Powering the Subway
That New York City vista behind David Letterman’s desk?
On Friday, a group of engineering students got to see what’s really behind it: vast machinery that powers part of the city subway system.
Twelve students toured IRT substation 13, located on West 53rd Street next to CBS’s Ed Sullivan Theater, and the power control room down the street on a tour coordinated by Columbia’s Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers.
Robert Lobenstein, general superintendent of power operations and a power historian for New York City Transit, gave the students the tour, replete with historical facts and personal anecdotes from his more than twenty years working for the transit system.
Standing near the entrance, Lobenstein explained the give-and-take relationship with the network next door. When Ed Sullivan taped his show on Sunday nights from 1949 to 1971, the substation would shut down for a few hours to protect the TV signal and equipment from the magnetic fields that come from the machinery.
That’s when the stars descended. “Every Sunday night you had a chance to see anyone from Topo Gigio to the Beatles,” Lobenstein said.
And in 1993, when David Letterman moved in, new problems arose, he said.
“He does his taping of the show every day at 5:30,” Lobenstein said. “It’s the middle of the rush hour. How am I going to shut off the subway in the middle of the rush hour?”
The theater ended up ripping apart its stage and encasing its control room in quarter-inch-thick steel sheets, according to Lobenstein.
The engineering students expressed enthusiasm when Lobenstein mentioned that the show “Mythbusters” had done a taping in the substation—to test whether you could get an electric shock from urinating on the subway’s third rail.
After filming in New York and conducting the experiment in San Francisco, the show declared the myth busted— that is, until fan mail forced a second show on the topic.
“Adam, the blond guy with the black glasses, he was going to test it himself,” Lobenstein said. “They showed him from the waist up. When they picked him up off the floor after he got shocked, I’m in my office laughing my behind off.”
Lobenstein also gave the students detailed explanations of the power equipment, from the huge rotary converters used through most of the 20th century to the heavy manual switches, which place only a rubber handle between the operator and the full power of the dangerous third rail.
IEEE Vice President Aaron Pollak, SEAS ’11, who helped plan the event, said he was glad to learn about an often overlooked topic.
“We do learn at Columbia some power—to be honest we don’t do too much power distribution—so I personally don’t know that much on the subject. A lot of this was all new,” he said.
Although much of the technology is now automated, effective maintenance and a lack of funding for new equipment have meant many machines have long outlived their original lifespans, according to Lobenstein. Of one huge circuit breaker, he said, “We’ve been doing this since 1895, when they fired up the Niagara Falls powerhouse, and they still do it today at Indian Point [Energy Center] … You can’t change perfection.”
Toward the end of the substation tour, Lobenstein stopped and demonstrated the power of the third rail, touching the copper busbar with rubber-coated metal to cause sparks.
For IEEE member Sean Healey, SEAS ’12, being able to see the machines in action is why he joined the organization. “Seeing all the old power equipment, all the switches, all the sparks, engineers love that kind of stuff,” Healey said.
After leaving the substation, the group walked a few blocks to the Power Control Center—a huge green room with lighted maps of the entire subway system on the walls. Lobenstein pointed out Columbia’s 116th Street station and the blank wall space for the perennially delayed Second Avenue line, which the city is now working to add to the MTA system.
Near the exit, Lobenstein pointed out one last piece of the puzzle—a part of the original 110-volt DC cable from Thomas Edison’s Pearl Street station, thought to be the first electric power station.
Lobenstein said, “It all started here, folks.”
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