# Pneumatic Tubes for People—New York City's First Subway

**URL:** <https://scanalyst.fourmilab.ch/t/pneumatic-tubes-for-people-new-york-citys-first-subway/1719>\
**Category:** Continuity\
**Tags:** new-york-city, pneumatic-tube, subway, alfred-beach\
**Created:** [20 July 2022 15:23 UTC](https://scanalyst.fourmilab.ch/t/pneumatic-tubes-for-people-new-york-citys-first-subway/1719 "2022-07-20T15:23:30Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![johnwalker](https://scanalyst.fourmilab.ch/user_avatar/scanalyst.fourmilab.ch/johnwalker/32/17415_2.png) [@johnwalker](https://scanalyst.fourmilab.ch/u/johnwalker)\
**Post date:** [20 July 2022 15:23 UTC](https://scanalyst.fourmilab.ch/t/pneumatic-tubes-for-people-new-york-citys-first-subway/1719/1 "2022-07-20T15:23:30Z")

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[![](https://scanalyst.fourmilab.ch/uploads/default/original/2X/d/d9f0d66fd15e81fec90e9260fb895356f39a719f.jpeg "New York's Secret Subway") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rMf6KYhlRmg)

The undoing of [Alfred Beach](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alfred_Ely_Beach)’s [pneumatic subway](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beach_Pneumatic_Transit) may not have been technological or economic, but rather, as [Glenn Reynolds](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glenn_Reynolds) says, that in a New York run by [Boss Tweed](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_M._Tweed)’s Democrat machine, it offered insufficient opportunities for graft.

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**Author:** ![Kevin](https://scanalyst.fourmilab.ch/user_avatar/scanalyst.fourmilab.ch/kevin/32/194_2.png) [@Kevin](https://scanalyst.fourmilab.ch/u/Kevin)\
**Post date:** [20 July 2022 16:24 UTC](https://scanalyst.fourmilab.ch/t/pneumatic-tubes-for-people-new-york-citys-first-subway/1719/2 "2022-07-20T16:24:36Z")

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Democrats, the same as they ever were .

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**Author:** ![1967mustangman](https://scanalyst.fourmilab.ch/user_avatar/scanalyst.fourmilab.ch/1967mustangman/32/35_2.png) [@1967mustangman](https://scanalyst.fourmilab.ch/u/1967mustangman)\
**Post date:** [20 July 2022 17:16 UTC](https://scanalyst.fourmilab.ch/t/pneumatic-tubes-for-people-new-york-citys-first-subway/1719/3 "2022-07-20T17:16:18Z")

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[![](https://scanalyst.fourmilab.ch/uploads/default/original/2X/5/52ae58be7303a5aea1b83c5df5cbfb0f9f6d3982.jpeg "Futurama - Crosstown Express") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O7sMa4X46EE)

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**Author:** ![russnelson](https://scanalyst.fourmilab.ch/user_avatar/scanalyst.fourmilab.ch/russnelson/32/339_2.png) [@russnelson](https://scanalyst.fourmilab.ch/u/russnelson)\
**Post date:** [21 July 2022 13:31 UTC](https://scanalyst.fourmilab.ch/t/pneumatic-tubes-for-people-new-york-citys-first-subway/1719/4 "2022-07-21T13:31:48Z")

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The History Guy didn’t mention that Ghostbusters 2 featured Beach’s Subway in a segment. Of course, ghosts were coming out of it, because, well, Ghostbusters.