The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1917-01-31

neys without transfer when reaching
Manhattan. Apart from the matter
of convenience a great deal Of time
will be saved. Where freight is con-
cerned, the line when finished at Bay
Ridge will mean a saving of six hours
for goods bound beyond New York.
|. Assembled at Steel Works.
Preliminary to actual erection, ev-
cry big member Of the He'll Gate
arch was assembled at the steel works.
Section by section panels and the like
were placed in position horizontally,
and then, and only then, the r1vet
holes were drilled in order to insure
accuracy and ia make it certain that
the various units could be fitted to-
gether and secured without a hitch:
Through these holes rivets an inch
and a Quarter in diameter were sub
seuuently driven, and many Of these
were eleven inchs long. Thse rivets
are an eighth of an inch in diameter
bigger than those employed in the
construction of the present unfinished
Quebec bridge. An eighth of an inch
NAV not seem much of difference,
but to the engineer it means very
handsome margin Of safety, and also
a considerably heavier task for the
riveters.
Nature Presents Problem.
Preliminary to actual erection, sail
ing, and so it was, relatively speaking,
thanks to the foresight on the part
of Mr.. Lindenthal and his associates,
but nature interposed a serious PROB
lem when lit came to building the
foundation towers, for it was neces-
sary to get down to solid rock to be
sure of firm footing. No trouble was
experienced in the case Of the east
tower on the Long Island side of Hell
Gate. There the builders had only to
excavate an open cut twenty feet deep
in the rock that lay near the surface.
Over on the Wards Island shore,
however. the engineers discovered at
ter reaching the underlying ledge
that the rock was crossed by great
diagonal fissure This necessitated.
the sinking of twenty-one pneumatic
concrete caissons, the deepest of them
going down 100 feet below the ground
surface. This task alone took seven
months of continuous and 1aborious
work. and although the sand hogs
toiled under very heavy air pressure
there was not a single fatal case of
caisson disease because of the skillful
supervision and the prompt recourse
to the hospital lock whenever any of
the men showed symptoms of bends"
On the western approach the New
York Connecting Railway runs from
the tracks of the New York, New Ha
ven and Hartford line at 1920 street
and swings to the south and east, pass
ing over the Bronx Kill, RandalPs
Island and Little He'll Gate, and
thence upon a steadily rising viaduct
Joins the He'll Gate arch on Wards
Island. At that point the tracks
reach an elevation of 135 feet.
Crossing He'll Gate, the railroad con-
tinues it's way still upon a towering
viaduct half mile long and 1875 feet
high, and then gradually descends to
grade after swinging around to the
south and west in order to arrive at
the Sunnyside yard of the Pennsylva-
MIA Railroad, Long Island City. At
that point the tracks run directly into
the East River tubes of the system.
The trains will all be drawn by
electric locomotives and every part of
the line, including the stretch over
He'll Gate, is stone ballasted in order
to give rigidity to the roadbed and to
reduce noise. At fairly frequent in
tervals along the route there are exits
by which passengers can reach the
ground in case of accident or during
a prolonged hating of traffic.
Weather Played Big Part.
While the He'll Gate arch was join
ed on October 1, 1915, it was not
until May 4 of the past year that that
union was made a rigid one at the
center. Until then the bridge was
three hinged arch, one hinge at each
foot and the third at the middle. With
the riveting of the central joint the
arch became two hinged span. To
make this change it was necessary
to wait for certain conditions of the
weather and the temperature, so SEN
sitive was that gigantic mass of steel
to the influence of heat and cold. With
conditions right, a sliding connection
at the top of the arch was changed
into a riveted joint, and with that
done the stiffness of the arch was con-
siderably augmented and made just
so much more capable of withstending
the stresses Of moving trainloads.
The work of building this mammoth
arch began early in 1915, the actual