The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1898-06-12

! STEPS as lead up to the express trains
! on the floor above. So, after leaving
the station, the grade of the express
tracks leads gradually down to the
level just as the grade of the local
trains leads gradually up from below
The local trains in many cases use the
express tracks after getting once out
( side, and this. as may be supposed,
( leads to a world of complicated switch
4 twisting and signaling Even here the
! system had to be arranged quite diff
ferently from that of an ordinary road.
! The signals for incoming and outgoing
( trains viii be located on eight or nine
/ signal bridges. There will be two towers
from which the interiocking switches
! will be operated. The switches and Sig
! nails will be worked by compressed air,
! which, in its turn, will be operated
electrically from the towers. But
Z it would be almost impos-
sible for human being to
simplify in his mind such a maze of
/ switches, signals. wires and tracks.
The human machine is perfect to a
certain extent, but, unfortunately for
the railroad business, it is not me
chanical enough to remain uninflu-
enced by wind and weather. lack of
sleep, indigestion and other disabilities
of like nature. In order to prevent
any disastrous complication ensuing
from such a cause, the company is
placing in every tower a set of minia-
ture tracks which is connected cleo
trically with the real tracks out in the
yard, and which operates in conjunc-
tion with them. This miniature set of
tracks is being placed right in front of
where the Switchman will stand. The
men cannot produce any combination
outside of the tower which will not also
be reproduced within in miniature.
TI,r-- xxrt1 y oil ncf INN n
an accident TO occur in the yard if
the Switchmen are ordinarily careful
AS a mere architectural achievement
the Boston terminal station impresSeS
one most wildly by its immensely. Its
bignesS is like that of the main build
ing of some great exposition. 1t is
a small world under ten acres of roof.
Its train shed is seven times bigger
than st. Paucras station, and twice as
big as the London & Northern; so big,
in fact, that the great st. Louis depot
might be built up in the middle of 1T
and yet leave respectable breathing
room on all sides. One genius, with
calculating turn of mind, has shown
how "a of the prominent buildings of
Boston could be placed on the ground
Occupied by this station and still leave
small passage ways between, and the
list includes such structures as the
poStoffice, the public library, the city
hall, the state house, Trinity church,
several of the large hotels and Faneuil
hall market. The interior of the great
pile is cut up in strict proportion to
the whole, however. So one is not sur
pTised to see a waiting room 225 feet
long and two stories high; a midway
or space between the waiting rooms
and train she'd as high and as long as
the building itself; ticket office 80
feet long; a baggage room which ex-
tends so far down the side of the main
tracks that its perspective lines really
seem to reach the vanishing point; a
huge carriage concourSe which allows
the vehicles of passengers to come
right into the building-quite wet
weather feature.
AS one walks through the depot its
working details are thrust so rapidly
w On ones understanding that the re-
silt is almost confusion. One notices
that there is an ice-making plant for
supplying the coolers in the cars. a fill