bmt standard door control

[lilbluefoxie]

how does the conductor open and close the doors on the BMT standards? it looks like its a console inside the passenger area, but then how does he see outside the train to make sure the door isnt closing on anyone?

[BMTLines]

how does the conductor open and close the doors on the BMT standards? it looks like its a console inside the passenger area, but then how does he see outside the train to make sure the door isnt closing on anyone?

 

Page 132 of this BMT era rulebook explains the buttons on the console.

 

http://bmt-lines.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/10/nyrt-airbrake.pdf

 

Note that there was a separate button to close the center doors of the car the conductor was stationed at. He would simply close his doors last after making sure all the other doors had closed safely

[lilbluefoxie]

Page 132 of this BMT era rulebook explains the buttons on the console.

 

http://bmt-lines.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/10/nyrt-airbrake.pdf

 

Note that there was a separate button to close the center doors of the car the conductor was stationed at. He would simply close his doors last after making sure all the other doors had closed safely

 

thanks for the info, it took em a while to come up with a safe way to work the doors, the original R type equipment had them hanging between the cars.

[BMTLines]

thanks for the info, it took em a while to come up with a safe way to work the doors, the original R type equipment had them hanging between the cars.

 

The conductor was inside in the Standards but was placed outside on the later BMT D-Types. The R -1/9's were actually modeled after the D-type (minus the articulation) so they seemed to follow that pattern. The conductor could control the D-Types from inside the booth but that was only done if a single unit was operated, otherwise he stood between units, just like on the R-9s

[SubwayGuy]

how does the conductor open and close the doors on the BMT standards? it looks like its a console inside the passenger area, but then how does he see outside the train to make sure the door isnt closing on anyone?

 

The button boards controlled all the doors for each car.

 

There were two button boards in each car, one for each side.

 

There were two buzzer buttons towards the panel.

 

Under the protective hood was the "open all side doors" button. To the left and right of the hood were the "open end storm door" buttons.

 

There were five close buttons located at the bottom - close end storm door, close end side door, close center side door, close other end side door, close other end storm door.

 

As built, the A/B's had one conductor in every car, and each conductor operated that car's doors. Viewing the platform to close side doors could be done by the conductor looking out the center side door. He could close the other side doors first, then close the center side door last.

 

In later years, the cars were modified with MUDC (multiple unit door control). When this occurred, the button board controls for the side doors were also modified. The end side door buttons were changed to control all doors trainline, with the exception of the center side door. That way, the conductor could still look out to the platform from the center door, close all of the doors to the rear of his position, then all of the doors to the front of his position, and finally bring his head in and close the center door last.

 

However, even with this configuration it was necessary to have more than two trainmen, as a "guard" would be placed on the train to signal the conductor that it was OK to close doors in his section. But with the MUDC modification it was no longer necessary to have a conductor in each car.

[lilbluefoxie]

so in the first configuration, they had buttons to open and close the storm doors between the cars?

 

overall it seems like a very bad design, but I guess it was state of the art when it was first introduced.

 

I'm guessing they were also single units because when I was in the museum they had only one of them on display.

[SubwayGuy]

so in the first configuration, they had buttons to open and close the storm doors between the cars?

 

overall it seems like a very bad design, but I guess it was state of the art when it was first introduced.

 

I'm guessing they were also single units because when I was in the museum they had only one of them on display.

 

The storm doors were always controlled separately. Because of the car's length (67') and end excess, storm doors were always kept locked. The storm doors were operated pneumatically, like the side doors, and with a conductor in each car, they could be opened pneumatically in the event of an emergency.

 

It was quite state of the art when introduced. The Lo-V's hadn't been built yet, and the door controls on the older IRT cars were very clunky - you still had "armstrong" levers for the end side doors on most of them at the time, and separate pneumatic center door controls (added when center doors were added circa 1910). All of the elevated fleet still had swing gates and manual doors.