Polk Street Freight Station, Pennsylvania Railroad Freight Station
Life Span: 1918-1973
Location: 323 W. Polk, Bounded by Polk, Van Buren, Desplaines and Jefferson Streets
Architects: Price & McLanahan
Engineering News, January 25, 1917
The extensive railway-terminal improvements at Chicago in connection with the construction of the new Union Station include a very large combined freight station and warehouse for the Pennsylvania Lines.
To make way for the development of the passenger station it was necessary to abandon certain freighthouses of the P., Ft. W. & C. Ry., and in planning the new freight terminal it was arranged to concentrate all the downtown less-than-carload business of this road in one large freight station. The building is about 750×420 ft. in plan, extending between Polk and Taylor St. and Irving between the main tracks and the river.
On account of the extremely high cost of property in this vicinity and the desirability of utilizing the available space to the best advantage it was decided to build a two-level freighthouse with three upper floors for warehouse and storage purposes. South of the station will be large team yards, with 50-ft. roadways of 2.3% grade to connect the yard drive ways with Taylor St. The plans at track level and street level are shown in Fig. 2, while Fig. 3 shows the general design and arrangement of the building.
The railway tracks are in the basement, at main-track level, while one of the outside tracks passes under a corner of the building. There will be 19 stub tracks in the building. arranged singly and separated by trucking platforms 5½ to 27 ft. wide. The ten tracks (with nine platforms) on the east side are for outbound business and have capacity for 199 cars. The nine tracks (and nine platforms) on the west side are for inbound business and have capacity for 176 cars. These tracks converge in groups, which again converge into a three-track approach. In this fan-shaped approach layout No. 8 frogs and 13° curves are used.
On either side of this approach will be a team yard with stub tracks in pairs, separated by driveways. The yard on the east (outbound) side will have capacitv for 206 cars, while that on the west (inbound) side will have capacity for 197 cars. South of the approach will be storage tracks having a total capacity for 117 cars.
The first floor (for teams), or main freighthouse floor, will be at the street level, the streets being carried across the tracks by viaducts. At its east side will be the outbound house, 100 ft. wide, and on the west side the inbound house, 170 ft. wide. These are separated by a 76-ft. space divided into two 38-ft. driveways. On the outer side of each house also is a 38-ft. driveway. All these drivewavys are covered throughout their entire length.
Above this main freighthouse floor the building is carried up for three stories over the inbound and outbound houses and central driveway. This area is 745×343-ft. Six light courts 40×153½ ft. are located over a portion of the inbound house and central driveway. The general freight offices will occupy the north (Polk St.) end of the second floor. At this end also will be a tower 50 ft. square and 180 ft. high above the street level, with a 16-ft. clock face on each side of the tower.
At the north end of the outbound house will be a sub-basement about 66×72 ft. to accommodate the heating plant and other mechanical apparatus. At one side of this will be a coal bin and ash bin, crossed by a track for cars. This sub-basement will have heavy retaining walls and a reinforced-concrete floor about 5 ft. thick. It will be covered at the track-floor level by a framing of I-beams embedded in a concrete slab.
An extensive equipment of electric freight elevators will serve the several floors and platforms. There will also be two elevators connecting (through oval shafts) with the Chicago Tunnel Co.’s narrow-gage electric freight-railway system, the tunnels of which pass under the station. These elevators will be large enough to carry the tunnel cars.
The total equipment, exclusive of the tunnel elevators, will comprise 50 elevators, and 32 of these will form the first installation.
Structural Design of Building.
The building is of steel-frame construction with rein-forced-concrete floors and roof, and brick curtain walls. All the steelwork is incased in conerete fireproofing, the concrete being secured by wire netting wrapped around the steel. On the columns the minimum thickness of concrete is 3 in. There are about 17,000 tons of structural steel in the building.
The columns are of H-section, built up of side and web plates with four interior angles. The typical floor framing is shown in Fig. 4. On the first floor the main framing in the freighthouse portions consists of transverse 24-to 30-in. plate girders and 21-in. I-beams, and longitudinal lines of 24-in. I-beams. The central and side driveways are carried by transverse 19½-in. and 34-in. plate girders spaced about ~ ft. apart. The upper floors have generally similar framing, except that there are no driveways to be carried and 24-in. I-beams are used mainly, both in the wings and the transverse portions. Girders are placed where the intermediate columns of the upper floors have to be supported above the central driveways.
