Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 20.djvu/254

Rh 236 RAILWAY given ; nor can ingress to or egress from a platform be given until the points are set accordingly. There are in the locking frame thirty-two slides and about a thousand locks, and an idea of the duty that falls on this apparatus may be formed from the fact that 775 trains have passed under the signal -bridge in a single working day (Whit-Monday), and that, each train being reversed here, a fresh engine has to be attached to it, the superseded engine being passed into a siding. In the course of thirty-five minutes one morning thirty -five trains were signalled and passed in or out of the station. The duty of signalling is performed by two men. The cost of the works of the Cannon Street station, with the cost for Charing Cross station for comparison, is shown in Table XXV. (below). The substructure is reckoned to the formation- level, inclusive of the public footway under Charing Cross station and the public roadway under Cannon Street station, but exclusive of the river abutment of the bridge. The superstructure includes the fore-court, booking-offices, fittings, towers, roof, gas and water mains, &c. , excluding the permanent way. Cannon Street. Charing Cross. Area, exclusive of fore-court .... Substructure 152,632 square feet 74,902 103,672 square feet 41,422 per square foot. . . . Superstructure 9s. lOd. 157,262 8s. 111,604 ,, per square foot. . 20s. 7d. 21s. 6d. Total. . . . 232 224 153 026 per square foot. . 80s. 5d. 29s. 7d. The total cost of the works of the whole Charing Cross Railway, from London Bridge station to Cannon Street and Charing Cross, with the terminal stations, was 1,160,118. The cost of the land for the whole railway, after deducting the value of surplus land, Hungerford Bridge, pier tolls, &c., was 1,900,000, making a total for land and works of over 3,000,000. For this sum there are 4 miles of railway for double line, the cost being at the rate of 680,000 per mile. The works include two large bridges over the river Thames, a number of expensive bridges over streets, viaducts, and two large metropolitan termini. The cost for land at Cannon Street station was at the rate of 3, 15s. 7d. per square foot, and that at Charing Cross station was 2, 18s. 5d. St Pancras passenger station of the Midland Railway is the most recently constructed metropolitan terminus. The approach to the land on which the station is built was crossed by the Regent's Canal, and in order to secure good gradients and suitable levels for metropolitan suburban stations the main passenger line is carried over the canal ; and, as a result, the level of St Pancras station is from 12 to 17 feet higher than that of the adjoining roads. The St Pancras branch, on the contrary, for effecting a junction with the Metropolitan Railway, leaving the main line some distance from the terminus, descends through a tunnel beneath the Regent's Canal and the passenger station, as well as under a considerable length of the main line. The height of the rails above the ground- level admitted of the construction of a lower floor with direct access to the streets, built and arranged for Burton beer traffic. The floor of the station is supported on girders and columns extending from side to side and acting as a tie for the roof girders, which start from the ground-level and form the roof as a single arch. The ribs or girders forming the roof are laid to a clear span of 240 feet ; the walls built between the ribs are 245 feet apart. The clear height of the ribs above the level of the platforms is 96 feet at the centre. The length of the station is 689 feet 4 inches. The lower floor contains 720 cast-iron columns set on brick piers, and 49 rows of principal girders across the station, with 15 rows longitudinally. Upon these intermediate girders are carried, and the whole is covered in with Mallett's buckled plates. The cost of the ironwork of the floor was 57, 000, being at the rate of 3, Os. 6d. per square yard. The roof girders, twenty-five in number, are placed at intervals of 29 feet 4 inches, except at the outer end, where the last two girders are only 14 feet 8 inches apart. The cost of the roof, including covering, with two gables and screens, amounted to 69,365, being at the rate of 40, 18s. per square of 100 square feet or 10 feet square. If there had not been any floor-girders to act as roof-ties, the extra cost for ties at the level of the floor would have been about 1 per square. Table XXVI. gives the spans and areas covered by the roofs of some 01 me principal ijonuon pa ssengei termu H : Railway and Station. Span of Roof. Covered Area. Cost per square of 100 sq. ft. Additional for one Gable. London and North-Wastern, Euston ,, New Lime Street Great Northern, King's Cross Midland, St Pancras Feet. 212 240 8q. yds. 23,144 22,'808 18,822 & e. d. 30"6' si ii o s. d. 470 South-Eastern, Charing Cross ,, Cannon Street Great Western Paddington ... 