Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1905-10-21

office, the baggage room, the concourse
and the departing platform presenting
themselves successfully to him as he moves
to his particular train. Similarly the In
coming passenger should find the incom-
ing baggage room, cab stand and the means
of exit TO subway station or to street pre-
sented to him in quick and logical success
sion.
1.-THE express and long distance passen-
gers, whose progress through the station
either in departing or arriving is neces-
sarily retarded by ticket purchasing and
the checking of baggage, should be entirely
separated from the suburban passengers,
who almost invariably pass direct from the
street to the car without any delay in the
station
Larger. Than Needed
Lastly, In view of the vast increase
which must necessarily and rapidly take
place in the future, the station must be
built on a scale much larger than is abso-
lutely needed by the present volume Of
travel and this provision must extend not
merely to the area devoted to passengers in
waiting rooms ticket Hobbies and con-
course, but to the station yard itself, which
must be extended in area to accommodate
the larger number of trains that will be
required"
Thus, at the present moment, nineteen
city blocks-fifty-Six acres-are being exca-
waited 10 depth of from fifteen to thirty
five feet to provide sites for station and
yards; the station building alone will spread
out over eight acres, occupying nearly three
times as much area as does the present
structure. The forty-eight acres of station
yard will enable trains to be made up right
within the shadow of the station. At pres
ent, when a train is empted of its passen-
gers, il is taken miles away through the
Park avenue tunnel to the Mott Haven
yards, there cleaned, and when ready for
hack To the station nv of the
tunnel, whose four tracks are greatly over
taxed by all this shifting.
Every bit of space in the station proper
will be devoted to the use of the travelling
public; the general offices, the express
offices and the post Office will be housed
In buildings adjoining the station proper,
but entirely separated from it. This is
decided innovation in terminal construc
ton, even many union stations having
offices topping them.
In reality, the station, whose arch sur
mounted cornice will rise only 70 feet above
street level, will be sort of three -decked
affair, that suburban and express traffic
may be handled separately.
Vast Ticket Lobby.
On the street level will be a vast ticket
lobby, so by 300 feet and the outgoing bag
gage room. Express passengers will leave
this lobby through three main arches, and
enter a broad gallery running around three
sides of and leading by steps to the floor
of the express, grand concourse. Its
length will be 40 feet, its width 100 feet,
and the height from the floor to the great
domed roof $50 feet. Back of the lobby,
and also fifteen feet below the street level.
will be a waiting room even larger than
the ticket lobby, a mammoth restaurant
and other conyeniences, while in front OF
the concourse, the biggest thing of its sort
in the world, will be the thirty-four paral-
lei express tracks. There will be FIVE ways
of leaving the express station, by subway,
covered footways and cab, none of which
can be gained except from this floor.
Immediately below the express station
and th1rty-fiye feet below street level, will
be the suburban station, with its own but
smaller concourse its own tracks, its own
waiting room and other convenences. 1t
Will also have separate subway and street
entrances and exits, and communication
with ticket lobby and express station can
be had by means of stairways when neces-
sarS An unusual feature of this station
Will be the loop surrounding it. Incoming
suburban trains. in the hush hours, can
swing around the loop and pass out again
without breaking bulk. There will be If
teen tracks in this station. besides the
thirty in its own particular station yard,
like the station thirty-ive feet below street
level.
Operated by Electricity.
And right here it must be remembered
that the entire terminal. station and yards,
will be operated with electricity. Within
the terminal precincts the traveller will not
hear the puff of a single steam locomotive.
What would be the commodore's COM
ment on these most striking features of the
new station were 1t possible for him to walk
into it with the wonder-awakenng innova-
tions that he planned and put into the
original Grand Central?
And the building of everything-station
proper, offices, yards-is to be done while
business is carried on as usual. indeed a
large part of the task of excavating 2,OOO.-
600 cubic yards of rock and earth-mostly
rock-has been successfully performed with
out interfering with traffic In any way;
and all the material has been hauled away
through the tunnel. which alone gives ac-
cess to the station. In this connection II
is interesting to note that both rock and
stone are being used to widen the embanK-
nient of the CentraFs roadbed from New
York to Croton. that a fourth track may
be built along the eastern bank of the
Hudson for this distance of thirty-four
miles.
When the work OF razing the station be-
gins the travelling public will be taken
care of in the locally famous Grand Central
Palace, which will be thoroughly remod-
eled for the purpose. 1t was at first pro-
posed to erect temporary station In that
part of the excavation now about COM
pieted, but the stubb0rnness OF solitary