gforster wrote:
<< NY street scenes at night always showed STEAM rising up in clouds out of
the drains? Where does it all come from? >>
The steam coming out of the drains is a by-product of Consolidated Edison's
electric generators. We have immense systems of pipes under our streets;
gas, electric cables, telephone cables, water, sewage and steam. We used to
have pneumatic tubes with messages in capsules shooting all over the city,
but that stopped before I was born. (They still have that pneumatic tube
system in the main branch of the NY Public Library where I read a 100 year
old copy of Etidorhpa in the Bill Blass Room.)
We use the steam in our radiators (steam heat) and the excess comes out of
drains and pipes in the street. Kinda funky, I guess.
Laura
Related thread: New York Tunnels — Answers Gerry's question in the New York tunnels topic