208 



The Reading Rail Road. 



Vol. XI. 



replacing wooden structures, wherever it 

 was practicable. There are twenty-two 

 long wooden bridges varying from 41 to 160 

 feet span, built on various principles, chiefly 

 of lattice work, assisted by heavy arch 

 pieces. Of this latter description, the bridge 

 over the Schuylkill at the Fall, is a fine 

 specimen. It is 636 feet long, consisting of 

 four spans of 134, two of 152, and one of 

 160 feet above the river. There is one 

 bridge built on Burr's plan, with double 

 arch pieces of 149 feet span; and one on 

 " Howe's" plan, ir36 feet span, also assisted 

 by arch pieces. Besides the above, there 

 are twenty-eight wooden bridges of short 

 spans, from 14 to 39 feet, built of King post. 

 Queen post, " Howe's truss," and joists. 



There are four tunnels on the road. The 

 longest of these is near Phoenixville, 1934 

 feet long, cut through solid rock, worked 

 from five shafts and two end breasts ; deep- 

 est shaft 140 feet ; size of tunnels, 19 feet 

 wide, by ll\ high; total cost, $153,000. 

 Another tunnel at Port Clinton, is 1600 feet 

 long, worked from the two ends only ; mate- 

 rial, loose and solid rock mixed ; 1300 feet 

 are arched ; depth below the surface of the 

 ground, 119 feet; total cost, $138,000. The 

 Manayunk tunnel is 960 feet long, through 

 very hard solid rock, worked from two ends; 

 depth below surface 95 feet; total cost, 

 $91,000. Another tunnel under the grade 

 of the Norristown rail-road, and through an 

 embankment of the latter, is 172 feet long, 

 formed of a brick arch, with cut stone fa- 

 cades. 



The depots on this road are all substan- 

 tially built, but with a view to use, rather 

 than ornament. At Schuylkill Haven, three 

 miles from Pottsville, is erected a spacious 

 engine house, round, with a semi-circular 

 dome roof, 120 feet diameter, and 96 feet 

 high; with a 40 feet turning platform in the 

 centre, and tracks radiating therefrom, capa- 

 ble of housing sixteen second class engines 

 and tenders. At Reading are located the 

 most complete, extensive, and efficient work- 

 shops and rail-road buildings of every de- 

 scription to be found in the country. The 

 Company's property covers here, besides the 

 rail-road tracks, 36 acres, the greater part 

 of which is already in use for the various 

 operations required to keep this vast ma- 

 chine in lite and motion. The main ma- 

 chine shop is 159 by 70 feet, filled with the 

 most valuable tools and machinery, all made, 

 with the exception of three or four lathes, 

 in the Company's workshops, by their own 

 mechanics. Other machine shops, one 87 

 by 40 feet, are used for fitting iron and brass 

 exclusively. 



The iron foundry is 164 by 32 feet, with 



two cupolas. The largest blacksmith's shop 

 is 121 by 31 feet, 57 smith's fires being in 

 daily use on the works, all blown by fans 

 driven by steam. .-fThe main carpenters' 

 shop is 140 by 46 |jfet, with a pattern shop 

 in the second story.:' 



The iron coal cars, tenders, and smoke 

 pipes are made and repaired in a shop 123 

 by 83 feet. 



A merchandise depot just completed, is 

 124 by 84 feet, to accommodate that rapidly 

 increasing branch of business. About a 

 mile below the Reading depot, where the 

 rail-road is nearest the river, most efficient 

 water works have been lately constructed, 

 consisting of a reservoir on the Neversink 

 Hill side, 51 feet above the rails, holding 

 700,000 gallons of water, supplied with a 

 force pump worked by a small steam engine. 

 Attached to this station are also two sepa- 

 rate tracks, with coal chutes beneath, 300 

 and 450 feet long each, for the use of the 

 town; two wood and water stations; a small 

 portable steam engine for sawing wood, a 

 refreshment house, for crews of engines 

 stopping to wood or water; a brass foundry, 

 passenger car house, passenger rooms, offices, 

 &c., &c. All the machinery of the main 

 shops and foundry, is driven by a very hand- 

 somely finished stationary engine, with dou- 

 ble cranks, of 35 horse power, built entirely 

 on the works. 



At Pottstown station, 18 miles below 

 Reading, extensive and efficient shops have 

 also been erected, chiefly for work connect- 

 ed with the bridges and track of the road, 

 and new work of various descriptions. The 

 principal shops here, are 151 by 81, 101 by 

 41, and 81 by 44 feet. The first shop is co- 

 vered with a neat and light roofj built of an 

 arched "Howe truss," forming a segment of 

 a circle, 78^ feet span by 16 feet rise. 



At Richmond, the lower terminus of the 

 road, at tidewater on the river Delaware, 

 are constructed the most extensive and com- 

 modious wharves, in all probability, in the 

 world, for the reception and shipping, not 

 only of the present, but of the future vast 

 coal tonnage of the railway; 49 acres are 

 occupied with the Company's wharves and 

 works, extending along 2,272 feet of river 

 front, and accessible to vessels of 600 or 

 700 tons. The shipping arrangements con- 

 sist of seventeen wharves or piers, extend- 

 ing from 342 to 1,132 feet into the river, all 

 built in the most substantial manner, and 

 furnished with shutes at convenient dis- 

 tances, by which the coal flows into the ves- 

 sel lying alongside, directly from the opened 

 bottom of the coal car in which it left the 

 mouth of the mine. As some coal is piled 

 or stacked in winter, or at times when its 



