Rotary Converter, IRT Subway, Substation 13, Midtown Manhattan, NYC, 2017.
All the pixels, no hearing protection required, at https://www.flickr.com/photos/mattblaze/32992380451
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@mattblaze I especially like your "no hearing protection required" - as a student i visited a test setup for avian technology (i think they run a 400Hz AC powerline) and they had a rotary converter in place.
NYC's IRT subway, opened in 1904, is powered by a 600 volt DC third rail running alongside the tracks. Power is fed to the system via a number of substations throughout the city, where high voltage AC is converted to the lower voltage DC used by trains.
Until recently, this was done with electromechanical rotary converters (essentially a combination AC motor and DC generator). They are now supplanted by solid state rectifiers, but a few of the original rotary converters remain operational.
If you like this stuff, there's a sadly out of print book, "New York's Forgotten Substations" by Christopher Payne, with some excellent photos of NYC Subway power infrastructure.
@mattblaze rotating machinery 😍🤤
