L.B. Stillwell

Classic Trains General Discussion
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MTA Employees’ Newsletter At Your Service , August 2004

Lewis B. Stillwell (1863 -1941)

Lehigh graduate Lewis B. Stillwell was hired by Westinghouse to show that AC could be generated more cheaply than Thomas Edison’s DC, transmitted long distances and converted back to DC for local use. Assigned to lead the giant Niagara Falls Powerhouse #1 project in 1895, Stillwell made the controversialdecision to operate the new system at (a low) 25 cycles per second. This set the standard for bulk power generation, transmission and conversion for the early 20th Century. When the Chicago and New York Els were electrified after Stillwell left Westinghouse in 1897, he oversaw construction and activation of huge, 25-cycle powerhouses, with substations along the rights of way to change AC to 600-volt DC for the third rail. This led to his joining the Rapid Transit Subway Company as director in 1900, then planning the imposing powerhouse on West 59th Street in Manhattan, and the eight substations that powered New York’s new subway in 1904. (article by Robert W. Lobenstein, NYC Transit General Superintendent of Power Operations)

The Electrical Journal, October 1, 1895

At the annual banquet of the Western Railway Club, held in Chicago September 18, Mr. L. B. Stillwell, of the Westinghouse Electric Company, in responding to the toast “Electricity as a Motive Power for Surface Railways,” said in part:

Electricity never stretches, never breaks, weighs nothing, can be subdivided indefinitely with great ease, can turn corners without loss. It can transmit large amounts of energy at pressures easily controlled along wires of moderate size, and it never freezes. Its loss by friction is comparatively insignificant, and its other losses in comparison with every other known agent are almost negligible.

It is interesting to note that in employing electricity we are

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Engineering News, June 10, 1915

Steel Suburban Passenger Cars for the Erie R.R.

The Erie R.R. has just put into service on one of its suburban passenger lines running out of Jersey City a train of steel passenger cars, which are of especial interest because their dead weight has been so reduced that they weigh no more than the old wooden equipment.

There is no doubt that the steel passenger car is the car of the future. The greater safety of passengers in wrecks in properly designed steel cars is alone sufficient to dictate their use, and there is a strong tendancy to make their adoption compulsory by Federal and state legislation. This is so well understood that the building of wood passenger cars has practically ceased and all new equipment is of steel.

A very serious drawback in the use of steel rolling stock is its weight. Most of the steel cars now in service are much heavier than the wooden cars which they displace. This additional weight is a source of expense from the time the car is put into service until it finally lands in the scrap heap. Every additional pound of weight in a railway car requires power to accelerate it every time the car is put in motion or its speed is increased, and must be hoisted up every upgrade that the car ascends. Again, the inertia of this weight when once in motion must be overcome by grinding up brakeshoes and carwheel treads every time the train slackens speed or runs down a grade. Besides this, the excessive weight of heavy rolling stock means - as every engineer in charge of track maintenance realizes - accelerated wear on rails and ties and additional expense for track maintenance.

There is a current idea that the heavier car is safer for the passengers in the event of collision or derailment. Of course cars should be substantially built, but it must be remembered that weight itself is undesirable from the standpoint of safety. The heavier the car, the greater is the stored up force to cause crushing a

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United States Senate Committee on Interstate Commerce hearings on railroad revenues and expenses, Washington, D.C., June 23, 1921

TESTIMONY OF LEWIS B. STILLWELL

(The witness was duly sworn by the chairman)

The Chairman [Sen. Albert B. Cummins]. Will you state your name and your general relation to the subject under investigation?

Mr. Stillwell. My name is Lewis B. Stillwell. Residence, Lakewood, N.J. Member of the board of economics and engineering appointed by the Association of Owners of Railroad Securities.

The Chairman. State your former experience in regard to matters of this sort.

