C.N.Rys. in Ontario—Newspaper and magazine clippings

The Co. will erect a 100×50 ft. building on car shop property at London, Ont. Mr. Mills, Hamilton, Ont., has the contract. (Unofficial). Tenders have been asked for the erection of the round-house & other improvements at Sarnia, & it is expected to have the work well in hand by the beginning of September. The cost will be in the neighborhood of $70,000. Improvements at Port Huron will be deferred till a little later on. (Official.) (July, pg. 123.)

Victoria Jubilee bridge.

The work of connecting the two portions of the temporary erection truss for the centre span was completed Aug 7, & the last pin was put in its place Aug. 19, practically completing the work on the superstructure proper of the bridge. The work on the new bridge was started in the summer of 1897 with the widening of the piers, so as to admit of the placing of the new structure, which, in addition to the two railway tracks, also provides sufficient space for roadway & a footwalk on each side. Each pier was widened to the extent of about 7 ft. The construction of the superstructure was commenced in Nov., 1897, with the erection of the 1st span at the west end, which was completed on Nov. 27. The delay to traffic during the construction of the first span was but 25 minutes. The winter weather interfered with further construction operations, & the 2nd span was not commenced until Mar. 23, when the temporary erection truss (around which the new superstructure was built) was moved out to the 2nd span, occupying but 7 1/2 minutes, & closing the bridge to traffic but 1 hour & 52 minutes. During April 3 spans were completed, during which the traffic was interfered with but 3 hours & 50 minutes. In May 3 more spans were completed, causing a delay to traffic of but 2 hours & 25 minutes. During June 4 spans were completed, including the last span from the west end, delaying traffic but 2 hours and 20 minutes. At the east end the construction of the 1st span was commenced April 24. During May 3 spans were constructed. During June 5 spans were constructed, & by July 15 the 3 remaining spans were completed ; the total delay being but 9 hours & 21 minutes during the entire work of constructing the east end, & the total delay to traffic on account of the construction of the east & west ends, excepting the middle span, being but 20 hours & 13 minutes. The entire time occupied in moving the temporary erection trusses from span to span, referred to above, was but 3 hours ; the average time for each span being about 7 minutes.

The construction of the center span, on account of the different character of the work, was carried, on upon the cantilever principle.

A very complete description of the bridge appeared in our Mar. issue, pg. 7. Some statistics regarding the new & old structures may be of interest.

	New Bridge	Old Bridge
Number of spans	25	25
Length of ironwork	6592	6592
Weight of ironwork	22,000 tons	9,044 tons
Covering area one inch thick of	25 acres	11 1/2 acres
Masonry in piers & abutments	97,983 cub. yds.
Covering an area one foot thick of	61 acres.

Work will be at once commenced on the placing of the roadways at the side, but the most important part of the business is to get the double tracks down before the heavy travel commences in the autumn. In order to do that it will be necessary to rush with all possible speed the work of removing the old tube. Pneumatic machines are being made to expedite the work, which would otherwise have to be done by hand, which naturally would consume a lot of time. Night & day gangs of men will be kept at work on the drilling out of the thousands of rivets in the old structure, & it is hoped to have the double tracks in operation by the middle of October.

At the Point St. Charles Yard & on the St. Lambert end of the bridge the roadbed is being lowered & widened to suit the level & increased facilities of the new bridge. The Victoria Park Station, near the bank of the river in St. Lambert, has been removed to permit of the widening of the roadbed.

The Montréal head offices.

Plans prepared by R. A. Waite, of Buffalo, N.Y., for the head office building to be erected on the property given the Co. by the City of Montréal, & the principal frontage of which is on McGill St., have been accepted by the management. The building will be 5 unusually high stories, covering a 200 ft. frontage.

It will present a most imposing & effective appearance. It will be larger than the Montréal Board of Trade building. The windows will be as large as most store windows. The vital lines of the frontage are carried upward—that is, instead of producing a belittling, horizontal effect they are all vertical. They carry the eye upward. This will add greatly to the impressiveness of the general effect. The extent of the frontage would have a certain dwarfing effect were it not for the provision which gives an added height to the general appreciation through the vertical lines. Each floor of the 5 stories will be devoted to a separate department of work. That is to say, the 1st will be devoted to the audit department & all co-related work, & will contain 20,000 ft. of space. The 2nd floor will be given to the General Manager's offices & all the officials who have immediately to do with the supreme direction of the G.T.R. system. The rooms are so arranged upon each floor that each will be in plain view from the elevator. The corridors will be wide & light; the central authority in each department will, so to say, be able to have all his subordinates immediately under his direction, the idea being to realize concentration, & obviate all cause of delay. The head officials will thus be in touch with all the men with whom they sustain official relations, & in this regard the department will be most economical & efficient. This idea is wrought out upon the 5 floors, & the result will be a smooth running of the great official machine, impossible under less favorable conditions. Some beautiful freize work has been provided for along the top storey, while above the colonades along the tops of the windows in each storey there will be also embellishments of a highly artistic character.

The contracts for the carcase of the building will be let & the architect expects the foundation will be complete before bad weather sets in. The building is to be completed in 1900. These figures will appear upon the front of the building, as well as the date of the inception of the G.T.R. system in Canada, while the seal of the Co. will be set forth over the main entrance opposite the 2nd story, as well as the words "Grand Trunk Railway," cut in the stone. The building will be fireproof throughout, & all the material, external & internal, will be of the best & most modern character. The original estimate of cost was $250,000, but it is expected this will be at least doubled. It is said the building will be the 2nd largest railway office building in the world, the largest being the Philadelphia & Reading offices in Philadelphia.