The New York subway

the long version

When the first cars of New York's new underground railroad left City Hall station on October 27, 1904, they were the property of a private firm called the Interborough Rapid Transit, running on public tracks. The IRT realized what seemed an impossible dream for more than 30 years - financing, designing, and building an underground railroad that ran from lower Manhattan right to the Bronx. Ground was broken in 1900; four years later, New Yorkers would ride uptown and down on the rapid transit railroad they called "the subway." sSo spectacular was the achievement, and so proud was the IRT, that the company published this testament to the massive public work it had just completed. Originally printed in a larger, tabloid-size format, this remarkable book is a detailed, lavishly illustrated account of the building of the first subway.