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m NEW YORK CITY
Triumph of Railroad Engineering, Architecture and Construction ^
In bringing its tracks into the very heart of the retail- business district
of New York City, close to the great hotels and theatres of the metropolis,
the Pennsylvania Railroad Company has wrought a great triumph of rail-
road engineering at a special outlay of $90,000,000, entirely apart
from the cost of the Hudson River (McAdoo) Tunnels. The problem
was not to spring a bridge over the mile- wide Hudson River — shipping for-
bade that comparatively simple linking of the city to the continent. It" was
underneath the river that the engineers sought ingress to the city, and
in place of stable rock they encountered shifting silt. But great steel shields
were forced forward by hydraulic power from shafts at either end, cast-iron
and concrete lined the twin-bores, steel pillars were sunk to bed-rock to
support the tubes, and now the Pennsylvania has two tracks right into the
centre of New York City — the great metropolis that dominates America.
SEE BACK COVER
Cbe Pennsylvania Railroad Tunnels
By WILLIAM WIRT MILLS
ENTRANCE of the Pennsylvania Rail-
road into New York City was first pro-
posed by Alexander J. Cassatt, president
of the company, in his annual report to the
stockholders in March, 1901, when he said:
" Your interests, as well as the convenience
of the public, require the extension of your line
into New York, and the establishment of a
centrally located passenger-station in that city,
through which the inconvenience and delays
of the transfer by ferry will be avoided."
Mr. Cassatt and Samuel Rea, third vice-
president, took up the problem and on Dec.
12 of the same year the company announced
its plans to establish all-rail connection be-
tween its lines in New Jersey and Long Island,
through the heart of New York by means
of the most daring scheme of tunnels.
A year was occupied by negotiations for the
franchise, which was signed by Mayor Low
on Dec. 22, 1902, and on June 10, 1903,
construction was begun and pushed with such
energy and with so few set-backs that the
twin Hudson River tubes were completed in
1907, two of the four East River tunnels
were finished in February, 1908, and the
entire system will, be in operation in 1908.
This 15-mile link overcomes the insularity
cf Manhattan and unites the 10,978 miles of
Pennsylvania Railroad tracks with the lines
on Long Island and by the New York Con-
necting R. R. with the tracks of the New
York, New Haven and Hartford system.
Leaving the present Pennsylvania main line
at Harrison, N. J., the tracks cross the
Hackensack river and meadows and enter the
tunnels at Bergen Hill (p. 5), not coming out
again upon the level until they reach the great
Sunnyside terminal yards at Thompson Ave.,
Long Island City, a mile east of East River.
There are two tunnels under Bergen Hill
and the Hudson River ( pp. 4 and 7 ) , the dis-
tance between the centres of the tubes under
the river being 37 feet. These tunnels con-
tinue under Manhattan to the entrance to the
depressed station-yard at 10th Avenue. This
work from the West Portal at Bergen Hill to
9th Avenue is under the direction of Charles
M. Jacobs, chief engineer, and James Forgie,
chief assistant engineer. Between Bergen Hill
and Harrison, A. C. Shand, chief engineer
of the Pennsylvania Railroad, has charge.
In the great yard between 9th and 8th
Aves., 60 feet below the surface, the two
tracks multiply to 21 and pass through the
Copyright, 1908,
station (p. 15) at a depth of 40 ft.; at 7th
Ave. the tracks, converging into six, enter
three-track tunnels, one under 3 2d St. and
one under 33d; near 6th Ave., at a depth cf
75 ft. , these tunnels change from two wide
arches to two twin arches, carrying four tracks
to 1st Ave., where they enter four separate
tubes which extend under the East River, a
distance of 3,916 ft.; near the Long Island
shore the tunnels begin to converge and they
meet in an open cut (p. 16) that leads into
the Sunnyside yards at Thompson Ave. , 2.85
miles from the station entrance in Seventh
Ave. Alfred Noble is chief engineer for all
work east of 9th Ave., with Charles L.
Harrison as chief assistant engineer.
Including 16 miles of tracks in the central
station and yards, there will be 31.70 miles of
track between the Jersey Portal at Bergen Hill
and the terminal yard at Sunnyside, L. I. City.
All the trains will be operated by electricity
furnished from power houses in Long Island
City and at Harrison, N. J., planned and built
by Westinghouse, Church, Kerr&Co., under
the direction of George Gibbs, chief engineer
of electric traction.
