Page:The Working and Management of an English Railway.djvu/219

Rh some space beyond them, which has been covered in, each measure 340 feet in length, and 32 feet in width, a roomy stage, or unloading bank, has been erected, 430 feet long and 45 feet deep, and from this, at right angles, narrow stages 240 feet in length, and 12 feet in width, with a line of rails on each side of them, extend through each arch, the lines of rails being at the further end connected with a cross-line, by means of which the waggons can be turned upon turn-tables, and taken to one or other of the hydraulic hoists, each of which will raise a weight of fourteen tons.

On the further side of the arches some additional space has been taken in on the street level to form an open goods yard, on one portion of which a lofty warehouse has been erected for the storage of goods waiting delivery, or goods for forward transit.

Before attempting to describe the manner in which this station is worked, it is necessary to explain that traffic arriving from the country for delivery in London is called "up traffic," while "down traffic" means traffic sent from London to the country, and these two elements in the business of the station are in practice kept perfectly distinct.

The inwards or "up" traffic at Broad Street, consists very largely of provisions for supplying the early markets with fish, meat, poultry, butter, eggs, and other perishable commodities, which have to be delivered in time for sale to the retail buyers who attend the markets as early as four o'clock in the morning, and also of general merchandise, purchased from manufacturers in the provinces one day, and expected to be in the City warehouses by nine o'clock on the following morning; and to effect deliveries at such an early hour