  Those rotary converters only provided power
> for trains in Manhattan.  Rotary converter stations were rarely as
> far apart as 10 miles when 750V DC power is used.  The voltage drop
> on long DC feeders is too much.  Still, for the Nazis, shutting down
> Grand Central Terminal and the Park Avenue tunnel would have snarled
> a good part of the passenger service (including troop trains) in the
> US.
>
> Doug Jones jones at cs.uiowa.edu