Mr. Stillwell. My first 10 years of professional work were with Mr. George Westinghouse, who, as you know, was exceedingly active and very much interested in everything relating to railroad operations, with special reference to safety and economics. For the last 20 years I have been in consulting practice, with offices in New York, and my work has been chiefly, or very largely, the engineering direction of the rapid transit development in New York and in that vicinity for the Inter-Borough Co. and the Hudson & Manhattan, and the Westchester, and a number of other companies. I have also specialized in power-transmission development.

My attention has been particular directed to the question of car construction by the fact that in operating a railroad by electricity one has before him at all times an accurate record of the amount of energy or power required for the operation. It is measured and recorded by instruments which tell with great precision just what he is doing in the way of use of energy, and consequently in the use of coal.

It was as a result of the concentration of my attention and that of my staff on that subject that when the Hudson and Manhattan tubes between New York and New Jersey were equipped (as it happened in that case, we accepted responsibility for the whole equipment, from the coal pile to and including the rolling stock) that I raised th

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Absolutely terrrific material. Thanks loads!

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And I though Mr. Stillwell was just Erie passenger coaches. Whatta guy!

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One thing missing, however. Stiollwell’s consultinh work for “The New York Municipal Railway,” a subsidiary of Brooklyn Rapid Transit, which morphed into Brooklyn Manhatan Transit after the Malbone St. disaster, resulting in the design of the standard BMT steel cars, the Am B, BX, and BT units, the 69-foot 10-fit wide cars. Can you find that material?

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Building the New Rapid Transit System of New York City

Extensions to the existing systems of rapid transit in the City of New York have been planned which will involve an estimated expenditure of $366,000,000. The construction of these lines is now well under way and is being rapidly pushed forward at a rate which, it is hoped, will insure their completion by the end of the year 1917. The length of new line is altogether 110 miles, comprising 325 miles of single main-line track. These additions will make the total length of the completed system of rapid-transit railways in the city 230 miles, with 621 miles of single main-line track. The mileage of mainline track will thus be approximately doubled, though it is expected that the capacity for handling passengers will be increased threefold or fourfold.

The magnitude of this work may be at least partly realized by comparison of its cost with that of the Panama Canal, which, including the $50,000,000 paid to the French, is to cost about $375,000,000. This vast enterprise in the City of New York is progressing literally under the feet of its five million inhabitants and the other several millions of the adjacent territory whose business brings them frequently to the city, with hardly any notice or disturbance of the regular routine of business.

The cost is to be borne in approximately the following proportions, partly by the city and partly by the two operating companies which will divide the territory between them:

City of New York $1,200,000,000

Interborough Rapid Transit Co. $105,000,000

New York Municipal Railway Corporation $61,000,000

The first of these two operating companies, the Interborough Rapid Transit Co., generally spoken of as “The Interborough,” operates the present subway which traverses the length of Manhattan Island, reaching into the Borough of Bronx at one end and a short distance into Brooklyn at the other. It also operates the four lines of elevated railway in Manhattan and the

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Practical Safety Methods and Devices, Manufacturing and Engineering (1916)

Subway Cars. - The latest and safest type of subway car is that used by the New York Municipal Railway. This car has the following safety features:

Automatic speed control while the car is going down grades.
Steel construction throughout.

Plan of interior decoration developed in connection with scientific study of lighting system.

Sanitary floor corners, which render impossible the accumulation of dirt and reduce to a minimum the opportunities for germs to gather and breed.

SPECIAL SAFETY FEATURES

“Dead Man’s” Emergency Control Handle. - A device incorporated in the controller operating handle that will automatically cause the power to be shut off and the brakes to be applied in case the motorman’s hand is for any reason removed from handle when in operating position.

Conductor’s Emergency Valve. - A device whereby, in case of emergency, the air brakes can instantly be applied to and power cut off from the entire train from any car in the train.

Empty and Load Brake Attachment. - A device that regulates the braking power in proportion to the passenger load, so that with increased load an increased braking pressure will be obtained.