The entire work has been prosecuted under
the general direction of Vice-President Rea,
with the advice of a board of consulting en-
gineers consisting of Brig. Gen. C. W. Ray-
mond, U. S. A., chairman, and Messrs.
Jacobs, Noble and Gibbs. During the period
in which the project was reduced to a work-
ing basis, Wm. H. Brown, chief engineer of
the Pennsylvania Railroad, and Gustav Lin-
denthal, Bridge Commissioner of New York
City, were members of the board.
Closely related to the vast tunnel and sta-
tion enterprise is the New York Connecting
Railway, which will carry trains from the tun-
nels through to New England and give the
N, Y., New Haven & Hartford access to
Pennsylvania station at 7th Ave. This $15,-
000,000 improvement, including the Hell
Gate Bridge (p. 17), twelve miles of railroad
and four great freight terminals, will furnish
a route for the Pennsylvania's New England
and Long Island freight by means of car-floats
across New York Bay to Greenville, N. J.
The portion of the Pennsylvania tracks
from Harrison to Jersey City, relieved by the
diversion of the large part of the main line
heavy traffic through the tunnels, will be used
for a surburban service through the McAdoo
tubes to Cortlandt St., Manhattan f pp. 1 8-23 ),
by Moses King
fcx ICtbrtB
SEYMOUR DURST
SAMUEL REA, 3d v. p. P.R.R.; JAMES M'CREA, Pres. P.R.R.; CHAS. E. PUGH, 2d
v.p. P.R.R.; CHARLES M. JACOBS, designer tunnels and ch. eng.; ALEX. J. CASSATT,
late Pres. P. R. R.; JOHN P. GREEN', 1st v.p.; JAMES FORGIE, ch. asst. eng. N. Riv.
Div.; WM. H. BROWN, bd. of eng. ; J. T. RICHARDS, ch. eng. maintenance of way.
WEEH AWKEN SHAFT, 100x154ft. at top; 56x116ft. at bottom; 76 ft. deep; lined with
9,810 cu. ft. concrete; begun June II, '03, finished Sept. 1, '04. Manhattan Shaft, 22x32
ft. 5 55 ft. deep; begun June IO, 03; finished Dec. n. Built by United Eng. & Con. Co.
CROSS SECTION PENNA. TUNNELS, trains running in tubes through silt bottom ui
Hudson, 4,432 ft. wide, 53 ft. deep; maximum depth bottom of tubes, 97 ft.; built by shields,
air pressure, 15 to 3 7 lbs. sq. in.; north tube lining completed Oct. 9, '06, south, Nov. 18, '06.
JUNCTION OF SOUTH TUBES, building last rings, Nov. 14, '06; bores made by driving
1 1 3-ton steel shield with 24 hydraulic rams exerting forward pressure of 6,000,000 lbs. Weight
of shield and machinery, 193 tons. EMERGENCY AIR-LOCK for refuge in case of flooding.
LINING AND WATERPROOFING rock section under Manhattan after excavation.
LAYING DUCTS for electric power and light wires to carry the 105,000 electrical
norse-power which will be required to move the trains and light stations and tunnels.
EXCAVATING under 9th Ave. "L" for cut through which materials trom station excava-
tion are carried to scows which are towed to Greenville, N. J., to fill in great freight yard,
EIGHTH AVENUE, with trolley line supported on tre«tle during work on scation excavation.
POWER HOUSE, Long Island City, 200x500 ft. with coal tower 170 ft. high; 145,500
kilowatt generating units, 32 tubular boilers; George Gibbs, chief engineer electric traction.
LONG ISLAND CITY, emergence of tunnels and connection with Long Island RR. system.
HELL GATE BRIDGE, four tracks; massive granite abutments surrounded by concrete towers;
220 fc. high; steel arch span, 1,000 ft. long; 135 ft. above water; with viaduct approaches,
longest and heaviest bridge in the world; 80,000 tons. Gustav Lindenthal, Cons. Eng. & Arch.
F)udson "Cimnel System
IT WAS as long ago as 1871 that the
tunnelling of the Hudson River was pro-
posed by D. C. Haskin, who conceived
the idea that iron cylinders, fitted with air-
locks, placed horizontally below water-level,
could be used with compressed air in tunnel
construction. In November, 1 8 74, he began,
from a shaft sunk in Jersey City, to construct
the first tunnel through the silt that forms
the bottom of the Hudson River, and had
reached a point about 1,200 feet from the
shore, when, on July 21, 1880, a blow-out
caused the loss of 20 1 ves and stopped the work.
