Rotary Converter, IRT Subway Substation 13, Midtown Manhattan, 2017.
Rotary Converter, IRT Subway Substation 13, Midtown Manhattan, 2017.
Rotary Converter, IRT Subway Substation 13, Midtown Manhattan, 2017.
All the pixels, no Metrocard required, at https://www.flickr.com/photos/mattblaze/32992380451
#photography
NYC's IRT subway, opened in 1904, is powered by a 600 volt DC third rail running alongside the tracks. Power is fed to the system via a number of substations throughout the city, where high voltage AC is converted to the lower voltage DC used by trains.
Until recently, this was done with electromechanical rotary converters (essentially a combination AC motor and DC generator). They are now supplanted by solid state rectifiers, but a few of the original rotary converters remain operational.
If you like this stuff, there's a sadly out of print book, "New York's Forgotten Substations", with some excellent photos.
https://www.chrispaynephoto.com/books-1-2-1
@mattblaze@federate.social
Wonderful photo. I suspect those rotary converters are very reliable!
@mattblaze@federate.social haha I came to this thread thinking "didn't they use mercury arc rectifiers, like DC elevators and such?" and learned that they didn't!
So thanks for that. 😋
@mattblaze@federate.social those rotary converters were pretty amazing.