Automatic Tail Light Change. - A device by which tail lights are automatically changed when reversing direction of train movement, or in case of motorman leaving train, when tail lights will show red on both ends of train.

Clasp Brakes. - Two brake shoes are used per wheel, thus producing a more uniform and smoother stop.

Electro-Pneumatic Brakes. - The latest development in Air Brakes, making possible a quicker and smoother stop than with the plain Air Brake without the electric feature.

Safety Spring Door Cushion. - Doors are equipped with a safety spring cushioning device, so that if door should accidentally strike a person, the shock would be reduced to a minimum.

Emergency Li

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Really great stuff, just great. You are t errific. Thanks!!!

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Well thanks Dave!

Excerpts from Construction of a Rapid Transit Railroad in Relation to the Handling of Passengers as Illustrated by the Hudson and Manhattan Railroad by J. Vipond Davies (a paper read at the Engineers Club of Philadelphia on June 4,1910)

Capacity. - The first essential in the study of this railroad was to decide definitely on the capacity for transportation that could be furnished during the hour of maximum travel, as this factor is the basis for regulating everything that comes after. The dimensions of the property which could be acquired for stations, either downtown in New York or at Hoboken where it was necessary to locate upon private property and not under the public streets, fixed the greatest length of train that could be accommodated at 400 feet. The curvature of the railroad as laid out, particularly the short curves (radius 90 feet) entering and leaving the Church Street Terminal, made it necessary that the cars should be as short as possible and the truck centers so spaced as to reduce the overhang of the cars on curves to a minimum. The cars in the Rapid Transit Subway in New York are 52 feet long, but this length proved to be too great for the Hudson tunnels, as an eight-car train would be in excess of the maximum length of train that could be accommodated on a tangent in the stations. After considerable study the length of car determined was 48 feet 3 inches when coupled, with distance between truck centers 33 feet. All clearances in the tunnels and approaches had, therefore, to be figured in relation to this particular size of car. The clearances in the tunnels allow for a car of the same width as the original subway cars (8 feet 10½ inches), which makes a roomy car, satisfactory for passenger use. The height of the car, which does not affect the comfort of passengers, was of necessity made low on account of the clearance

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GREAT STUFF THANKS

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I agree: very interesting. [tup]

Wayne

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Electrical World and Engineer, January 17, 1903

Letters To The Editors.

Conditions on the Manhattan Elevated.

To the Editors of Electrical World and Engineer

Sirs: The energetic editorial in your issue of December 20th, 1902, under the heading, “Manhattan Elevated Electrics,” was inspired by a feeling with which every engineer who rejoices to see the applications of electricity extended and its practical effectivness demonstrated must sympathize, but your attack upon the executive management of the Manhattan Company is far more severe than the facts justify. I find myself also somewhat at variance with the opinion which you express regarding the third rail, and as the subject is one of great interest to the engineering profession, I avail myself of your courteous permission to use your columns in stating some of my views.

You say, substantially, that the third rail exposed to sleet and snow is all right, but that the management of the Manhattan Company is all wrong. On the contrary, I believe that an unprotected third rail is a make-shift and must be superseded by a construction securing effective protection against snow and sleet and in my opinion the executive management of the Manhattan Company is exceptionally able and successful.

First, as to the management: It is a fact that the first sleet storm of the season found the cars of the company without steel brushes or scrapers. For this failure, the management is, of course, primarily responsible; but the fact that the delay in mounting the brushes upon the cars was due to loss of time in the successful development of an improved method of applying the scraping devices, and the further fact that after the brushes and the mechanism for operating them were ordered, it was found impossible to obtain prompt deliveries from manufacturers, may at least be mentioned as extenuating circumstances. But admitting that this was a serious failure and that the management is responsible, is it

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Terrific stuff, again. Note that in a previous posting, the photograph on a “three car Hudson and Manhattan train,” obviously photographed at the yard just west of Journal Square station, shows a train of Gibbs designed cars, not Stillwell designed cars! The three cars illustrated in that photograph are for the Newark - Hudson Terminal joint service with the PRR and were designed by Gibbs following standard PRR-Gibbs-Altoona practice, 50 owned by PRR and 50 by H&M, but all of the same design, aslightly shorter version of the original LIRR muc cars with center door added as was done by then to the original steel IRT Gibbs cars. The photographer photographed the wrong train to illustrate the article! Part of Stillwell designed car can be seen at the right of the photo on one of the yard’s storage tracks.

