The Calumet news. [volume] (Calumet, Mich.) 1907-1938, 1912-12-18
New Grand Central Terminal In
New York Is Largest In
the World
BUILT AT COST OF $is0,OO0.00O
Can Accommodate 10000 Outgo.
Ing Passengers Per Hour

N'" ioIk, Dec lS-1he new Grand
Central Terminal. which in a few
weeks, win take the place of the old
Grand Central station OF the New
YORK Central and Hudson River Rail-
road, Is nearly completed and may be
considered In the nature of magnif-
cent and princely holiday gift TO the
city. When fully completed the sta
uon. with the additional improvements
IN the form OF office buildings, hotels.
etc. VIII represent a cost of $3.50, 000,-
OO0 II Will be by far the largest rail
road terminal station In the world and
VIII De able To accommodate without
congestion 10000 outgoing passengers
per hour
The gigantic work now almost com
pieted was begun in the spring of last
year and constitutes a remarkable
triumph of engineering skill and en-
terprise. II would have been a com
paratiyely simple matter To tear down
the old terminal station and the build
ings connected with IL and TO erect
upon the same site the new terminal
with all It's magnificent conc comitants
in the form OF sky scraper hotels, Of
tce buildings. etc, had IL not been
imperative TO do the work without in
teiruptlon of or interference with the
trafhc OF the railway. To replace the
antiquated structure with a new one
however. without the slightest inter
ference with the enormous traffic
everlastingly going on at this terminal
required engineering skill and ingenul-
~ OF the highest order. The com
pietion of such a tremendous task un-
der the given conditions would prob
ably have been considered impossible
anywhere else
Fine Architectural Beauty.
The preliminary work was begun
several years ago, when part of the
passenger traffic was transferred To "A
temporary station on Lexington
Avenue. Then several of the auxiliary
buildings and the office buildings 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 building was torn down
to make room for the new structure,
now almost completed In its out
ward appearance 1t is an imposing
structure. facing Forty second street
and resembling more public museum
or library building than "a railroad
terminal in its architectural beauty
and magnificent proportions.
The terminal building is located on
the North side of Forty second street |
between Vanderbilt avenue and Depew |
Place, rests upon "a terrace elevated |
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, width Of 800 |
feet and rises To a height of l05 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 below the
street level.
Terminal Covers 79 Acres.
The old terminal with it's Office
buildings. sheds. etc, covered an area
of % acres, while the new terminal
with it's additional improvements will
cover seventy nine acres, with a
trackage of seventy acres. For the
construction of the building and sub
structure llS.O00 tons of steel and
more than 100000 cubic yards of con-
crete were required.
The terminal building was planned
with a 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 sub
urban train service were placed upon
different levels with separate waiting
rooms, each large enough to accommo-
date from 5000 to $1,000 persons at
one time The tracks are located on
levels below the levels of the waiting
rooms and are reached by 3 to 4 per
cent inclines. Steps are avoided In
every part of the terminal which is
used by the travelling public and this
constitutes remarkable feature OF
the new building Below the general
concourse, which is upon the same
level as the terrace upon which the
building rests, Is the suburban con-
course, each connected with a series of
large and commodious waiting rooms
and rest rooms on the one side, with
the lower track levels on the other.
There are entrances for pedestrians
on three sides of the building. for
vehicles on two sides and the lower
levels are connected by underground
passages with the various subway and