Democratic Sentinel, Volume 20, Number 16, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 24 April 1896 — BIG RAILROAD BRIDGE. [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

BIG RAILROAD BRIDGE.

New York Central’s Steel Draw Over the Harlem River, New York. The great engineering work of elevating the four tracks of the New York Central and Hudson River Railroad over the Harlem river in New Y’ork city is completed and trains to and from the Grand Central station at Forty-second street now traverse the new steel structure and avoid the deep cut in the old roadway. The original cause of this change of grade was the construction of the Harlem ship canal. To Walter Katte, chief engineer of the New York Central and Hudson River Railroad, is due the chief credit of the design of the new steel viaduct and drawbridge. The draw span, w’hich is the only four-track railway drawbridge in the world, measures 400 feet over all and weighs 2,500 tons. The drawbridge is 58 feet 0 inches wide from center to center of the outside trusses, and is car-

ried by three trusses, of which the central one is the heaviest. Between the central and each of the two side trusses is a clear space of twenty-six feet, which permits the passage of two sets of double tracks. The floor is corrugated, like that of the viaduct, and the rails are bolted to it with only the intervention of steel tie plates. The weight of the draw span is carried by two huge steel drums, one inside the other. The diameter of the outer drum is 54 feet and of the inner 46 feet. These drums are coupled together by sixteen lattice braces. Underneath each of the drums are seventy-two cast steel rollers, with faces 10% inches wide. The seven-ty-two wheels under the outer drum are each 24 inches in diameter, and those under the inner drum are 20 7-16 inches in diameter. The whole weight of the bridge rests on these rollers when the draw is open. The select committee of the House of Commons on the rule of the road at sea, by a vote of 6 to 3, has adopted the chairman’s report in favor of rule 3, suggested by the Washington conference dealing

with sound fog signals. This was the rule upon which centered the main objection of British ship owners and navigators to the series of rules of the road recommended by the Washington conference. A secret meeting of the steel rod manufacturers of the country was held at Cleveland for the purpose of effecting a general pooling of interests. The meeting adjourned after an all day session without having reached an agreement, and most of the manufacturers left for home.

END VIEW OF THE STEEL DRAWBRIDGE ACROSS HARLEM RIVER.