way, not a single passenger has been incommoded on account of it; passengers, indeed, would not even know of it unless they should glance from the car windows; but if they thus glance out, they see a great extent of torn-up ground, and an army of men busily at work among rock-drills, long-armed derricks, shoredup buildings, temporary bridging, and scaffolded sidewalks.

A New Terminal Needed

For years the need of more commodious and differently arranged terminal facilities has been recognized, to accommodate the increasing traffic and give a

tions, the other two are utilized to their fullest capacity. Simply stated, that is how non-disturbance of traffic is attained; but the simple statement gives no idea of the difficulties encountered. One needs to stand for a while in the terminal yards, and watch the ceaseless movement of trains, to gain some adequate impression of the perplexities of the problem.

Each day there are 640 trains arriving or departing; each day there are over 7,000 pieces of baggage handled; each day 300 tons of mail and 600 tons of express matter enter or leave the terminal. And it is traffic such as this which goes

higher degree of comfort and safety. The problem facing the New York Central and the New York, New Haven & Hartford has been a serious one, and for years the foremost engineering minds. have been applied to its solution. Important improvements were not long ago. made, including the material enlargement of the present station; but it was soon seen that the improvements were insufficient, and that far more radical changes needed to be made.

The territory over which these needed changes are to extend has been divided into three longitudinal sections; and while work is going on upon one of these sec

on undisturbed, and is to continue to go on undisturbed.

The Work of Many

The work is of notable interest, in that it does not come from the plans of any one man. The ideas of perhaps a dozen engineers have been merged in one result. For years, there have been examination, discussion, tentative decision: plan after plan has been raised up, only to be cast down; and experts have worked unitedly unitedly and in harmony towards the goal. There has been the most friendly emulation; there has been cordial rivalry as to who

should hit upon the best and most practicable features; there has been partial acceptance, partial rejection.

There has, indeed, been one man at the head-Mr. William J. Wilgus, who was Chief Engineer of the New York Central when the consideration of these improvements was taken up, and who has since been promoted to one of the vice-presidencies. With him has lain most of the final decision as to practicability and usefulness; with him have originated many of the ideas; with him.

is the general control; and he is most ably seconded.

The Path of Destruction

It was early recognized that the terminal yards would need to be enlarged in breadth, and so the purchase and demolition of houses was begun. The location of the station in the very center of

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the great city, with large buildings closehemming the yards on either hand, made this first item an expensive one. merous large structures stood in the path of destruction. In all, nearly two hundred buildings have been destroyed, including churches, hospitals, apartment houses, and private homes.

Even at the beginning of the work, there was a bewildering maze of tracks; but when all is completed there will be, approaching the new station, a fan-shaped widening into 53 tracks; and into the station itself, on the main track level, there will be 19 tracks abreast. All of these tracks are to be depressed 12 feet below the present level; and the narrow footbridges which cross the yards at a considerable height above the present tracks will be replaced by broad structures for wagons

and pedestrians alike, at nearly the level of the streets on either hand

Scattered throughout the great stretch of trackage there will be switches and curved tracks and turntables; and underneath the vast tangle, there is to be, for the service of suburban traffic, a subway, with eight tracks abreast, which is to run right under the new station and to connect there with the great subway service of the New York streets. And for suburban passengers, in the new station, there is to be a great waiting room, on the level of the subway tracks, directly beneath the waiting room for the long-distance trains.

For the upholding of the network of tracks above the suburban subway, there will be supports of massive steel construction. But massiveness is an incident of all this work. Even the temporary itself is massive. The subway portion is to be mainly through the solid rock, and the tunnel will be lined with concrete on both the bottom and the sides.

The Personal Equation

Quite as interesting as the work itself, full of interest though that is, are the personality and history of some of the men connected with it-a man who educated himself by means of a correspondence school; another, who was draftsman for a builder of boats, to earn money for an education; two architects who were called to New York from distant Minnesota for this special service; a contractor of eminent success, whose technical education was obtained at night because he had to work for his living every day.

The man who is in charge of the huge preparatory work; whose generalship and skill are clearing away the buildings, tunneling the rock, and constructing foundations, is Mr. John F. O'Rourke, a man still under fifty, but at the head of a company which has already carried out works of great importance, including bridge and tunnel work and the laying of foundations of numbers of the largest sky-scrapers of New York.

And what encouragement there is in his career! After receiving an ordinary degree of education in a New York school, it was necessary for him to go to work; and he did so, although his

ambition was keen for an education in technical branches. But while he worked by day, he studied by night. He entered himself as a pupil at Cooper Union; and, studying with keenest application, went through with its engineering course. He knew that the course at the great technical schools was beyond him, but in spite of that he was determined to succeed.

For a time, after his course was completed, he continued to work for others; but before long, with what would seem an absurdly small equipment to face.

the world, he started in business for himself. From small beginnings he rapidly rose. His skill and energy forced recognition. He began taking more and more important contracts, and each one was carried to a successful completion. He was taken into the fellowship of the American Society of Civil Engineers, this product of night work, this overcomer of difficulties; and his career shows to young men the importance of seizing upon the means nearest at hand, and not idly lamenting because the usual means are beyond reach. It was a favorite axiom of Napoleon, that the true proof of high ability is to win in spite of difficulties, and to make use of whatever can be seized upon.