July 20, 2026 • 7 mins
Every day millions of people disappear beneath New York City... and come back up like nothing happened. But think about it: How did engineers over 120 years ago build hundreds of miles of tunnels beneath one of the busiest cities on Earth without GPS, computers, drones or modern technology? In this episode of IDKMYDE, we're going underground
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
I welcome back, no at ass to another episode of
the most anticipated podcast on the Black Effect Podcast Network.
It's entitled I didn't Know. Maybe you didn't either. I'm
your host, b Dot and I Survived. I Survived jay
Z thirty listen. Jay Z is my favorite artist of
(00:22):
all time. The very first album I bought in my
life was Reasonable Doubt back in nineteen ninety six. I
was a junior in high school, but I became a
man on the campus of Winston Salem State University, and
when the Blueprints dropped on my birthday ninety eleven, two
thousand and one, I'll never forget it.
Speaker 2 (00:38):
For Myriada reasons.
Speaker 1 (00:40):
That album was the theme track to my life for
the next three hundred and sixty five days. Minimal I
knew every word, every ad lib. So it was no
way I was missing history and I made it. Saturday
was beautiful. A lot of folks got upset. All he
shorted us. We didn't have as many special guests. Chef's
(01:01):
kiss to come out there and do renegade, then the
crank lose yourself and Slick rick last time I seen
Slick Ricky was being deported.
Speaker 2 (01:10):
Next thing I know, he on stage with jay Z
talking about.
Speaker 1 (01:13):
The rulers back, and then we got phar Real and
they did a bunch of hits too. But I was
so fortunate that I had tickets for Sunday night extra innings.
Nothing I've ever experienced in a concert tops that night,
and I'd have been to a bunch of many concerts. Man.
Never have I stood in line for four hours to
get in. You've heard the stories about the gates being
(01:34):
closed on us because some knuckle hiss then rushed the
doors and got in.
Speaker 2 (01:37):
They claimed it was a security breach.
Speaker 1 (01:39):
All the did was piss us off, and the one
little security man out there kept screaming, please have some decorum.
Speaker 2 (01:46):
We will get everyone in one by one.
Speaker 1 (01:50):
How the hell you're gonna get twenty thousand people in
one by one? And all everybody kept saying, outside, man,
we've been standing up so long. We ain't gonna have
no energy for jay Z all, I'm want to do
a sit down. The whole concert wrong. We stood in
line for four hours and then stood another three hours
enjoying the hell out of the best concert I ever
seen in my life. By the time I got to
(02:10):
my Ceatiana Taylor was leaving and Jermaine dupri was coming
on in a ferrari of Jaguar, switching fo lane. Next
thing you know, Jeezy then popped out, The dreamed and
popped out, Ursha and popped out, Rihannadan popped out, Beyond
Satan popped out, pharrelled and popped back out. Jadakas and
Joey Crackton popped out. Swiss Beachs pop out. We do
(02:31):
a whole DMX set. The concert didn't start the twelve fifteen.
We wasn't done toil after three in the morning. They
have folks that were stranded after the concert because, unbeknownst
to me, it's certain trains that don't travel certain places
after a certain time. My cyst from the black effect.
Chanelle stuck to five in the morning all the time
she could catch a train back to the crib. I
(02:53):
finally got back to the hotel room about five am.
My flight was at seven, but I just moved that
to noon and we caught one in Jerseyr. That was
a nice airport. I have never gotten from my car
to my terminals so fast in my life.
Speaker 2 (03:07):
What a weekend.
Speaker 1 (03:09):
And while I was up there, I was traveling like
the locals my Bruh Jason, his uncle drive taxis up there,
so we was whipping around the city in the taxi.
But I was also on them subways them train. Yeah, man,
But while I was sitting down there, sliding around on
that dirty ass seat on the train, I got to
thinking who the hell made these? Like who invented the
(03:29):
subway system? Than I thought there's an episode in that.
But before I get to that, it is customary. I
give you three of the most useless facts you'll never need, never,
not a day in life about the New York City subways.
Up first, on an average weekday, more than three million
people ride the New York City Subway. That's one of
(03:52):
the busiest transit systems in the world.
Speaker 2 (03:57):
Three million people.
Speaker 1 (03:59):
Your second less facts, it's four hundred and seventy two
subway stations and over eight hundred miles of track all
throughout New York City. And your third and final useless facts.
The New York City subway and run twenty four hours
a day, seven days a week. That's something that very
few major subway systems in the world still do. But
(04:21):
even if you ridden the subway before, do you know
who the engineers were that designed those trains and tracks
up under the city of New York because I didn't
I didn't know.
Speaker 2 (04:31):
Maybe you didn't know. I didn't know. I didn't know.
I didn't know.
Speaker 1 (04:38):
I didn't I didn't know.
Speaker 2 (04:40):
I didn't know.
Speaker 1 (04:41):
I didn't.
Speaker 2 (04:41):
Well, I was walking around New York.
