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New York's Forgotten Substations: The Power Behind the Subway | 
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| Author: Christopher Payne
Publisher: Princeton Architectural Press
Category: Book
List Price: $21.95
Buy New: $11.01
You Save: $10.94 (50%)
New (11) Used (6) from $11.01
Avg. Customer Rating:  8 reviews
Sales Rank: 167613
Media: Paperback
Edition: 1
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 112
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.9
Dimensions (in): 8.4 x 8.4 x 0.3
ISBN: 1568983557
Dewey Decimal Number: 625.42097471
EAN: 9781568983554
ASIN: 1568983557
Publication Date: September 1, 2002
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Shipping: Expedited shipping available
Condition: Order in morning and ships same day from Nashville TN. New unused in perfect condition. Not a remainder. Smoke free
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Product Description
All over New York City, hidden behind unassuming historic facades, sits the gigantic machinery of the power stations that once moved the subways. For over a century, the 125,000-pound converters and related equipment of the substations remained largely unchanged, but in 1999 the last manually operated substation was shut down and since then they have been systematically dismantled and sold as scrap. In 1997, author Christopher Payne was introduced to the substations by an official of the Metropolitan Transit Authority's Power Division. Since then, he has rushed to photograph, draw, and write the history of these amazing buildings and their machines before they are completely gone. With virtually unlimited access to the substations, he has developed an intimate bond with the buildings that most people know only in passing. His beautiful photographs and detailed drawings bring these lost treasures to life, while his illuminating text tells their fascinating story. Anyone interested in the art of industrial America or the New York subway will find this book a delight.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 3 more reviews...
 Interesting read, hard to place pictures in the right context October 3, 2008
The book is interesting in a sort of disjointed way. If you like abandoned industrial settings the pictures are great too look at. Reading the narrative is tiresome because you just want to jump and look at the stunning pictures. The book also reviews the various styles of substations. About 2/3 of the way through the book conveys into a rather simple photo-album-style pictorial with few details on the subject matter, some of which is too interesting to know so little about.
I had to read it several times to fully understand the different substation styles and technologies because some of those chapers are spread out over more than two pages. It is easy to lose your place when trying to identify the systems in the narrative to the diagrams, schematics, and photographs. Often I was trying to find details in pictures written about in the narrative, only to find I was in the wrong chapter.
Other than these minor issues if you wanted to know how they converted AC to DC and how the subway works, even today, this is an important book for even a casual subway fan.
New York's forgotten Substations August 8, 2007
An excellent high quality work at a very reasonable price.
Well written interesting text, superb high quality photographs and professional architectural drawings. A great buy for anyone interested in the subject.
Amazon's rapid response to my order was also impressive. This is the first time I've ordered from Amazon. The book was shipped from stock and arrived just a few days after I placed my order. Excellent service.
Better than I could have imagined. December 13, 2006
I'm not an architecture student, or an art fan. I just happen to have an obsession with infrastructure. This book was completely satisfying. It's filled with gorgeous pictures of off-limits places. That alone would have been just a tease, but the author's extensive research pays off for the reader. He fills the book with history and technical details. Worth every penny and then some.
Power book October 9, 2006
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
Who would have thought that a collection of buildings containing basically the same thing would have produced such a fascinating book and who but Princeton would take a chance and publish it. It seems to fit right into their quirky line of Americana, which includes, for instance, a history of paint-by-numbers (ISBN 1568982828) a photo tour of the brothels of Nevada (ISBN 1568984189) or a collection of amateur QSL cards (156898281X).
Christopher Payne has done his best to record the contents of these buildings before they are gone forever. His efforts are perfect examples of what industrial archaeology photography should look like, well lit, straightforward and content rich images with fortunately no angled shots, no out-of-focus areas merging into darkness or meaningless close-ups. These photos really tell a story and being well printed (200dpi) on quality paper helps, too.
As well as the fifty-four main photos there are others taken by him and several historical ones in the essay describing the workings of the subway electrical supply (some of the technical drawings included in the essay could have been larger though) and like his photos Payne makes the world of rotary converters, transformers, bus boards and potheads come alive.
All in all a super little book and a good example of how a tiny part of industrial America can become fascinating with well-written words and elegant photography.
Balanced and Beautiful June 25, 2006
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
Many photo history books suffer from an imbalance between the strength of the prose and the strength of the photographs. Christopher Payne's New York's Forgotten Substations does not. The writing is crisp, bringing you into the subject matter and explaining the basics of subway power and the history of these substations. The photos capture the magnificence of the substations in they heyday, and the seeming pathos of their abandonment. This is black and white photography at its best. Forgotten Substations is a feast for subway buffs, engineering geeks, and appreciators of industrial aesthetic alike.
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