250 



THE CIVIL ENGINEER AND ARCIIITECT-.S JOURNAL. 



[August, 



FiK. 6. 



RAILWAY STATIONS. 



The Revue Generate contains a description of spveral Railway Sta- 

 tions both in England and on the Continent, illustrated with details of 

 their construction, from which we extract the following information 

 relative to the Paris Station of the Lift Bank VtnaUlts Railmatj, 

 situated near the barrier of Maine. 



The terminus of the railway is on an embankment 23 feet high, 

 which offers serious impediments to the construction of buildings, turn 

 tables, and other works requiring solidity. The terminus consists of 

 three ways witli a platform on each side for the passengers on their 

 arrival and departure. The whole of this was covered over with a 

 semicircular roof of iron, which fell down soon after its constrnctiun, 

 during a hurricane on the IGth of September last. The semicircular 

 form without any stays forming direct angles is at all times a bad mode 

 of constructing buildings, where they are subject to the powerful action 

 of the wind, as its force impinging upon any part is transmitted through 

 the whole, and when successive gusts of w ind are continued, this trans- 

 mission of the force becoming more and more formidable like a wave 

 in a tempest, most in the end lead to the destruction of any building 

 that is built of such slender materials as the one now before us. The 

 roof possesses considerable ingenuity in its construction, for its light- 

 ness and elegance of its form, we shall therefore notwithstanding its 

 failure, proceed to give some account of its construction. 



Fig, 5. The roof is of a simi- 



circular form 1G4 feet 

 long, and consists of 13 

 main ribs or arches 

 placed 12 ft. 6 in. apart 

 in the clear, 10 of which 

 were 57 feet span, and 

 three at the extreme 

 end of the station 70 

 feet span. A section of 

 the roof is represented 

 in figs. 1 and -2, with four of the taigential curvilinear stays omitted. 

 The main ribs spring from an upright cast iron base (fig. 2,) standing 

 ~ on the timber piles which carry the pas- 



sengers promenade platforms, these piles 

 are tied across the railway transversely at 

 about 4 feet below the top of piles, or 3 

 feet below the surface of the rails by 

 strong wrought iron ties, to prevent them 

 spreading. The ribs are composed of o 

 bars of wrought iron up to the top of the 

 column, fig. "2, the two external bars y 

 inch by incii, the two next 4 by H "leh, 

 and the centre li by 2 inches, all bolted 

 together; above the column and up to 

 about two-thirds the height they have 

 only 4 bars, omitting the centre, and the 

 remainder have only the 2 external bars. 

 These ribs are strengthened by tan- 

 gential curvilinear stays, consisting of 

 wrought iron bars \ inch square placed 

 diagonally and secured in the centre by 

 the ornamental coupling n, fig. 5, and at 

 each end by the pendant .r, shown more 

 in detail in fig. (5, and secured to the 

 main rib. There are also similar tan- 

 gential curvilinear stays springing from 

 the same pendants at right angles to 

 carry the purlin bars as shown in the 

 lower part of fig. 3, for the support of the rafters and 

 covering, the lower tangential stays abut upon the 

 top of the wrought iron column \h inch diameter (fig. 

 2). The pendants (fig. G,) consist of a cast iron ba- 

 luster, the 2 bars of the main rib passing through the 

 head (a), and also at right angles the purlin bar. 

 The 4 ends of the tangentialbars are secured in the holes 

 at the 4 angles of the base c, which is hungup to the bars of the rib by 

 a nut and screw bolt passing through the centre of the pendant ; the 

 d an c' shows the position of these holes, that in the centre receiving the 

 bolt just described, and those at the 4 angles the tangential stays; the 

 drop e, with the collar d, is fastened on to the top of the pendant and 

 conceals the bolts, the bottom part of the baluster fits in with the 

 conical shaped end {b) into the embrasure (e). 



Fj^'. 7. The purlin bar and the curvilinear 



stays were secured by the coupling g, 

 fig. 7, and fig. 8 shows the coupling of 

 the purlin and the rafter //, which were 

 of wrought bars 3 by ^ inch placed 18 

 inches apart, as shown in fig. 4. The 

 covering was of galvanized sheet iron 

 laid with a folded seam similar to zinc. 

 The upper [lart of the roof was covered 

 entirely by a skylight, laid to an angle 

 of 25", the lower part was supported 

 by the light ornamental ironwork siiown 

 in fig. 3, supported by the tangential 

 stay bars. 

 We here give the weights of the principal parts. 



Base of the column - - - 5 lb. 



Capital 91 lb. 



Pendants of cast iron - - 261b. 



Great S shaped guard of the lantern - 3Gi lb. 



The parts m 10 J lb. 



n 7? lb. 



(cast iron) - - - 7i lb. 



p 3|lb. 



h i lb. 



The total weight of the casting of the roof was 5 tons G cwt. 

 That oi' the other iron work 13 tons 5 cwt. 



The total cost including painting and glazing was 25,000 francs, 

 (lOUO/.), and as there were about 1000 square yards of surface, that 

 gives 1/. per square yard covered, undoubtedly an exceedingly low 

 price. 



It will be seen from the preceding description what a great number 

 of cast iron pendants and couplings compose this roofing, but at the 

 same time that the different shapes are not numerous, and that the 

 models are few. In wrought iron in order to obtain this variety of 

 shape, it would have been requisite to have forged each piece sepa- 

 rately, and to have had much manual labour. It will be further per- 

 ceived that all the pieces are simply cut in lengths, without being re- 

 forged or filed. The iron on coining from the forge, is bent cold 

 according to the form required, and then fixed in the cast iron pendants 

 by means of bolts, so that it is not necessary to employ iron of superior 

 quality that can be worked hot : it is only necessary that it should not 

 be cold short. It is this arrangement to which we principally wish to 

 call attention, as it is the reason which has induced us to publish the pre- 

 ceding description, as an instance of an iron roof easily put together 

 and composed of a minimum weight of cast and wrought iron. It will 

 be seen that such work can be made at a distance and tlien put up on 

 the spot. It is only necessary to send the pendants and couplings, and 

 the bars of rough iron, which are to form the roof, and which can be 

 cut up on the spot, and bent according to circumstances. As the coup- 

 ling pieces are of cast iron, ornaments can be introduced in the casting, 

 and an elegant appearance given without much expense. With these 

 advantages had M. Fauconnier designed it w ith lines so as to have 

 formed geometrical figures of fixed position, we have no hesitation in 

 saying that it would have been a most remarkable work. 



At the same station for the purpose of communicating between the 

 main rails and the carriage house, which is parallel to them, a siding 

 is carried from the main line to the front of the carriage house, as 

 shown in fig. 9. The latter contains four lines of ways running from 



Fig. 9. 



I I 



Rails for Truck. 



