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It's impossible to imagine New York City without the electric transit system first made possible by some giant steam engines.
The coronavirus pandemic has hit New York City's business district hard. In addition to the tragic human toll, millions of workers who once surged into the corporate towers of Midtown now work remotely. Even with commuting at around 60 percent of prepandemic levels, however, more than 3 million riders are estimated to ride the New York City subways on a typical weekday.
Manhattan could not have flourished without its transit system, and the subways could not have succeeded without the development of some astonishing steam engines some 120 years ago.
The first trains carrying passengers on elevated tracks through Manhattan in the 19th century were powered by coalfired locomotives that cast off streams of soot and ashes. Electrifying the system was no easy feat. An electric motor, designed by 29-year-old American naval officer Frank Sprague, was tested successfully in 1886, but the Manhattan Elevated Railway Company discovered that generating electricity for an electric train system ran into the eternal Manhattan challenge: The site purchased for the power station...