Grand Trunk betterments, etc.

Point Lévis.—The Co. will erect a building large enough to house ail the immigrants bound for the U.S. Immediately on the arrival of a ship the steerage passengers will be separated into two parties, those going to Canada & those to the U, S., so that the U. S. Commissioners will be able to conduct the examination in their own building without being delayed by those immigrants with whom they have nothing to do. The new building will be supplied with a lunch counter, good water & all sanitary appliances. The object of this change is partly to avoid the delay of through international trains at the U.S. frontier.

Victoria Jubilee bridge.—The Dominion Parliament at its recent session voted $230,000 to make up the grant in aid of the rebuilding of this bridge to $500,000.

Abolition of Montréal level crossings.—Early in July the Co., without first obtaining permission from the city authorities, laid a track across Aqueduct St., as a temporary spur from the main tracks to the yards back of the freight sheds, to be used for taking in material for the erection of additional freight buildings. On the matter coming before the City Roads Committee, General Assistant Wainwright appeared for the Co., & stated that the track has been laid under instructions from an official who was ignorant of the city bylaws & asked that it be allowed to remain temporarily. This request was refused & the track was taken up, a request to be allowed to relay it being also refused. This incident brought up again the question of abolishing all the Co.'s level crossings in the city. After a conference between General Manager Hays & the Committee, he submitted the following proposition:—"Confirming my statement at our conference that I was prepared to make a proposition in connection with the reparation of the level crossing of our tracks at Mountain St., I enclose plan of the proposed viaduct, prepared by our Chief Engineer, & will state that the G.T.R. is prepared to at once undertake the erection of viaduct in accordance with this plan, estimated to cost $135,000, & will pay half of the original cost of said viaduct, upon condition that the city will pay the remaining one half of the cost of erection & maintenance & will thereafter maintain & renew & will assume & pay any incidental or consequential damages to adjacent property or business arising in connection with the separation of the crossing. We will then be prepared to enter into an agreement with the city on the same general terms as above set forth, for the separation of the level crossings remaining between Mountain Street & St. Henri, by the elevation of our tracks as soon as the details can be agreed upon as to streets necessary to be vacated, overhead clearance, width of subways, time of completion, etc., etc., all of which questions, I take it, the city will desire to have passed upon by its Engineering Department, &, until this has been done, it will, of course, be impossible to make detailed plans." Engineer McNab, of the G.T.R., explained to the committee that the projected bridge was on one side of the street & the homologated line on the other. The width of the proposed bridge was 27 ft., with a projection of 5 ft. on each side. The width for vehicle traffic was 27 fi. The floor beams were extended in such a manner that there would be sidewalks on each side of 5 ft. The ramp began about 50 ft. from Notre Dame St., northern side, & ran up to about 9 ft. from Albert St. They then crossed Albert St. by a span of about 150 ft. Then came a larger span of 210 ft., which passed over the present tracks in Bonaventure, which brought them to a pier on the southern side of St. James St., at which point the ramp began to descend, until it met Mountain St. at the southerly side of the Boys' Home, 207 ft. St. James St. was crossed by a bridge of 54 ft. span, under which the St. James St. traffic would pass. The height was about 20 ft. For pedestrians, they would cross—if they did not choose to take the centre of the road—by sidewalks which were reached by stairways leading from Mountain St., on the westerly side, & from St. James St. on the easterly. There was a stairway leading from the southerly side, about 225 ft. from Notre Dame St. The stairways had been designed so as to not damage more than necessary adjoining houses. A tunnel would not be more practical than a bridge, as continual pumping would be necessary.

The committee decided to refer the matter back to the G.T.R. authorities, to have plans & estimates prepared for an elevated line from Bonaventure station to St. Henri. (Sep., '99 pg. 266.)

Montréal general offices.—Satisfactory progress is being made with construction. There was some delay at the start, owing to the lack of structural iron & steel, which kept back the contractors for the stone cutting, masonry & brickwork, but this has been overtaken, & the iron & steel supplies are at present abundant. September is spoken of as the date upon which the walls of the building will be complete. Indiana limestone is employed upon the front & sides. This, when dressed, presents a beautiful, clean, marble-like appearance. The blocks of stone come in huge masses, weighing from 10 to 18 tons. These are fashioned into the desired shape in the contractors' yards. The scroll & figure work, which showed beautiful effects in the plans prepared by the architect, are being carried out in front around & over the central entrance, which is nobly proportioned. The interior work will be started just as soon as the building is sufficiently advanced to permit of such work being carried out. It is to be fitted up after the best examples which this continent affords, & it is said it will be one of the handsomest railway offices in the world. (April, pg. 109.)

Thousand Islands Junction.—It is said that the location of this station may be changed to a point about 2 miles east of the present site.

Queen St. East, Toronto.—Work has been commenced on the new station building. (June, pg. 175.)

Beautifying stations.—The management is paying a good deal of attention to beautifying station grounds by sodding lawns & planting flowers. A good instance of this is afforded at Allandale, where the back between the tracks & Kempenfeldt Bay has been sodded & several flower-beds made. The water-front at Barrie station has been similarly treated.

Hamilton-Niagara Falls double track.—The contract for this work has been given to Rogers & Taylor, of Montréal. (April, pg. 109.)

Hamilton yard.—The Stuart St. yard is being remodelled. Among other improvements 4 tracks will run into the station, instead of 3 as at present.

International bridge.—A large force is at work renewing the superstructure on this bridge between Fort Erie, Ont., & Buffalo. (Mar., pg. 71.)

Brantford bridge.—The city of Brantford wants the Co. to add another span to its bridge, as part of the scheme to prevent a recurrence of spring floods.

Brantford & main line trains.—General Manager Hays recently wrote the Board of Trade that the Co. would before long submit a proposal for running main line trains through Brantford. Several of the operating officials recently went over the route of the proposed cut off between Lynden & the Buffalo & Goderich line. The construction of a station in Brantford close to Market St., & the removal of the freight sheds to a new site south of the present station, is also said to be contemplated. (Mar., pg. 71).

London.—Extensive improvements are to made here. Work will be at once begun on the completion of a double track from East London to the Cove bridge. A new bridge will be built at the Cove to accommodate the double track. This track will in the near future be continued westward to Komoka. This double tracking is the nucleus of the double track which will soon extend from Hamilton to Komoka. West of Komoka the double track will not be needed, as the traffic divides at that junction. Many changes will be made in the yard here. Two extra tracks will be put in at the station, making 4 track exclusively for passenger traffic & 2 for freight. The station platform will be lengthened & widened.

At Detroit, Mich.—July 17, the bridge over the Chicago & G. T. & the Lake Shore Michigan Southern Rys., at Congress & Dequindre streets, was wrecked by a train attempting to pass through it which contained 2 cars loaded with iron bridge spans. The height of these spans above the car decking was about 6 ins. more than the overhead structure of the bridge through which the train was attempting to pass gave clearance for; in consequence the bridge was very badly damaged before the train could be stopped.

Chicago & Grand Trunk.—Now that the financial affairs of this road have been settled the work of double tracking will be pushed on vigorously. (June, pg. 175.)

Railways: G.T.Ry.

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