610 TRANSACTIONS OF SECTION G. 
2. Birmingham Snow Hill Station Alterations. By F. Guravow, 
M.Inst.C.H., and C. EH. Suackuz, Assoc.M.JInst.C.k. 
The railway station buildings and platforms recently removed from this site 
were erected in 1870 on the site of a still older station. The two principal plat- 
forms were originally in direct connection with the streets on either side. The 
platforms and railway lines between the buildings on either side were covered 
with an iron roof, with crescent-shaped girders of about 92 feet span. The site 
of the new station, as well as that of the old, is bounded on the south by Colmore 
Row, on the east by Snow Hill, and on the west by Livery Street. The building 
adjoining Colmore Row, formerly an hotel, is now converted into offices, restau- 
rant, etc., and an entrance has been made through it for foot-passengers, leading 
to the high level booking-hall. Entrances and exits for carriages are provided 
on the Livery Street and Snow Hill sides. From the above mentioned booking- 
hall corridors terminating in stairways lead down to the two main platforms, 
and lifts are provided for dealing with passengers’ luggage. 
The roof over the main entrance and circulating area consists of steel arched 
ribs of about 94 feet span, with glazed screens at the east and west sides. Over 
the main platforms and buildings thereon, the roof is of the ‘ ridge and furrow’ 
type, carried on steel girders, and resting on steel columns, these being cased, 
for appearance’ sake, with cast iron. Beyond this length of platform, where the 
width of platform becomes much less, the type of roof is again changed to one 
generally known as the ‘umbrella’ type, on account of its being supported by 
single steel columns, anchored below platform-level into concrete blocks. 
The buildings have been freely treated from an architectural point of view, 
the material used being principally glazed red bricks, with buff-coloured terra- 
cotta dressings externally, and Carrara-ware dressings internally. 
The steelwork in the roof is designed to withstand a wind-pressure of 40 lb. 
over the whole surface, and any individual portion of it to withstand a local gust 
of 56 lb. to the square foot. Under no conditions can any of the steelwork be 
stressed to over six tons to the square inch in tension, or five tons in compression. 
The pressure upon the base of any foundation does not exceed three and three- 
quarter tons. The whole of the steelwork has been made by an open-hearth 
process. 
3. Harbour Projections and their Effect upon the Travel of Sand and 
Shingle. By Ernest R. Marruews, F.R.S.H., A.M.Inst.C.E. 
The author pointed out that any seaward projection on a coast, whether it be 
in the form of a groyne extending merely to LWOT or LWOST, a breakwater, 
a harbour-arm projection 1,000 feet or more, or a promontory such as Flam- 
borough Head or Spurn, extending seaward some miles, has the effect of arresting 
more or less, according to the magnitude of the projection, the travel of the sand 
and shingle on such coast. In the case of harbour projections run out at right 
angles to the coast-line this obstruction, especially on a sandy coast, impounds 
the travelling material on one side of the harbour, and often causes alarming 
erosion on the other. He gave excellent examples of this in the case of the 
Yarmouth, Shoreham, Lowestoft, and Madras harbours, at each of which 
millions of tons of sand (except in the case of Shoreham, where it is shingle), 
representing acres in area, are being held up by the harbour piers. The sea- 
front at Yarmouth may be said to have extended seaward during the past half- 
century an average of 300 feet, due almost entirely to the construction of the 
harbour; while at Madras 650 million cubic feet of sand has accreted on the south 
side of the harbour within a distance of three miles of the harbour, and 450 
million cubic feet of land has been eroded on the north side within a similar dis- 
tance, and the authorities there are now contemplating an extension of the har- 
bour seaward at a huge cost. They consider it is necessary to do this in order to 
reduce the extent of the silting up of the harbour. The author referred to the 
Newhaven, Bridlington, and Whitby harbours, and that at Hastings, which is only 
partially constructed, and described their effect upon the coast. He also described 
the effect upon the coast of headlands which run out at approximately right 
angles with the coast, and those which form an obtuse angle with the coast. 