In 1888 the project was revived, but the
work stopped in 1892, with 3,000 feet of
brick-lined tunnel completed. In 1902 Wm.
G. McAdoo organized the New York and
New Jersey Railroad Co., adopted the plan
of building steel tubes, cut through the first
tunnels under the Hudson, the headings of
the north tube meeting on March 8, 1904,
and south tube on Sept. 29,' 1905.
These tunnels, which are 5,600 feet long,
extend from 15th St. , Jersey City, to Morton
St., New York, and are being continued
under Greenwich and Christopher Sts. and
6th Ave. to 33d St., with a spur across 9th
St. to connection with Subway at Astor Place.
Another pair of tubes is being built by the
Hudson & Manhattan Railroad Co. from
Cortlandt and Fulton Sts., New York, to
Montgomery St., Jersey City, with an exten-
sion of three-quarters of a mile to a con-
nection with the Pennsylvania R. R. elevated
tracks at Brunswick St. A transverse tunnel
a mile and a quarter long through Jersey City
and Hoboken, under the tracks of the Penn-
sylvania, Erie and Lackawanna Railroads, with
entrances to the station of each road, will
connect the two sets of tunnels.
Not only has Mr. McAdoo carried practi-
cally to completion in six years an enterprise
that had dragged along unsuccessfully for
thirty years, but he has greatly enlarged its
scope, completing a system of 15 miles of
underground railway, including four tubes
under the Hudson whose total length is
23,256 feet, or 4.4 miles. *
Where the northerly bores cross the river
is 5,500 feet wide and the distance between
the shafts is 5,650 feet, the maximum depth
of the water, 60 feet; maximum depth of
bottom of tube, 97 feet.
The southerly tubes, begun in January,
1906, will be 5,978 feet long, and will have
a maximum depth of 92 feet. This work is
being rabidly finished in 1908.
Charles M. Jacobs, the Pennsylvania tun-
nel builder, is chief engineer, with J. Vipond
Davies, as chief assistant, in direct charge.
Both companies are controlled by the Hud-
son Companies, Walter G. Oakman presi-
dent, and are financed by the banking house
of Harvey Fisk & Sons.
Through these tunnels, which are 1 5 ft. 3
in. in diameter, high speed electric trains will
be run from Newark to the Church. St Ter-
minal in 15 minutes; the passage under the
river, from the present Penna. station in
Jersey City, will take three minutes.
From Newark, through the transverse tun-
nel and the northerly tubes, to 33d St. and
6th Ave., Manhattan, will occupy 29 min-
utes; from Hoboken, 19 minute\ The
portion of the system between Hoboken and
19th St., Manhattan, was opened to travel
by President Roosevelt, February 25, 1908.
Eight-car trains are operated on a headway
of 1 ]/2 minutes during the rush hours, pro-
viding seats for 16,000 passengers an hour.
The cars have side doors as well as entrances
at both ends, all operated by compressed air,
and at the terminals the trains stop between
broad, parallel platforms, so that passengers
can be discharged from one side and admitted
from the other, avoiding the chief cause of con-
gestion and delays in the municipal subway oper-
ated by the Interborough Rapid Transit Co.
At Harrison, where the Hudson Compa-
nies' trains will start, when the entire system
is in operation in 1909, there will be a great
transfer station, where all the trains of the
Pennsylvania Railroad will stop, and which
will be the focus of the various lines of the
Public Service Corporation, which has 640
miles of street railways in Newark, Elizabeth,
and the other north Jersey cities and towns.
The Church St. Terminal will be the
heart of underground transit in New York,
tor from this station, without at any time
going from under cover, a passenger will be
able to go by the municipal subway either to
the Grand Central Station or to the Flatbush
Station of the Long Island Railroad, by the
McAdoo tubes to the Pennsylvania, Erie, or
Lackawanna Stations in Jersey City, or to
the Pennsylvania Station at Harrison, or by
the elevators to either the 6th Ave. or the
9th Ave. elevated lines.
At 33d St. and 6th Ave. the Hudson
Companies will have another large terminal,
on the site of the Manhattan Theatre, with
connection with the Pennsylvania Station at
7th Ave.
E. F. C. YOUNG, ANTHONY N. BRADY, E. H. GARY, directors Hudson & Manhattan RR.
J. VIPOND DAVIES, assistant to Eng'r Jacobs. W. G. M' ADOO, president. SIR WEETMAN
D. PEARSON, S. Pearson & Son, contractors for M'Adoo tubes and Penna.-East River tunnels.
C F. McKIM and WM. R. MEAD, architects P.RR. C.W. CLINTON, architect H.R.Term.
