The Pensacola journal. (Pensacola, Fla.) 1898-1985, 1911-03-22

Tine Is one OF the most Important Things
d the world. especially IN a great railway
passenger terminal which Is the gateway
for millions Of travellers every year. The
station has to be so arranged that the vast
army of people who use it day after day can
PASS to and from their trains with the
utmost ease and in the least possible time.
This problem has been solved by the New
York Central Lines Their New Grand Cen
traI Terminal in New York City will be q
station without stairways.
That is why. when passengers debark in
the new Grand Central station, they will
/, fnd that the landing platforms begin to rise
gently before they get up to the head Of
the train they have arrived on. They will
not see the locomotive that pulled them, nor
viii they see the baggage cars, because the
platform will have risen above the level Of
the cars before they have walked that far.
The new Grand Central will be the largest
railway terminal In the world-more than
twice as large in every way than anything
that Is even planned as yet. The DEM
clifton Of the old terminal and the
construction Of the new one have been car
Red on without interrupting or delay
ing the movement Of &C, 700 passengers and
400 trains a day. At no time since the
ding passengers been reduced. Even now
the waiting room Of the temporary terminal
on Lexington Avenue is larger than it was
IN the old station, and there is greater con-
course space and q larger number OF tracks
In use than at any time since the station
was opened in 1871.
Instead Of a single structure, this new
gateway to New York City will be a group
h,stHE pUf all ha ma
ehInery Of this vast terminal-the signals.
the tracks and the hundreds of trains-wili
never be seen from the street. They win be
hb mbre in evidence than the elevators In a
great once building are.
This terminal marks q new era In the YER
ticaI building of railroads. Modern termI-
nails in great cities must be below the street
level hereafter. This has been made possible
by the supplanting OF steam with electricity.
It has been made necessary by the high
price Of New York City real estate. The cost
of producing the space for one car exclusive
Of the cost Of the station) is about $4,000.
The new terminal will have four levels
where the old had one. The gallery on the
grade Of 42d Street will be the top level.
The next win be the eoneourse, which Is on
the level OF the ~ tracks that will handle
the through trains. This will connect with
the subway lines On the third level will
be the IS tracks for the suburban trains.
and underneath these, running east and
west. under 43d and 45th Streets, will be
Subways for handling the inbound and out
bound baggage
THE STAINLESS STATION.
The new Grand Central, which will be
nnished about two years from now, will be
the greatest city gate on earth. One of its
unique features is that it will be station
without stairways, the only one of the kind
y the world. In place Of the stairways
there win be ''ramps"-broad. gently slop-
Ing ways along which the rivers of human
i frame win now quickly and safely.
This was decided upon only after months
Of study and the most severely practical
tests. In the planning and building of a
great railway passenger terminal 1t is not so
much a question Of constructing a place for
trains to run in and out of easily as 1t Is
Of getting the people to and from these
trains with the least possible friction. The
shuman element is the biggest problem of
all. About 25.00o.0o0 passengers use the
Grand Central every year. The new station
viii be able to handle four times that many
eomfortably. From the streets or subways
they can reach the trains on even the lowest
level beneath the surface without using a
single stairway.
The ramp idea was first used by the
Romans In their fortified camps so that
ehariots could be driven in and out. Only
Of late years has 1t been employed at all
n buildings, and never before in a great
railway terminal on such an extensive
scale. The Grand Central associated archi-
seets, when they drew their preliminary
plans, used the idea to a limited extent.
The plans Of this great work are serutinized
ana passed upon by several committees
composed OF men who have made q life
study OF getting great crowds from the place
where they are to the place where they wish
70 go They are ali specialists in the
human element" side OF railroadlng, which
Is the big element when millions OF passen-
gers year have to be moved. They realized
the possibilities OF the ramp idea at once
and seized upon II. They studied ramps
wherever they could find them. They
watched people By the hour passing up and
down them They assembled and descended
amps themselves over and over again. Then
these intensely practical men. realizing that
they had hold OF the biggest application OF
the ramp idea that had ever been attempted
n handling vast crowds in the greatest rail-
way passenger station in the world. went
TO work and had one ramp after another
built and torn down. These expsrimental
ramps were made on different grades-dif
ferent percentages OF Inclination Som,
rioped upward at the rate OF 3 feet In ever
eanoredi others at the rate OF II or IL