New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1897-10-03
REBUILDING IN THE AIR.
INGENIOUS APPLIANCES FOR THE WORK
AT THE GRAND CENTRAL STATION.
HOW \ GREAT PIECE OF WORK IS CARRIED ON
WITHOUT INTERPRETING TRAFFIC OR
UlNDERING PASSERS- BY.


s,d continues well into the night. Needless Of
ALL this ana not interfering with it in the least.
the wreckers Of the old and the builders of the
new Grand Central Station are steadfastly work
ing side ~ side. Though the station, built in
1871, is not to be pulled down, so far as appear
ances viii so it might just as we'll be- for all the
old towers will be destroyed and the mansard
roof taken away. and four stories Of red BRICK
and granite composition are TO rise on the TWO
stories left standing Hardly trace Of the old
building viii seem to remain and in place of the
five old towers there will be but two.
The contractors have been on the work but
q month. yet the tearing away of the towers and
the mansard roof is already well advanced The
Transformation Of the old into the new is by TINS
time half completed. for wide and high scar
folding girdles the building on its front and west
sides, and while the towers are being demol-
ished, another corps of workTen is engaged on
the new walls. The engineering appliances are
peculiar and effective. Nothing like them has
ever been seen in the course Of building in New
York The chief point of interest being that all
the work IS done in the air and on corner oi
the vacant lot directly opposite the west side
If the station Not brick. .enGth OF iron or
a heap of mortar is on side street or highway.
and were it not for the supports OF the scafiOld-
Ing and the gaping walls above people passing
would hardly be conscious Of the work going on
1t is a work Of Importance and magnitude Tor
the total extension up in the air and rebuidhs
will take seven months in all to complete; VIII
cost about 100000, and will keep nearly ID
men. on the average. constantly employed IL Is
that trave, may not be interrupted that the con-
tractors. Grace & Hyde, Of Chicago, have de-
vised and put in place all these curious applI-
ances.
The scafrod is about twenty feet wide and up
even with the windows Of the second story. IL
Is thousand feet in length. At right angles 10
it. halfway down Vanderbilt-ave. to the west
Of the station, is a bridge thrown across the
street and running to huge platform on the
corner Of the vacant lot bounded BY FOrty-thTd
and Forty fourth SITS. along scaffoiding bridge
and platform is a twO-trdck, arrow-gauge rail-
road with half mile Of track. The cars on
IL carry over the 'wreckage" from the old tow
ers and walls brick, lath and iron, and these
en- arriving on the platform. are at once dumped
down into waiting carts The size and strength
Of this scanolding and bridge Cthe latter seventy
feet long, may best lie understood by saying
that four hundred thousand feet OF lumber "a
small shipload) used in its construction
The themselves capable OF carry ing
twelve tons apiece.
There is still another ingenious method OF
quickly and quietly diSpCSInS OF a COCO pTOlOI-
ton of the debris. Chutes have been erected
from the top Of the building. leading down into
the train shed. Late at night, when traffic IS 10
all intents and purposes over. natcars are
nushcd in the chutes opened and the waste that
has been accommodating all day is hastily poured
on them The higher up the building goes the
higher the chutes will be built if they continue
to be needed for this is the greatest labor-sav-
Ing device Of all.
The clement Of greatest fascination about the
rebuilding work. however is the huge derrichS.
One If these which stands at the side OF the
platform across the bridge, has an arm
reach OF 100 feet and can PICK up with
q single clutch ten tons of steel beams at
time These beams swung like skcins OF SILK
In this giant grasp from wagon to top OF pat
form will then be trundlcd in the cars on "hIch
they are deposited across the bridge over the
scaholdirg to where the travelling oe'''cN
stands
This latter is an engineering monster OF 'e'"-
meal Intelligence. 1t swings down anu grasp"
the beams ard then, moving slowly forward
sets them in Place mot crossbeams alone. OUT
columns as veiD af,crward passing over and be-
You'd them picking up yet other beams and lay
Ing these Ia this way ii moves from one end
OF the building to the other returning on It's
PAIN 10 set the beams for the next story. Some
OF these steel beams weigh as much as SIX toiiS
each This machine can lift and lay 2JO tons a
day. or about eleven and a half tons at single
grasp.
For bricls-hauling there are two elevators.
each capable of hosting sixty thousand bricks
q day. A good sharp bricklayer this class or