What is an "MUDC" car? The "MUDC" (Multiple-Unit
Door Control) cars were conversions from the "gate car" style, where
the cars had open plaforms at each end instead of enclosed
vestibles. The gates were manually operated by a conductor on each
platform. To improve safety and reduce staffing, the IRT selected 470
gate cars in 1923 and 1924, and rebuilt them with enclosed vestibules
and sliding, remotely-operated doors, reducing the number of
conductors required to one per train. These trains operated the
Manhattan elevated lines beginning in 1923 with the last ones retired
in 1957, where they were operating the Bronx portion of the 3rd Avenue
El. No cars of this type are preserved.
A demonstration run with a train of four reconstructed
Manhattan elevated cars was given on the Second Avenue line in New
York on Nov. 7 (1923), as mentioned in the news colums of this paper
in the issue of Nov. 10. The reconstructed cars have vestibuled
platforms, with sliding doors in place of the old platform gates and
railings. The sliding doors are of sheet steel construction with two
panels, one with glass and the other closed. The doors slide on the
outside of the car. This construction is of particular advantage as a
pocket does not have to be provided inside, which would otherwise
disturb the interior equipment. The motorman's operating cab is still
retained in its original position just back of the platform.
The sliding doors are electro-pneumatically operated by
door engines installed under the longitudinal seats at the ends of the
car. The control of these door engines is by control switches
installed on the ends of the car. The operator's station is on two
elevated footrests between the two cars. By having a train line
control cable, multiple operation of the doors is provided, so that
one operator can control the doors on as many cars as found
advisable. Cut-out switches for the door control lines are installed
inside the cars, so that the control connections can be dead-ended at
the operator's station or connected through to the next car as
desired. Indicating signal lamps are installed at the center of each
car on the outside. The circuit for these signal lights passes through
both the door contacts and the door-locking contacts, so that it is
necessary to have the doors both closed and locked before the lights
are extinguished to indicate that the train is ready to start. The
motorman's cab is also equipped with a starting signal, which lights
when all doors are properly closed and locked. The locking of the
doors is accomplished by a small projecting stirrup, which is pulled
in when the doors are unlocked and is extended for the locking
position.
Provision is made for the emergency opening of doors by a
glass-inclosed mechanism at each end of the car. The glass is
lettered "To Open Door in Emergency, Break Glass and Pull Weight." The
pulling of the weight raises the operating arm of the door engine
beyond its center so that the door can be readily pushed back. Similar
emergency operating equipment is provided on the outside of the cars
as well. These are intended for use of platform attendants and hooks
for the emergency operation are kept at each station. The first test
train had ventilators installed on the roof over the vestibule
portions of the car. It has not been definitely decided whether all
future cars will be so equipped or not. The cars remodeled have been
thoroughly overhauled and painted and varnished on the outside with
the new standard color goldenrod orange. The inside has also been
renovated and painted. The lower woodwork is finished in mahogany and
the ceilings in white enamel to improve the lighting conditions.
-- Electric Railway Journal, Vol. 62, No. 20.
Car Notes
| |
Preserved
(Or Saved for Preservation) |
|
|
Converted to Work Service
(Might Still Exist) |
|
|
Wrecked/Damaged in Accident
(Possibly Repaired) |
| G |
Manhattan El revenue collection car "G" is at the Shore Line Transit Museum. It was on temporary loan to the New York Transit Museum in 2000.
|
| 782 |
Was at Knox & Kane Railroad, Marienville, PA. (Stored inoperable.)
|
| 824 |
At Shore Line Transit Museum.
|
| 844, 889 |
Used at the Richmond Shipyard Railway (California) 1943-1945, where they were renumbered 561, 563 respectively. Now at the Western Railway Museum, Rio Vista, California.
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