Speaker 1 (04:43):
I just got to thinking down, all these millions of
people are up here walking around above ground, and that's
a whole nother city moving underneath us. Like imagine this,
Charlotte got roughly nine hundred thousand people, Greensboro, North Carolina,
where I'm from, about three hundred thousand people. Hell, Atlanta
City got five hundred thousand people. Yeah, every single day
(05:05):
New York Subway moves around three to.
Speaker 2 (05:08):
Four million riders.
Speaker 1 (05:10):
That's like putting three Charlottes or ten Greensboroughs or six
Atlanta's underground every day. Now, this was my question, who
the hell came up with such a crazy idea. Well,
after some investigative research, I have found that the world's
first underground railway actually opened.
Speaker 2 (05:28):
In London in eighteen sixty three.
Speaker 1 (05:30):
America then opened this first subway till eighteen ninety seven
in Boston, and then seven years later in nineteen oh four,
that's when New York opened this first subway, and it
immediately changed the city forever. But even knowing that, I
just couldn't stop thinking about how you build tunnels underneath
an entire city with no computers, no GPS, no lasers,
(05:51):
no Google Maps. So after some investigative research, I found
engineers use math, surveying tools, blueprints, streams, measure and chains, levels,
and an unbelievable amount of manual labor. These genius people
carefully mapped out where the water pipes and gas lines
and building foundations were before they got the digging. Then
(06:13):
they used this method called cut and cover. They literally
dug big, huge trenches throughout the city streets, They built
the tunnels, and then they covered everything back up till
life could continue as usual.
Speaker 2 (06:27):
Man what somebody had to.
Speaker 1 (06:29):
Stand there in nineteen hundred and say, God, trust me,
we're gonna dig underneath Manhattan and the building's not gonna
fall down. I promise, no, trust me, They're not gonna
fall And they were right now as tragedy ever struck. Unfortunately, Yes,
like they said, thousands of workers were injured during construction,
some lost their lives. Throughout the history of the subways,
(06:51):
it's been like derailments and collisions, fires, floods, infrastructure failures.
One of the most unusual disasters, they say, happen in
nineteen seventy three, like a chunk of tunnel concrete just
fell on one of the moving trains. One of the
passengers lost their life, and it trapped like a thousand people.
Yet despite all of that, every single day, millions of
(07:14):
people step on them trains without giving a second thought
about the engineering masterpiece that's right beneath their feet. Man,
New York don't just move people. It move an entire
city up under another city. And I didn't know.
Speaker 2 (07:29):
Maybe you didn't either.
Speaker 1 (07:31):
I
I welcome back, no at ass to another episode of
the most anticipated podcast on the Black Effect Podcast Network.
It's entitled I didn't Know. Maybe you didn't either. I'm
your host, b Dot and I Survived. I Survived jay
Z thirty listen. Jay Z is my favorite artist of
(00:22):
all time. The very first album I bought in my
life was Reasonable Doubt back in nineteen ninety six. I
was a junior in high school, but I became a
man on the campus of Winston Salem State University, and
when the Blueprints dropped on my birthday ninety eleven, two
thousand and one, I'll never forget it.
Speaker 2 (00:38):
For Myriada reasons.
Speaker 1 (00:40):
That album was the theme track to my life for
the next three hundred and sixty five days. Minimal I
knew every word, every ad lib. So it was no
way I was missing history and I made it. Saturday
was beautiful. A lot of folks got upset. All he
shorted us. We didn't have as many special guests. Chef's
(01:01):
kiss to come out there and do renegade, then the
crank lose yourself and Slick rick last time I seen
Slick Ricky was being deported.
Speaker 2 (01:10):
Next thing I know, he on stage with jay Z
talking about.
Speaker 1 (01:13):
The rulers back, and then we got phar Real and
they did a bunch of hits too. But I was
so fortunate that I had tickets for Sunday night extra innings.
Nothing I've ever experienced in a concert tops that night,
and I'd have been to a bunch of many concerts. Man.
Never have I stood in line for four hours to
get in. You've heard the stories about the gates being
(01:34):
closed on us because some knuckle hiss then rushed the
doors and got in.
Speaker 2 (01:37):
They claimed it was a security breach.
Speaker 1 (01:39):
All the did was piss us off, and the one
little security man out there kept screaming, please have some decorum.
Speaker 2 (01:46):
We will get everyone in one by one.
Speaker 1 (01:50):
How the hell you're gonna get twenty thousand people in
one by one? And all everybody kept saying, outside, man,
we've been standing up so long. We ain't gonna have
no energy for jay Z all, I'm want to do
a sit down. The whole concert wrong. We stood in
line for four hours and then stood another three hours
enjoying the hell out of the best concert I ever
seen in my life. By the time I got to
(02:10):
my Ceatiana Taylor was leaving and Jermaine dupri was coming
on in a ferrari of Jaguar, switching fo lane. Next
thing you know, Jeezy then popped out, The dreamed and
popped out, Ursha and popped out, Rihannadan popped out, Beyond
Satan popped out, pharrelled and popped back out. Jadakas and
Joey Crackton popped out. Swiss Beachs pop out. We do
(02:31):
a whole DMX set. The concert didn't start the twelve fifteen.
