The Birmingham age-herald., 1905-07-26
HARRISON TALKS OF NEW STATION Says Ii Will be as Fine as Any
 in the South HE IS CHIEF ENGINEER Station to Cost About $1 ,ooo,ooo Before 1t Is Entirely Completed.
 Plans to Be Sub
 mitted.

MT. Harrison Is greatly pleased with
 the site chosen and thinks that it is the
 best that could have been secured in Bir-
 mingham. He also thinks that the sta 1 ton will be one of the best in the south
 and will be sufficient for Birmingham
 for long years to come.
 According to MT. Harrison the station including ground and trackage, will cost
 about $1,O00, ,0OO before completed and the
 cost may be even larger than hat MT.
 Harrison will come to Birmingham next
 week and establish his offices in the | Title Guarantee and Trust company
 building on the top floor. He said
 q think that Birmingham should be
 congratulated on the site that has been chosen for the station. I am pretty well
 acquainted with Birmingham and know
 practically every foot of land about the
 city, and I know of no site that v'7s so
 well, adapted for union station as the
 one selected.
 Building for the Future.
 ''The railroads are building for the fu- ture more than for the present and they will have ample space to enlarge the sta- ton from time to time The station VIII be in the neighborhood of Twent5-siXtn and Twenty-seventh streets between Second and Sixth avenues.
 Had the railroads decided to Urge the present station it would hr''7 been matter of only few years before the conditions would have been worse than they are at present. and there would nave been no more room for enlargement By the time the new station is opened the | people of Birmingham will be unanimous l in their praise of the railroads and the | location secured. In Atlanta when we started the new station the people were grumbling about the location ana said l that 1t would be out of the way and very inconvenient. Now they are delighted with 1t and conditions are entirely chang ed Public sentiment has switched around to the other side 1t will be the same way here. The Fifth avenue entrance will be a great feature and will please the people.
 ''The station will cost about NsOoo'U'1 before it is completed. It will be as me as any in the south and will be as com plete and modern as a station can be l day and will commence the preliminary surveys within a few weeks. It III re- quire nearly eighteen months to fnlsh the station and we will have to start work in short time so that we can have the building. the yards and the track ar engagements ready by the 1st of January, 190l.
 "The preparatory work of grading etc., will be comparatively simple. The grounds are in as good condition and about as level as could be desired, and for that reason we will not have to put down hundreds of thousands of square yards of dirt before commencing work as we had to do in Atlanta. We will have very little grading to do and the grounds can be prepared easily for the tracks, switches and the station.
 Plans Not Decided On.
 "rhe architectural plans of the station have not yet been decided on. We lave invited several architects of national reputa tion in this kind of work to sub init designs. The Birmingham minal company will pass on the plans and VII choose the architect from amonl those submitting plans. The company Il not necessarily choose one of the tns sub mitted. but from these plans It VIII de- eide which of the architects is bcs. fitted to draw plans for the station. t~ ne company may decide on one If the de- signs submitted Tt the very first and ..lis may be adopted with some alterations. ..I will open my office about the first of next week in the Title Guarantee building on the top floor. will be here practically all the time after that l will bring several office men with me from Atlanta. but the majority of the men to be used will be chosen in Birmingnam. The humber of men will vary according to the progress of the work. .\yhen inc actual work on the station ccramences we will employ something like 800 men on the construction ana they will probably be used until the station is completed.
 The Main Entrance. "The main entrance Of the station VIII be on Twenty-sxtn street, somewhere between Second and Sixth avenues. do not know just where The various architects will probably sumbit different 
 entrance plans according to their plans for the station.
 "I cannot tell yet whether all the tracks will be- carried all the way through or whether there will be any back in tracks. 1 do know, however, that some of the tracks vii, be all the way through, and l judge that some of them will be back in tracks, or what we call stubs q remember when the Louisville and Nashville station was opened. We thought that 1t would do for all time to come, but it is now iraGequate for the present needs of Birmingham When 1t was constructed it was the finest in the south, and that only goes to show the wonderful Improvements made and the growth of cities and railroads, as well AS the growth of railroad business
 ..The Birmingham station will have many advantages over the Atlanta sta- ton. About thirty-eight feet of the Att | lanta station is under ground and il | doas not show off, therefore to the best