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Dave, thanks for explaining the train in the photograph. I wondered why it wasn’t a 6-car train.

Excerpt from A Life of George Westinghouse by Henry G. Prout (1921)

In the decade before the Great War the people of the United States saw the beginning of the steel passenger car on railroads, and they saw its use extend quickly from the tunnels of New York out over all the great lines of railroad. Westinghouse was one of a very small group of men who initiated and brought about this event. No doubt others had speculated about it in a more or less academic way, but it is possible, and indeed probable, that the first man of authority and influence, having actual responsibility for immediate construction, to suggest and urge steel cars was Mr. George Gibbs. Whether Gibbs first suggested this to Westinghouse, or whether Westinghouse first suggested it to Gibbs, does not seem to be a matter of prime importance. They worked together, and Westinghouse threw into the scale strong conviction and his influence and force. Another powerful man soon joined the movement, Mr. Cassatt, then president of the Pennsylvania Railroad.

The Rapid Transit Subway Construction Company had been formed to build the first subway railroad in New York. Mr. Gibbs was appointed consulting engineer in charge of the designing and installation of the mechanical equipment, which included road-bed, track, signals, and cars.

Mr. L. B. Stillwell was consulting engineer in charge of the electrical equipment. They were set to do pioneer work. They were faced with a set of conditions that had never been brought together before. They had to consider and largely to contrive methods and materials to meet these conditions. Heavy and fast trains were to be run at short intervals, calling for volumes and potentials of electric current never before used in railway working, and this was to be done in tunnels just large enough to take the four tracks. Only an engineer, and not every engineer, has the background to enable hi

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Electrical Review and Western Electrician (1913)

TWENTY YEARS’ PROGRESS. - L. B. Stillwell, consulting engineers, 100 Broadway, New York, has published a very handsome booklet describing and illustrating the important engineering works designed and supervised during the past 20 years by engineers now associated with the firm. Among the more important installations referred to is the electrical equipment of power house No. 1 of the Niagara Falls Power Company, the Manhattan Railway Company power house, New York Edison Company Waterside Station No. 1, the Fifty-ninth Street power house of the Interborough Rapid Transit Company, the Pratt Street power house of the United Railways & Electric Company of Baltimore, the electrical and mechanical equipment of the Hudson & Manhattan Railway Company, operating the tunnels under the North River between New Jersey and Manhattan Island, and the electrical equipment of the Hoosac Tunnel of the Boston & Maine Railroad.

Western New England, January 1911

A New Chapter in Hoosac Tunnel History

The Interesting Operations of Electrifying the Five-Mile Hole in which Workmen Sometimes Cannot Breathe - How the Ley Company of Springfield is Doing the Job that Means Great Improvement to Transportation - The Fascinating Facts and Traditions of the Big Tunnel’s Construction Years Ago

By Edwin W. Newdick

No more variegated interest attaches to anything you can think of than to Hoosac Tunnel. It is the tomb for nearly two hundred lives, the storage vault of ten million dollars, the hiding place of four and a half miles; it is the battle-field, where, after twenty-five years of skirmishing, retreating and fighting, mcn won their way through the stone of one of Nature’s fortifications; i

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The locomotives were practically identacle to the New Haven EF-1 freight loocomotives, and two or three of the New Haven’s migrated to the B&M during WWII after the NH got all its EF-3 4-6-6-4’s. The B&M then made the small modifications to make them identacle in every respec to their own

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