The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1898-06-12
BOSTON'S NEW WONDER.
Has Built the Largest Railway Station In the World

! The new terminal railway station in
Boston, which is nearing completion,
possesses several remarkable features.
1t is the largest railway depot in the
world. The plan of its construction is
unique. Nothing like it has been seen
before. 1t is the first depot to be
equipped with facilities for operating
/ trains by electricity, the tracks IN one
/ section of it actually having a third
rail laid between them, all ready for
/ the long promised transition from
steam to electric current The growing
problem of efficient suburban train ac-
! cOmmodation, which, in view of electric
street car traction has taken on new
! Importance, is here dealt with in a new
manner. There are two stories for the
/ trains. Local trains run into the sta
ton and around long loop in the
basement; long distance trains run in
on the floor above. This loop marks
! the solving of a great engineering
problem. for it is depressed six feet
below the mean level of the neighbour
ing sea, and in order to construct it
there first had to be built a cofferdam
ten times larger than the largest ever
constructed-that is, 1000 feet long by
200 feet wide. Into this cofferdam was
laid a great cup of cement, resting on
/ t+,OoV SplleS. In lIiS cup the building
stands Finally, in order to make room
for this great structure, there had to
be demolished 30 buildings, sheltering
during business hours of the day nearly
1000 persons-enough to found a small
town.
More than half the railroads which
run into and out of Boston will use this
depot. 1t will divide the patronage of
the city with the northern depot which
is situated on the Numerically oppo-
site side of the town. Necessity COM
PEELED its construction. Once there
were no less than eight railroad depots
in Boston. The confusion thus entailed
was enormous, and the impossibility
of making connections finally forced
the combination of several of the
roads. At the present time, outside of
the northern, there are three large de-
pots, each of which is used by half a
dozen roads. All these roads will
hereafter use the new station, so that
there viii be but two Boston depots-
the northern terminal and the southern
terminal. The question of travel for
Bostonians is thus reduced to the prim-
tive proposition of knowing at what
point of the compass their destinations
may lie. After that the question of
selecting the proper depot is easy.
The housing of all these roads in one
station involved problems which do not
enter into the construction of single
stations. The rights and privileges of
any one road must not be interfered
with by the others. The right of way
for one train after another must be,
so to speak, continuous. The long dis
tance traffic must not suffer from
congestion of suburban service and the
latter, which is highly profitable, must
be made better than it now is for the
electric street car service is reaching
out it's octopuslike tentacles and alb
sorbing suburban patronage in a man
ner not at all to the liking of the steam
railroad managers. The octopus must
be beaten even in its own manner, by
being fought with , its own weapons.
Therefore, electric traction must be
provided for on a scale which would
take heed of future conditions. Every
one of these rather formidable problems
has been COPIED with successfully in the
new structure.
Placing the trains on two floors, at