Page:The Working and Management of an English Railway.djvu/229

 height, and of colossal proportions. It is said to have been excavated near the Giant's Causeway (surely an appropriate spot for such a trouvaille!), some years ago, during some prospecting operations for the discovery of iron ore, and was for a time exhibited at Liverpool; but a dispute arising as to its ownership, the grim relic was thrown into Chancery, and has remained "on hand" at Broad Street ever since the year 1876, the Railway Company having a very considerable lien on it for warehouse charges. Whether it be, as stated by its original owner, the petrefaction [sic] of a human being, or merely a specimen of very antique sculpture, it is beyond doubt one of the most curious consignments ever warehoused by a railway company.

The total area embraced by the Broad Street Goods Station, including three and a half acres on the high level, is seventeen acres, the lines affording, in all, standing room for 820 trucks, of which 487 can be placed in position for forward loading on the low level at one time. On the average, 456 loaded waggons are received daily, and 508 are forwarded, making a total not far short of a thousand waggons a day.

The crane power employed is as follows:—

Nine 30-cwt. hydraulic cranes, and twenty-seven manual cranes, for loading from vans to waggons and vice versâ.

Eleven 30-cwt. hydraulic cranes, and five manual cranes, for loading from vans to platforms and vice versâ.

Twenty 30-cwt. hydraulic cranes, and sixty-nine manual cranes, for loading from waggons to platforms and vice versâ.

Besides which there are twelve hydraulic and twenty-