The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1908-10-23
new PENN DEPOT.
Worlds Greatest Railway Ter.
minal Near Completion.
For Several Years There Has
Been Only Big Hole.
IN HEART OF GOTHAM.
Is as Near Firepro0f as a Build
ing Is Possible.
Every Piece of Steel Protected
by Burned Clay.

New York, Oct 23.-For four or five
years New Workers have been looking
at great, yawning hole in the ground
in the very heart of Manhattan island,
and have been wondering when it
would be filled up. Now, at last, the
construction of a giant railway sta
ton, to fill the big hole, is well under
way, and the metropolis breathes a
sigh of relief. In year and a half
more, perhaps. trains will be entering
the station through tunnels under the
Hudson river and the East river, from
New Jersey on the one side and from
Long Island on the other. A long
cherished ambition of the Pennsylva-
mia railroad will have been accom-
plished
When the scheme was first formed,
and many times afterward, the public
was told of the unique engineering
problems to be overcome, of the ac-
tivity of the "sand-hogs' far beneath
the river bed, and of the genius of the
engineers in command of the work.
But little attention has been given the
actual construction of the building,
now that it has gotten start.
One of the most striking features of
it, in its present state, is the fire.
proofing. 1t is said that this building
will come as near as it is possible to
proof" standard. Though the body is
of steel, the steel is not trusted to re-
sist fire. Every piece of metal will
/ be protected by a burned-clay material
that cannot burn in the hottest fire. In
this way more than 100000 square feet
of terra Gotta blocks are to be used.
AS the work goes ahead, the steel
workers and the tile-workers are min
gled. AS fast as one small section of
the frame is in place. the drillers and
| r1veters move on to be replaced by the
| men who lay the hollow tile. When the
! fire-proofers are done, practically all
the steel is hidden; a man who is al
| lowed to enter the enclosure sees
masses of the reddish-yellow clay,
where, a few days before, he saw only
| metal. All the partitions will be con-
structed of this same tile.
| The main face of the station is on
| Seventh avenue, and it is this part that
is SO well advanced. The massive
granite columns, in the classic facade,
are in position, so that, even today,
| one can get a good impression of the
| appearance of the finished structure.
Further west in the middle of the ex-
cavation and half way toward Eighth
| avenue, the contractors have erected
| a scaffolding whichg is the largest thing
| of the kind ever seen in New YC 1t
| is said that this wood work, wh-c.l is,
| of course, quite temporary, cost about
s40,0 1t had to be built. though, to
carry out the architects plans for the
| skylight roof af the waiting room
This waiting room will make a re-
cord in the number of passengers ac-
commodated and in the convenience
! of it's exits and entrances. 1t will
! have length of $50 feet and a width
of 10 feet. The roof, $50 feet above
| the floor, will rise far above the main
roof of the building.
Eperts have estimated that this
terminal will be used by 100.o0O,000
| passengers a year-though it's rated
| capacity is still greater. The track
| level is sixty feet below the streets.
Through trains-from st. Louis or
| Washington, or any one of thousand
far-off places-will come into the
| south side of the station, while the
local trains from Long Island will use
the tracks on the north side. Thus
| express and local passengers will be
separated and the rush hour service
will be made as smooth as possible.