The Caucasian. (Shreveport, La.) 1900-192?, 1910-12-11

SrS t"enty-Three AcFes-Electric Mo-
tors Three Times as Expensive as
Steam Locomotives Are Used.
One minute after midnight on Nov.
u the Pennsylvania railroad opened
its mammoth terminal on Manhattan
Island to all trains. Those of the Long
Island system had used it, but never
the through trains to. the west and
south.
Work on the Pennsylvania station
was started May l, 1904, so that prac-
tically six years and seven months
were consumed in making the excava-
tons for the foundation of the build
ing and in constructing it. To clear
the eight acres of ground occupied by
the station meant the raZing of some
500 buildings, among which were
number Of churches.
The area Of the station and yard is
twenty eight acres, and in this there
are sixteen miles Of track. The stor-
age tracks alone win hold 3S6 cars
The length of the twenty-one standing
tracks at the station is 81, 800 feet
There are eleven passenger platforms,
with twenty-five baggage and express
elevators. The highest point of the
tracks in the station is nine feet below
sea level
Dimensions of Terminal.
The station building is 7S4 feet long
and 430 feet wide. The average height
above the street is 90 feet, while the
maximum is 153 feet To light the
building it takes about 500 electric arcs
and 10000 incandescents.
More than 10000 cubic yards of
concrete were required for the retain
ing walls, foundations, street bridging
and the substructure There are $50
columns supporting the station build
ing, and the greatest weight on any of
these is 1,65S tons.
The stonework of the station was
completed on July 81. 1909. To in
close this vast area necessitated the
building of exterior walls aggregating
2,45S feet, nearly half a mile. in
length and has required 10000 cubic
feet of pink granite.
In addition to the granite the con-
struction of this building has called
for the use of $1,000 tons of steel.
There have also been set in place
some 15.000,O00 bricks, weighing a to-
tai Of $4,000 TONS The first stone of
the masonry work on the building was
laid June Is, 1905 The entire mason
ny was thus completed in approx
mately thirteen months after the work
was begun.
Description of Tunnels.
The river tunnels leading to the sta
ton are, all told, 6.S miles long, and
the land tunnels have the same length
From the Bergen hill portal in New
Jersey to the Long Island entrance Of
the tunnels is So miles. 1t is SO
miles from Harrison, n j. to the sta
ton in New York, while from the lat
> ter point to Jamaica the distance Is
11.85 miles.
The maximum capacity in trains per
hour of all of the Pennsylvania tun
nels is ia The initial daily service
will consist of $50 Pennsylvania and
Long Island trains
Protective devices abound In the
yards and tunnels.
Every SO often through the long
length of the tube signal lights are
seen If an engineer attempts to run
By enc Of these signals when it is set
his train is stopped automatically by
the shutting of Of his current At
each signal is a telephone. to which
the conductor has the key. that con-
meets with the main signal station.
Only when the signal station has re-
leased the train may 1t proceed upon
its way.
Forty powerful motors operate the
trains over the electrified system.
Each one Is twice as strong as steam
locomotive and cost over three times
as much. They were built at the Al
foona shops of the railroad and equip
ped with Westinghouse motors for the
sum of $4,000 apiece