HUDSON COMPANIES TRAIN, under Hudson from 6th Av. & 19th St. to Hoboken.
MORTON ST. TUBES, subway from Sixth Ave. entering twin tunnels under the Hudson
at Morton and West Sts., trains descending to a depth of 95 ft. below mean high water.
M'ADOO TUNNEL; Morton St. tube, opened Feb. 25, '08; Cortlandt St. tubes under way.
M'ADOO TERMINAL, 6th Ave. and 33d St.; Penna. tunnels on lowest level, proposed
municipal subway; M'Adoo subway terminus; surface lines; 6th Ave. "L" and bridge over"L."
CHL RCH ST. TERMINAL, largest and heaviest building in city j 200,000 tons, including
24,000 tons structural steel, 37,500 tons concrete, 16,300,000 bricks, 4,500 tons terra
cotta, 120,000 sq. ft. glass, 140 miles of pipe, 113 miles wiring, 39 electric elevators, 22 stories,
275 ft. above curb; entire structure, 18,150,000 cubic ft. Clinton S: Russell, Architects.
Cbc Ingenious Construction of
Hudson River funnels
NEW problems were met and solved in the building of the tunnels under
the Hudson and East Rivers — problems considerably more difficult than
those encountered in any of the eight small tunnels under the Thames at
London, or in the 6,000 ft. bore under the St. Clair River connecting Port Huron
with Sarnia in Canada, all of "which were constructed by the shield method.
In each of these cases the tunnel was driven through clay, or sand, or gravel,
and onlv moderately high air-pressures were necessary to prevent the water oozing
into the tube, but in boring under the rivers that gird Manhattan, the builders
encountered a very soft mud, unstable and treacherous, and besides using air pres-
sures as high as 39 lbs. per sq. in. above the normal, they had to resort to num-
erous devices to prevent this Hudson silt from engulfing the workers and machinery.
A special type of shield was devised by Chief Engineer Jacobs and Assistant
Engineer Forgie, builder of tunnels under the Thames, London. Before the bore
entered the silt a concrete bulkhead, 10 ft. thick, wasv erected in the rock section
ot the tunnel. This was pierced with three air-locks, those for passing materials
into the shield-chamber and for the admission of the workers being cn a lower
level, and the emergency air-lock near the top of the tube.
Within the chamber formed by this bulkhead the shield was erected — a steel
structure, 23 feet 6^ inches in diameter and 15 feet 11% inches long, with nine
pockets, three on lower level, four in midsection, two at top.
From the pockets sliding platforms were pushed forward into the silt, under
a movable hood that could be projected 25 inches forward of the cutting edge of
the shield. On the platforms the " sand hogs " worked at the silt, passing the
excavated material back through the pockets into the shield-chamber, and as thev
cleared the way the shield was pushed forward by hydraulic rams.
On the chamber side of the shield was another hood or "skin" of steel-
plates, extending back 6 ft. 4 in., to hold up silt while cast-iron lining was being put in.
In each of the tunnels different difficulties were encountered. While the
Pennsylvania tubes went from shore to shore, under the Hudson, through silt,
the McAdoo north tubes encountered rock, and blasting had to be resorted to; in
the East River tunnels the top of the bores came so close tc the river bottom that
blankets of clay had to be placed in the water over the place of^the boring.
But the most remarkable feature of the construction of these tunnels is the
scheme bv which thev have been converted into sub-aqueous bridges.
In lining the vjnnels, on the bottom centre line, a cast-steel shoe or plug
2 feet 7 inches in diameter was inserted every fifteen feet. On this was screwed
a 7-foot tube of the same diameter, made of steel, 1 ^ inches thick, and this was
forced down into the silt by a hydraulic ratchet until it was flush with the inner
bottom of the tube; then another 7-foot section was screwed to it and forced down,
and this was continued until a hollow steel column had been constructed and
forced down 10 feet or 100 feet, as might be, until the steel shoe was firmly-
planted on bed-rock. Then the hollow column was cut off flush with the inner
lining and filled with concrete.
Thus a series of steel and concrete foundations in the river form a bridge
carrying the tracks of the Pennsylvania Railroad under the river within the tube,
which in turn was strengthened by a lining of two feet of concrete, held in solid
miss and running from shore to shore, affording a solid structure in which heavy
express-trains can be moved with safety at high speed, at the rate of a train every
two minutes. William Wirt Mills,
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