The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1910-12-19

J
 One feature of the Grand Central terminal will be it's almost complete absence of stairways. In place of these stairways there will be ramps. a technical name for what most people would describe as inclined planes. Cellar doors are also of the inclined plane variety but it is not the .n- tention of the railway people to have their patrons reach the trains by us- ing the ramps in the same fashion that has lent such glamor of song and story to the cellar door of child hood. It would be slow slide on any of the ramps in the new station. for the grade of these planes is in most cases very slight.
 No other great station in the world has the ramps. it is said. and their planning was a matter of the great est care and study in the construc- tion of the building. Being a new feature, or at least one but little un- derstood. the architects of the build ing and the officials of the railroad company were determined to make sure that they had the best before they put !n place series of inclined planes that might prove too steep or not steep enough or in other ways unsuited to the possible 105 GOO. 900 people who may use them during the course Of year.
 r dct anu IdCtlOI SOfnetiTneS BtTuK. gle quite amicably together and walk s0renely hand in hand in the recount ing of things that lie back of an ac- cOmplished fact, and one is inclined to wonder if the report of the way in which these remarkable ramps were actually constructed may not ha~e been somewhat colored in the telling. However, it Is said that the officials and others who had made it their life work to study the question of getting people in and out of such buildings as large railroad stations with the least possible time and with the least possible friction took the matter of the ramps in hand and con- ducted a series of experiments extend inc over many months.
 They had temporary ramps of al- most every conceivable size con structed. Then they went out and walked up and down them. Su'tcases and all sorts of baggage such as the traveller is apt to carry were prepared for them. and carrying these they would rush up the ramps and down the ramps and then record with the greatest accuracy their feelings and emotions during the process. "Big men and tall men. short men and all men," as the .songwr ter has it, were pressed into service. They carried baggage up and down the ramps. They
 
 clined planes as if they had but a minute to catch the train for their own wedding ceremony 300 miles away. Then they would run up a ramp as if Canada were at the top and a Pinkertoni man at their heels. They wrote down their experiences. Young women and naiddle-aged women carrying luggage were employed. They wrote down what they thought with the greatest frankness.
 After all of this data had been thus compiled it was put into the hands of the expert actuaries. and from the mass of evidence they figure out the golden mean for the ideal ramp It was found that rise of eight feet in 100 was hardly not 'ceable to anyone carrying heavy hand bag gage, and this grade was fixed upon as the maximum that should be us- ed. Of course the percentage of the grade is controlled somewhat by the ing-the space available and so on. Whenever possible the grades are only or per cent.
 Tn the new station it will be possi- ble to pass between the street sur face or the subways and the train platforms without using a stairway by means of slopes so gentle that the passenger will scarcely be aware of the fact that he Is going up or down hill. Yet he will not walk a greater distance than if sta'rways were used.
 The ramps are so arranged that the crowds of people going to suburban Or to through trains will never come in contact with each other or with those coming from trains. The ramps will be straight. The crowd VII move in one direction, and the bigger the human river the faster t will flow. There will be no friction. Men will not run into each other and get quar- relsome. for they will all be morfns in the same direction. If man wants one ahead of him. The ramps will be so wide that there will be no ex- cuse for jostling.
 A woman with her hands full of parcels or luggage cannot p'ck up her skirts when she is going down stairs. They drag and sweep the steps. which is annoying and danger ous in many ways. People will step on them and stumble. and accidents cannot be avoided. Going down these inclined ways, however, there will be little more chance of falling when hurrying to catch a tra' Il than when one is hastening along a level floor. Many men and women fall downstairs every year hurrying to catch trains. Whenever an accident of this sort oc- CUTS it is likely to be followed by a suit for damages. A railroad not only does not want accidents of any sort but it is willing to spend a good deal of money to prevent them ard to keep people pleased. The New York Central off cials believe that by this system of inclined ways through out their great terminal they VII not only save money by eliminating ac- ciderts, but will add very materially to the comfort and pleasure of their patrons as well.
 When the new station is finished Park aven,le instead of coming to an end at Fortv-second stfreet. will sweep around the great terminal structure. On the north side of it those who cone in carriages or mo- tor cars can anght on the Park ave- nue level which is one story higher than that of Forty-second street. They can have their baggage checked there and then descend by elevators to the level of the tracks. The SUD- position s that comparatively few people will care to use the elevators on account of the easy slope of the