Rensselaer Republican, Volume 27, Number 34, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 30 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 York city is completed and trains to and from the Grand Central statical 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. Td 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, which is the only four-track railway drawbridge in the world, measures 400 feet over all and weighs 2,500 tons. The drawbridge is 5S feet O’ 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 vpth only the Intervention of steel tie plates. issinmi 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 fegt 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 1014 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 op,en. The select committee of the House of Commons on the rule of the road at sea, by a vote of 0 to 3, has adopted the 1 chairman’s report in favor of rule 3, suggested by the Washington conference dealing

END VIEW OF THE STEEL DRAWBRIDGE ACROSS HARLEM RIVER.