The Brookings register. [volume] (Brookings, Brookings County, S.D.) 1903-1971, 1911-06-22

grand staircase open directly on the
train Concourse, which is sixty feet
wide and extends across the entire
width of the building, with stairways
leading directly to Clinton Street and
10 the carriage entrance on the Canal
street side. Instead of the usua iron
| grating between the C%onCOurse and the
train shed, there is a wire glass parti-
ton from floor to roof through which
open sixteen doors to the sixteen
tracks of the train shed, which alone
covers six acres. The train shed is
covered with a concrete roof of a new
type so constructed that the locOmo-
tive tunnels discharge through slots
directly into the open air, keeping the
air of the train shed entirely free from
smoke and gas.
The baggage is handled TO and from
The baggage rooms, which are on the
street level, with electric trucks and
hugh electric elevators located at both
ends Of the train shed. All confusion
and annoyance of trucking baggage the
length of the train is done away with.
There are special chutes for handling
mail to and from the po~t-o1ice sub
station. which is directly beneath the
train shed. Provision is made for the
heavy suburban traffic by a stairway
leading down from each platform
about midway the length of the train
shed, to the suburban ~concOurse, which
is on the street level below and opens
directly upon Washington Street which
runs under the station. Suburban resi-
dents may go quickly to and from
their trains without passing through
the main station unless they desire TO
d. 50.
The emigrant waiting room is one of
the features of the station and is also
reached directly from the train shed
This room is on the street level with
an outside entrance on Canal Street.
and is commOdiOuS and sanitary, with
a separate lunch room where emigrants
can purchase wholesome food at eco
nomical prices. The mems toilet rooms
are equipped with tub and shower
baths, and the women's room is pro-
yided with baths, laundry tubs and a
laundry dryer.
No matter how many people may
pass through this great terminal in a
day, il can never seem crowded. The
numerous entrances and exits, lnde
pendent of each other, and opening 70
the streets, provide free and direct
movement Of traffic to and from the
train shed and waiting room without
%Crowding and confusion. Telephones
are at hand everywhere. Booths for
local and long-distanCe calls may be
found in the street level lobby, in the
main waiting room, in the wOmens
room and in the third floor suites. One
need never ask the time, for thirteen
electric clocks. all wound and regu-
lated from one master clock, are dis
posed about the building in conspic-
uOuS places. Even the seats in the
main waiting room are numbered and
the landings of the stairways are
lighted in a novel manner.
The sanitation is as perfect as mod
ern science and generous expenditure
can make it. Even the public toilet
rooms are arranged On a most extern
sive scale and several rooms are pro
, yided where uniformed servants are IN
attendance and where a small fee Is
required. All drinking fountains are
the new bubbling-up type and cooled
water is supplied TO them through a
circulating system. In winter the
building is heated and ventilated by
fresh air drawn from above the roof.
passed over steam coils, and then nj
tered through a sheet of falling water.
In summer the air is cooled by the
same system.
For the electric lighting system in
the station building, train shed and
various street subways on the APP
!, p~roaches, the operation of elevators,
/, ventilating fans, refrigerating system,
signaling and interlocking systems,
and the heating plant complete, provid-
| ing in each case a surplus for future
growth. nearly 5000 HIP. is required.
The boilers, engines and genera
tors are housed in the power plant
at the extreme northern end Of the
, station. 1t is equipped with modern
appliance and represents in itself an
, investment of nearly one million dol
> lars.
A-80Sll2O D