The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1899-01-02
RAILROAD NEWS.
Largest Station in Existence
Opened in Boston.
Covers Thirty-fiye Acres and
Shelters 80 Miles of Rails.
COST is $14,OOO,OOO.
Room on the Platforms For
100000 People.
Space in the Train Sheds For
400 Cars at a Time.

Boston, Jan. 2-The largest railroad sta
ton in the world was thrown open to the
public on New Years day. when trains
began to leave and enter the new South
Union station in this city.
Here are some facts about the new sta
ton:
1t is the largest one in the world, build
ing, sheds and yards Immediately connect
ed covering So acres of land The roof of
the shed alone cover 1415 acres.
1t has cost about $14,OO0,O00.
To make room for it more than 200 build
ings were torn down, some of them fine
new business structures.
The station itself contains Is miles of
tracks and 80 miles of rails.
There are 344 clearing switches and
354 ''fouling'~ switches.
The train shed will hold 4O4 ordinary
passenger cars at one time.
Twenty-eight thousand people can take
shed on the he's street level ana Several thous-
and more in the substation under the
more than 10000 people at one time.
Thirty-two express trains can be unload
The. city of Boston, gave up streets and
wharf property to the assessed value OF
new 100-foot wide streets, making the net
cost of the enterprise to the city s1,2SS-
The granite eagle on the top Of the front
of the DEPOT was carved from a single
four granite cutters three months to do
the work, and the figure now weighs II
The clock under the eagle is the he. largest
ameter. 1t is warranted by its makers
not to vary more than one second
month.
The station is the first one in the world
to provide for a new suburban surface mo-
tive power, such as electricity or COM
1t has taken IS months to build the new
South b Union station f The bfo 5e sv OF
of the streets and land which it covers
2do d or e the oT Tae6 he Tunnel no on
Of the city to the southwest, owned by
has been doubled in width its entire length.
necessita ting the destruction OF scores OF
dozen great Steel bridges where the streets
cross the tunnel.
to the trains on the street level is prov1d,
ed from Cove street Sumner sfreet ana ana
main entrance on Sumner Street and al
most in the center of the head of tracks
and Is feet high The ticket office on
one side contains "a windows and is II by
house and waiting room. The remainder
of this side of the larger room is occupied
and telephone offices, and an inside en-
trance to the substation-
Somsns IaxsafSory: q; q = 5set f IS 81;
FEET s 81 sok;ng room. s. by 60 feet; mems
iavatory. 30 6y 20 feet: parcel room, AZ by
lunch counters, news stands, etc.
In the upper part of the, main building
the railroads which will use the station,
permitting them to abandon their present
The train shed is the great feature Of
p pne have been m e by the engineers
and solved. 1t is probable that nowhere
a IN a So maGR
fore study had to be made for the greater
about % tracks were in use and greatly
that the new stations can contain is only
once, and not permitting of future growth
The engineers, therefore,, planned the
known that the greatest speed can be. OBJ
tanned by these instead of switches. which
lower level of the new station win be used
exclusively for suburban service, and the
into it from either side, swing around the
loops to the platforms, be loaded and sent
the descent to the lower level about half
mile from the station, and can II E nee
teen trains of three cars each can be load
to load and unload, 1000 trains can be
handled in IS hours.
this substation on account Of the smoke
and gases from the locomotives, but the
third raj system has need so Pad bo7if
Boston for some years that 1T will for the
present be employed IN the SUBURBAN SerV-
ice, the same tracks and cars being used
for both steam and ELECTRIC power As
the tracks in the main shed are more
crowded more and more trains will be
equipped with the third rail motors and
run from the substation, until in a few
wears it is expected that all the suburban
traffic from the south station will be han
died in this way. The tracks in the train
shed will suffice for through business for
many years to come, certainly half CEN
fury.
The train shed is in three spans, with a
roof of one sweep, which, with the roofs
over the baggage houses and over the
midway. gives a roof area of more than
200 by $50 feet.
The switch. system will be governed by
the men in the towers through the pneu-
matte system of interlocking. and acct
dents within the station or it's yards will
be we'll nigh impossible
Until now cosmopolitan Bombay, in far
away India, mas boasted of the largest
railroad station in the world The next
in rank has been the one opened last
year in st. Louis. Then come the big
~ 49,