166 190 8,888 13,875 28,807 34 43 10' 600 600 Victoria Station, Great Western side 120 27 13 4 with gable The goods and mineral station at King's Cross maybe selected as King's an example of such stations. It comprises coal depSts and wharves, Cross potato-stores, engine-sheds, repairing sheds, stores, stables, and all goods the necessary offices, buildings, and appliances required tor the station goods and mineral traffic of the company. Twelve lines of rail run into the goods-shed, with a platform at each side for the receipt and despatch of goods. On the outer side of the rails, within tin- building, space is reserved for the vans engaged in collecting and distributing the goods. The outer line of rails at the east side of the platform is used for unloading the Avaggons with the inward goods, and that on the west side for loading the outward goods. The inner lines nearest to these are used for the arrival of goods trains, for empty waggons, and for making up trains for departure. The waggons, after being unloaded, are taken by means of turn- tables and cross-roads to the departure side of the station, win-re the business of loading and despatching them is carried on. The platforms have each two rows of hydraulic cranes, of 1 and 2 tons lifting power alternately. The receiving offices are on the plat- forms, but the general offices are adjacent to the main building. The stables are under the platform ; the granary is at the south end of the goods-shed, through which it is approached by two lines running through the middle of the shed, two other lines, one on each side of them, being reserved for full waggons. When emptied, the waggons are removed by two lines which run one on each outer side of the goods-shed. The shed and the granary are supplied with water communication through tunnels under the roads to a basin on the south, and thence to the Regent's Canal ; and lighters can receive or discharge their freights directly under the buildings. On the west of the goods-shed are the coal depots and staiths. The coal arriving at the station is discharged in some cases directly from the waggons into carts alongside ; in other cases it is dis- charged through hoppers on to weighing machines at a lower level, and thence filled into sacks. For this operation there is a frontage of 343 yards ; and there is in addition a coal depot in Cambridge Street, adjoining the goods -yard, with a frontage of 196 yards. There is a coal and stone dock or basin connected with the Regent's Canal, where barges are loaded directly from the coal - waggons, either through doorways in the bottom of the waggons or by dis- charging the coal from the sides of the waggons into hoppers. There is also a hopper at the Cambridge Street depot for the pur- pose of loading barges on the canal. Adjoining the canal basin there are numerous private wharves for bricks and other merchan- dise. To the north are the locomotive and carriage sheds for repair- ing the stock, also two engine-running sheds, one round and tin- other rectangular. The goods, mineral, and locomotive stations cover an area of about 70 acres, and the total area covered by the goods and passenger stations and the running lines to Copenhagen tunnel is upwards of 90 acres. The principal goods -shed and granary is 300 feet long and 175 wide, and the area occupied by the goods-warehouses, potato-market, coal-offices, and other buildings amounts to 8f acres. In addition, 1 acre is covered by open sheds and 1 acres by the stables and the engineers' shops. The engine- sheds can hold eighty- four engines and tenders, and they, with the workshops, tanks, carriage -repairing shops, and sundry premises, cover 2^ acres. 1 There are in the goods, mineral, and engine yards 28^ miles of single line of way and more than 250 sets of switches, 200 turn-tables for waggons, and one for engines and tenders ; of that length of line 11 miles of sidings are used for coal -Avaggons. It is unnecessary to dwell at length on the arrangement of small terminal stations for branch lines. Where the line is single a single platform suffices, the trains being light and moving only in one direction at one time. In fixing intermediate stations the first step should be to get a Inter good map of all the places within the scope of the railway, and to medi. mark upon it the population of each place from the last parlia- statii mentary census. The greater the number of stations, the more the travelling increases ; for quick and cheap transit creates traffic. Stations, especially important ones, should be on the surface rather than on an embankment or a viaduct or in a cutting. Facilities of access in all directions from the surrounding districts, with good roads in the case of passenger traffic, and good water and railway communication for goods depots, are obviously indispensable. For safety and regularity there should be an uninterrupted view along the line of railway no sharp curves or complication of over-bridges in the vicinity of a large station. Intermediate and junction stations should be situated on dead levels, since, when a good length of level can be had, with gradients falling from it both w-ays, there is the greatest possible facility for working the traffic. Falling gradients towards a station are objectionable, but cannot in all cases be avoided. When the station is situated midway between towns of such extent as to cause an equal flow of traffic in each direction, offices may be requisite on both sides of the line ; but, where the bulk of the traffic tends one way only, it will be desirable to concentrate it on that side which involves the larger number of passengers and the greater extent of waiting 1 The headquarters of the locomotive and carriage department are at Don- caster station.