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| Re: Polo grounds shuttle was to be connected to Lenox Line (1182157) | |||
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Re: Polo grounds shuttle was to be connected to Lenox Line |
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Posted by Elkeeper on Sat Oct 20 16:09:33 2012, in response to Re: Polo grounds shuttle was to be connected to Lenox Line, posted by randyo on Tue Oct 16 15:51:12 2012. Actually, it goes back to the 1903 leasing of the Manhattan els by the IRT. The former Manhattan el directors from 10 Dey Street were invited to sit on the IRT's Board of Directors. They made sure that the MER had a certain degree of autonomy within the lease. This might explain why they chose to install elevated type of third rail, even during the 1900- 1903 leasing talks with the IRT. Plus, the IRT had to guarantee a 7% return on Manhattan bonds- not bad! So, it should come as no surprise that the Manhattan el division insisted on and was allowed to extend its 6th and 9th Ave els to River/Jerome Ave's with narrower el type third rail clearances, narrow tunnel widths, and dual 3rd rail on the new elevated structure to Woodlawn. They were looking out for their own interests, in case of a serious bankruptcy by the IRT.If you are looking to see just how much influence the MER had on the IRT, look no further than the City's efforts to close the 3rd Ave el's Grand Central spur, after WWI. Despite the IRT's near bankruptcy in 1921, the MER directors managed to keep the shuttle open until its abandonment on 12/06/23, after the financial threat had passed. The reason was because the MER wanted a connection to Grand Central, in case bankruptcy proceedings forced the IRT to end the lease and spin off the MER. The MER controlled a lot of the IRT's clearance decisions and the 155St/8Ave- 162St/River connector was one of them. |
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