# NY Subway 1905 - Video footage. **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [July 21, 2013, 8:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ny-subway-1905-video-footage/664134 "2013-07-21T20:47:43Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2013, 8:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ny-subway-1905-video-footage/664134/1 "2013-07-21T20:47:43Z")
I’m amazed that they were able to produce such good footage in 1905. To give some historical context, early films like _The Great Train Robbery_ (1903) and _Birth of a Nation_ (1915) were just coming out. The Era of the [Nickelodeon](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nickelodeon_%28movie_theater%29)began in 1905 where the public watched the early films. They did a good job restoring the footage. The real payoff is the last minute of footage as the subway pulls into the station. All the people are dressed in their finest Edwardian clothing. Top Hats for the men and fancy dress hats for the ladies. I enjoyed the kids the most. Theres this adorable little girl looking around in amazement and her mom is hustling through the station. 🙂 Quite a time capsule. > **[Top hats, petticoats and NO air-con: Remarkable turn of the century footage...](https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2372480/New-York-subway-caught-camera-century-ago.html)** > > When the New York City subway was barely seven months old, a camera was mounted to the front of a subway car, capturing footage of a ride through Manhattan. > [@](#): > > When the New York City subway was barely seven months old, the American Mutoscope and Biograph Company mounted a camera on the front of a subway car following another train, and took footage of a ride through Manhattan. > > The footage taken on May 21, 1905 begins at 14th St - Union Square and follows the train north to Grand Central Station, whereupon the passengers alight and men in smart suits with canes and women in long dresses and elaborate hats swarm around the station. > > To film the subway car in front, engineers affixed the camera to a specially constructed work car fitted with lights to illuminate the dark tunnel. ---
**Author:** ![wolfman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/a8b319/32.png) [@wolfman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolfman)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2013, 8:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ny-subway-1905-video-footage/664134/2 "2013-07-21T20:59:28Z")
Didn’t leave a lot of extra room in the tunnel in those days, did they? Looks like about 3 inches on all sides. ---
**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2013, 9:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ny-subway-1905-video-footage/664134/3 "2013-07-21T21:12:36Z")
I wondered what those brackets were along the top of the tunnel. They are on both sides every few feet. Can’t be decorative because back then the tunnels were pitch dark inside. I’ve been trying to google and find pictures of the abandoned subway line that was discovered about 10 or so years ago. It had been abandoned and closed off for at least 80 years. I’m pretty sure it was from this time period NY 1905 or so. I remember the news stories and pictures but can’t find them now. There’s quite a few abandoned NY subway lines. But none this old. ---
**Author:** ![Capt\_Kirk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/779978/32.png) [@Capt\_Kirk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Capt_Kirk)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2013, 12:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ny-subway-1905-video-footage/664134/4 "2013-07-22T00:30:53Z")
That was cool, thanks for sharing. The little girl was a great bonus. **Capt** ---
**Author:** ![Eyebrows\_0f\_Doom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eyebrows_0f_doom/32/3119_2.png) [@Eyebrows\_0f\_Doom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eyebrows_0f_Doom)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2013, 1:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ny-subway-1905-video-footage/664134/5 "2013-07-22T01:39:23Z")
Why is this a current news story? This footage has been out for ages, it’s not like it was just found or anything. ---
**Author:** ![Lord\_Feldon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lord_feldon/32/341_2.png) [@Lord\_Feldon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lord_Feldon)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2013, 3:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ny-subway-1905-video-footage/664134/6 "2013-07-22T03:41:49Z")
> [@Eyebrows\_0f\_Doom](#): > > Why is this a current news story? It’s not a news story. It’s a _Daily Mail_ story. Don’t be surprised if they run the story again in a few months, or if this isn’t the first time. ---
**Author:** ![Muffin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/muffin/32/4341_2.png) [@Muffin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Muffin)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2013, 3:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ny-subway-1905-video-footage/664134/7 "2013-07-22T03:44:10Z")
The gub’m’nt is trying to bury the old footage with the new footage from which the Bricklin on the tracks was edited out. ---
**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2013, 4:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ny-subway-1905-video-footage/664134/8 "2013-07-22T04:03:27Z")
One of the coolest subway stories I heard was about a hidden station under the Waldorf-Astoria. F Roosevelt and other VIP’s could arrive there and enter the hotel without anyone knowing. Great security for the President. > **[Photos: Visiting The Secret Train Platform Beneath The Waldorf-Astoria](https://gothamist.com/arts-entertainment/photos-visiting-the-secret-train-platform-beneath-the-waldorf-astoria)** > > In which we finally get to see the famous secret train platform beneath the Waldorf-Astoria, also known as Track 61, and used by the likes of FDR. ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2013, 6:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ny-subway-1905-video-footage/664134/9 "2013-07-22T06:37:02Z")
I wonder what the seats were covered with. When I first moved to NYC in the early 60s, some of the older cars had wicker seats. ---
**Author:** ![Kzbre5m](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/f08c70/32.png) [@Kzbre5m](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kzbre5m)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2013, 11:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ny-subway-1905-video-footage/664134/10 "2013-07-22T11:02:39Z")
[QUOTE=aceplace57] One of the coolest subway stories I heard was about a hidden station under the Waldorf-Astoria. F Roosevelt and other VIP’s could arrive there and enter the hotel without anyone knowing. Great security for the President. [/QUOTE] I think it’s technically not a subway but the “big trains” – it’s part of Grand Central Station, not the IRT. [This website](http://www.columbia.edu/~brennan/abandoned/gct61.html) has more information. [QUOTE=aceplace57] I wondered what those brackets were along the top of the tunnel. They are on both sides every few feet. Can’t be decorative because back then the tunnels were pitch dark inside. [/QUOTE] The angled pieces between the columns and the ceiling? Structural to tie in the ceiling to the columns. Makes it less twisty than a single point at the column top. The beams with the zig-zags with no ceiling above are probably pushing back the walls, with the pressure of the dirt and buildings behind it. Though I can’t seem to find it now, I think Mr Astor had his own private door to the subway platform directly to his house above. After a night on the town Mr and Mrs would take the subway home and exit the platform with their private entrance. (Or maybe I was thinking of [this door](http://forgotten-ny.com/1998/04/the-other-door-to-nowhere-not-to-be-outdone-the-astor-place-station-irt-6-has-its-very-own-door-to-nowhere-where-did-it-go/)?) ---
**Author:** ![aruvqan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aruvqan/32/2891_2.png) [@aruvqan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aruvqan)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2013, 1:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ny-subway-1905-video-footage/664134/11 "2013-07-22T13:15:20Z")
Wonderful - I am always fascinated by the little time capsules of footage like this. It is sobering to think we are looking at people long dead as they go about life just like we do. I rather liked the San Francisco [trolly footage](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d1RvgfoXGTs) from just before the earthquake. And I am really ambivalent about Germany street scenes from WW2 as it is sobering to think that some random German guy I am watching could have either been shooting at my dad or been shot by my Dad. Very strange sensation the first time that popped into my head.