Episode 103 | The Tubes Under the City (Part 1)
Episode 103 | The Tubes Under the City (Part 1) In this episode I went under the city. In 1870, Alfred Ely Beach ran a passenger car under Broadway on nothing but air — thirty-four years before the subway in the textbook. Forty-two years later the papers said they found that car "as in a tomb," and then they tore the tunnel out. I gave the official story a fair hearing: air was a novelty, electricity won, the tubes went away. Then I tested it. The lengths, the dates, and even the same newspaper don't agree. The "secret subway" was already being denied in 1870. The tunnel was found again after an 1898 fire, "rediscovered" once more in 1912, and a tunneling shield that was sent to Cornell has no known whereabouts now. Then I crossed the ocean. London had a pneumatic mail railway in the 1860s, big enough that the Duke of Buckingham rode a car through it, plus a passenger line at Crystal Palace six years before Beach opened on Broadway. Officially the post office gave it up in 1874 because it didn't save enough time. In 1928 an old tube under Holborn exploded. In 1930 workmen pulled a rusty mail car out of the ground near Euston, and four boys fit inside it sitting up. And I sat with the Chicago Daily News photograph from 1908: a child named Robert Stoetzel lying in a tube, which the official story calls his father's safety demonstration. I told you what the record says, and I left the question open. This is Part 1. I got through about six of the segments I'd written; the American mail tubes, Chicago's freight tunnels, the lines that dropped off the maps, and the years they really did mail children through the regular post are still to come. Official story, what bugs me about it, and you decide. Question everything. 0:00 Stream start 0:48 Cold open: the pictures under the city 3:56 Good evening — tonight we go under the city 7:40 Housekeeping, merch, and Brian's map 11:55 The official story of Beach's Broadway tube 17:08 Built in secret? The clothing-store tunnel 21:06 58 days, 300 feet, and numbers that don't agree 23:12 Why push a train with air? 26:50 Opening day, 25 cents, and the orphans 32:18 If it worked, why did history end with politics? 37:32 The 1898 fire and the 1899 rediscovery 42:40 1912: "as in a tomb" 47:05 Rediscovered once every ten years 50:26 The shield goes to Cornell — then disappears 55:14 City Hall station, and what's left 1:00:00 London's lost mail railway 1:04:31 Holborn to Euston: men in the mail cars 1:08:32 Crystal Palace: a passenger line in 1864 1:10:04 Under the Thames, then abandoned 1:14:39 "London's Lost Tunnel" and the 1928 explosion 1:19:25 1930: a rusty mail car and four boys 1:23:00 Chicago, 1908: the boy in the tube 1:31:55 Back to the London cars 1:37:48 Could a child have been sent through? 1:41:06 Closing: Part 2, Saturday's premiere, and a new start time 📞 CALL IN & CHAT 💬 Discord: https://discord.gg/tRt9TwtgzK ✈️ Telegram: https://t.me/TheDoctorregenerated 💛 SUPPORT THE SHOW 📖 An Improbable Atlas (paperback): https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0HMHGFB4R 📖 Digital edition ($7.99): https://the-improbable-dreamer-shop.fourthwall.com/products/an-improbable-atlas-as-mapped-not-as-taught-digital-edition 🛍️ Merch: https://the-improbable-dreamer-shop.fourthwall.com ☕ Buy Me a Coffee: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/TheDoctor3940 📰 The Dreamer Weekly (free, Sundays): https://jakes-newsletter-99912c.beehiiv.com/subscribe 🌳 Linktree: https://linktr.ee/theimprobabledreamer 🎧 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/4qnUirYKWn63CkxjKecjiP 📺 Live Tue, Thu & Fri 10:30 PM CT Question everything. #PneumaticTubes #SecretSubway #BeachPneumatic #HiddenHistory #QuestioningEverything