We wasn't done toil after three in the morning. They
have folks that were stranded after the concert because, unbeknownst
to me, it's certain trains that don't travel certain places
after a certain time. My cyst from the black effect.
Chanelle stuck to five in the morning all the time
she could catch a train back to the crib. I
(02:53):
finally got back to the hotel room about five am.
My flight was at seven, but I just moved that
to noon and we caught one in Jerseyr. That was
a nice airport. I have never gotten from my car
to my terminals so fast in my life.
Speaker 2 (03:07):
What a weekend.
Speaker 1 (03:09):
And while I was up there, I was traveling like
the locals my Bruh Jason, his uncle drive taxis up there,
so we was whipping around the city in the taxi.
But I was also on them subways them train. Yeah, man,
But while I was sitting down there, sliding around on
that dirty ass seat on the train, I got to
thinking who the hell made these? Like who invented the
(03:29):
subway system? Than I thought there's an episode in that.
But before I get to that, it is customary. I
give you three of the most useless facts you'll never need, never,
not a day in life about the New York City subways.
Up first, on an average weekday, more than three million
people ride the New York City Subway. That's one of
(03:52):
the busiest transit systems in the world.
Speaker 2 (03:57):
Three million people.
Speaker 1 (03:59):
Your second less facts, it's four hundred and seventy two
subway stations and over eight hundred miles of track all
throughout New York City. And your third and final useless facts.
The New York City subway and run twenty four hours
a day, seven days a week. That's something that very
few major subway systems in the world still do. But
(04:21):
even if you ridden the subway before, do you know
who the engineers were that designed those trains and tracks
up under the city of New York because I didn't
I didn't know.
Speaker 2 (04:31):
Maybe you didn't know. I didn't know. I didn't know.
I didn't know.
Speaker 1 (04:38):
I didn't I didn't know.
Speaker 2 (04:40):
I didn't know.
Speaker 1 (04:41):
I didn't.
Speaker 2 (04:41):
Well, I was walking around New York.
Speaker 1 (04:43):
I just got to thinking down, all these millions of
people are up here walking around above ground, and that's
a whole nother city moving underneath us. Like imagine this,
Charlotte got roughly nine hundred thousand people, Greensboro, North Carolina,
where I'm from, about three hundred thousand people. Hell, Atlanta
City got five hundred thousand people. Yeah, every single day
(05:05):
New York Subway moves around three to.
Speaker 2 (05:08):
Four million riders.
Speaker 1 (05:10):
That's like putting three Charlottes or ten Greensboroughs or six
Atlanta's underground every day. Now, this was my question, who
the hell came up with such a crazy idea. Well,
after some investigative research, I have found that the world's
first underground railway actually opened.
Speaker 2 (05:28):
In London in eighteen sixty three.
Speaker 1 (05:30):
America then opened this first subway till eighteen ninety seven
in Boston, and then seven years later in nineteen oh four,
that's when New York opened this first subway, and it
immediately changed the city forever. But even knowing that, I
just couldn't stop thinking about how you build tunnels underneath
an entire city with no computers, no GPS, no lasers,
(05:51):
no Google Maps. So after some investigative research, I found
engineers use math, surveying tools, blueprints, streams, measure and chains, levels,
and an unbelievable amount of manual labor. These genius people
carefully mapped out where the water pipes and gas lines
and building foundations were before they got the digging. Then
(06:13):
they used this method called cut and cover. They literally
dug big, huge trenches throughout the city streets, They built
the tunnels, and then they covered everything back up till
life could continue as usual.
Speaker 2 (06:27):
Man what somebody had to.
Speaker 1 (06:29):
Stand there in nineteen hundred and say, God, trust me,
we're gonna dig underneath Manhattan and the building's not gonna
fall down. I promise, no, trust me, They're not gonna
fall And they were right now as tragedy ever struck. Unfortunately, Yes,
like they said, thousands of workers were injured during construction,
some lost their lives. Throughout the history of the subways,
(06:51):
it's been like derailments and collisions, fires, floods, infrastructure failures.
One of the most unusual disasters, they say, happen in
nineteen seventy three, like a chunk of tunnel concrete just
fell on one of the moving trains. One of the
passengers lost their life, and it trapped like a thousand people.
Yet despite all of that, every single day, millions of
(07:14):
people step on them trains without giving a second thought
about the engineering masterpiece that's right beneath their feet. Man,
New York don't just move people. It move an entire
city up under another city. And I didn't know.
Speaker 2 (07:29):
Maybe you didn't either.
Speaker 1 (07:31):
I
Host
Brian "B Daht" McLaughlin
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