The Jersey City news. (Jersey City [N.J.]) 1889-1906, 1902-06-12
PENNSY'S ROOF
How the Huge Structure Is
Kept in Repair By an
Army of Toilers.
VAST CHANGES UNDERWAY
Millions of Dollars to Be
Spent in Rebuilding Ships
and Lengthening Piers

There's one Building in this city the
owners Of which are repairing 1t ali the
time. 1t Is the most expensive structure
in Jersey City and through it pass daily
hundreds of thousands Of people. Presi-
dents. people Of royal blood and the most
distinguished people in the country have
entered it. yet it isn't by any means noted
for its beauty.
In fact the train shed Of the Pennsyl-
vania Railroad dt is that to which refer
ence is made) is the coldest, dulIest.
draftiest, noisiest place in the State. full
of smoke and fumes, and it is because OF
these that the expense part comes in.
The company keeps always a force Of men
at work on the roof of the shed. both IN
side and out The sulphurous vapors
from the locomotives play the very mis-
chief with the iron wofk. while the smoke
from the Chou chous'' blacken the glass.
Any day can be seen men on planks
hanging from the roof painting the iron
girders and struts. while outside the
glass needs repairing, lad cutters solder
ing. and fresh strips of copper laid to
keep out the water, which after shower
of rain rushes down the roof life minia-
ture rapids. Men are at work today
doing that very same thing.
There are only two train sheds in ths
United States bigger than the one at the
ferry-one is in st. Louis and the other
in Philadelphia. In England If is only
exceeded by the Northern Railroad depot
in York and ST. Pancras in London. and
railroad engineers say that for exceiIence
of design, solidity and utility that in Jer-
sey City exceeds them ali.
ITS a costly house this to keep ia or
der" remarked one of the company's
officials, craning his neck to look at the
workmen, who looked like so many flies.
plenty of windows and dust, no doors
and moving the furniture in and out all
the time
That energetic, enterprising, ever fore-
most in improvements, Pennsylvania
Railroad. has its army of empleyes busy
on the waterfront both seuth and north
of the train shed. Those who travel by
the ferries cannot fail to have notIcedsthe
vast work carried on in pier and sir
building involving expenditure climbing
into millions of dollars Beginning with
the slips the old Brooklyn annex a rick
city wooden shed of yore and tempting
morsel for a fire, has within the past two
months been removed and a neat iron
piles forming the entrance to the slip
have been extracted like so many decay
ed teeth and the river entrance furnished
with fine piece of Grown and bridge
work. of clossaI character unknown to
the dentists art. The two Cortlandt
street slips and those of Desbrosses and
Twenty-third streets viii be similarly
treated. and by the end Of the season the
river facade of the depot will be unsur-
passed for elegance in that kind of archt-
lecture.
A few hundred feet to the south Of the
Annex slip there is the new pier iength-
ened considerably to permit the Inter-
national Navigation Company to berth
the latest length in freight steamers.
Between it and the pier of the Italian
''Navigazione'' Company's line there IS
dock room enough to move battleship.
and when the company has finished its
improvements that part of the river front
viii see vessels of huge tonnage dis
charging and taking on cargo daily.
Still further south men are taking down
the old shed on the pier at the foot Of
Grand street. The march of Improvement
demands more docking room there. Be
cause Of the work now under way the
old residents of Hudson street fondly
hope that the ancient glories of that once
busy theronghfare viii be revived. busi-
ness Will increase and property now to
be purchased for song be worth thou
sands of dollars. That the contemplated
improvements will benefit the neighbor-
hood by bringing business to it is un-
doubted and the city will reap its share
through increased assessments.