The Richmond palladium and sun-telegram. [volume] (Richmond, Ind.) 1907-1939, 1912-12-20

pleted was begun in the Spring OF
last year and constitutes remarkable
triumph of engineering skill and en-
terprise. 1t would have been COM
paratively simple matter to tear down
the old terminal station and the build
ings connected with it and to erect on
the same site the new terminal with
all its magnificent concomitants in the
form of sky-scraper hotels, office build
ings, etc, had it not been imperative
to do the work without interruption of
or interference with the traffic of the
railway. To replace the Anticipated
structure with a new one, however,
without the slightest interference with
the enormous traffic everlastingly 60
ing on at this terminal required en-
gineering skill and ingenuity of the
highest order. The completion of such
tremendous task under the given
conditions would probably have been
considered impossible anywhere else.
The preliminary work was begun
several years ago, when part OF the
passenger traffic was transferred to
a temporary station on Lexington ave
nue.. Then several of the auxiliary
buildings and the office building on
Forty-second street were built and the
Grand Central Palace building, north
Of the Terminal, begun about three
years ago, was completed. The work
on the terminal proper was not begun
until the Spring of last year, when the
old terminal was torn down to make
room for the new structure, now al
most completed. In its outward APP
pearance it is an imposing structure,
facing FOrty-secOnd street and reSemb-
ling more q public museum or library
building than q railroad terminal in
its architectural beauty and magnifi-
cent proportions.
The terminal building is located on
the North side of Forty-second street,
between Vanderbilt Avenue and De
pew Place, rests upon a terrace ele-
waited above the level of the street
and its main floor is reached from the
street by means of numerous inclined
planes. The structure, above the
ground. has a length of 600 feet, a
" Iulu vi DcO lSSL anu iloSo ~ a iACiS III
of 100 feet But only a small part OF
the entire terminal structure is above
ground. BY far the largest part of the
terminal is underground, distributed
over seven different levels, the lowest
at depth of more than fifty feet be-
low the street level.
The old terminal with its office
buildings, sheds, etc, covered an area
of % acres, while the new terminal
with its additional improvements will
cover seyenty-nine acres with track
age of seventy acres. For the con
struction of the building and substitute.
ture, 118,600 tons of steel and more
than $4,000 cubic yards of concrete
were required.
The terminal building was planned
with view of facilitating as much as
possible the tremendous passenger
traffic going on there at all seasons OF
the year. With that object in view the
express train service. and the subur
ban train service were placed upon
different levels, with separate wait
ing rooms, each large enough to &C
commodate from 5000 to $4,000 per
sons at one time. The tracks are 10
Gated on levels below the levels OF
the waiting rooms and are reached by
3 to per cent inclines. Steps are
avoided in every part of the termina,
which is used by the travelling public
and this constitutes remarkable
feature of the new building. Below
the general concourse, which is upor