At the second-floor level are the roofs over the side driveways, carried by transverse 18-in. girders and I-beams spaced about 7 ft. apart. At the same level are the roofs in the light courts, over the freighthouse floor. They have high triangular skylights, partly in one span and partly in two spans. Inclined skylights are placed along the corner between the driveway roof and building, and saw-tooth skylights are used in some places. The skylight sash is all hinged at the upper edge, to provide for ventilation. The floor bays are of various sizes, from 14×20 and 14×25 ft. to 20×20 and 20×25 ft. The first, or main freighthouse, floor has a concrete slab 8 to 11 in. thick (in different bays), including a 1½-in. mastic finishing coat. In the three warehouse floors the concrete slab is 8¾ to 10 in. thick, with a 1-in. special cement finish. The main roof slab is 5½ to 6 in. thick, while the roofs over the outside driveways have a 3½-in. slab. Each floor bay has rectangular reinforcement with diagonal lines of bars between the corners, as shown in Fig. 6.
The floor loads are as follows: First floor (freight-house), 300 Ib. per sq.ft.; second floor (warehouse), 250 Ib.; third and fourth floors (warehouse), 200 lb.; tower floor (offices), 125 Ib.; roof, 30 lb. The driveways are designed to carry 24-ton motor trucks.
The column shoes are seated on I-beam grillages in rectangular concrete pedestals. Some of these pedestals carry individual columns and have their own footings. Others are carried on long footing walls. The arrangement of the footings is irregular, in order to suit the column spacing and to provide for openings, etc. In the east portion of the building the footing walls run in a longitudinal direction, while in the west portion they run transversely.
The footing walls are 11½ to 1?½ ft. wide on the base, and 6 ft. deep. Their sides are vertical for about 3 ft. from the base and then slope inward toward the top. They are reinforced with steel bars. Typical details of the foundations are shown in Fig. 6, and a view under construction in Fig. 5.
All the footings are carried on 10-ft. timber piles driven into the stiff, blue, Chicago clay. The length of the piles was limited by the fact that several of the tunnels of the Chicago Tunnel Co. pass under the site, as noted above. The piles were not pointed or shod. They were driven by steam hammers. In order to determine the settlement, test piles were driven, and each was loaded with 40 tons of pig iron. The total settlement in 11 days was 0.034 in. to 0.06% in., and after that time there was no further movement. The foundation concreting over the entire area was done by spouting from the towers of two stationary concrete-mixing plants. Materials were delivered on cars and elevated to storage bins over the mixers. The cement was handled in bulk. From the box-cars it was shoveled into the hopper of a screw conveyor, which delivered it to an elevating conveyor discharging into the bin. The sand and stone were placed in the bins by means of electrically operated derricks. From the bins the materials were delivered to a measuring hopper divided into three compartments for automatically separating the proportions. The concrete is a 1:2:4 mix.
From the mixer the concrete was discharged into the le bucket of an elevator tower and then dumped into a hopper at the head of the spouting. From the main tower, lines of rigid trussed spouting extended about 50 ft. to secondary towers, beyond which were lines of flexible spouting supported partly by cables from these towers and partly by timber frames and horses.
The erection of the steelwork was done by means of es large tower derricks traveling on tracks on the ground level. Each had a rectangular timber tower surmounted by a stiff-leg derrick, the boom being thus at sufficient height for placing the roof framing. These derricks were described in Engineering News, Oct. 26. The steel was unloaded from cars and stacked and re-handled on the site by a steam-derrick car. The framing for the west half of the building was erected first, and Fig. 1 shows this part of the structure almost completed. As a protection for the workmen, each floor had a temporary plank decking, as required under the Illinois law providing for safety methods in construction work. As the height from the ground to the second floor was 43 ft., all floors had to be decked; but where the height does not exceed 32 ft., the law permits the decking to begin at the second floor. The steel erection of the portion of the structure as shown in Fig. 1 was practically completed and ready for concreting in June, 1916, but work was stopped by a general strike.
Contractors and Engineers.
The Blome-Sinek Co., of Chicago had the contract for the foundation piling and concrete substructure. The Thompson-Starrett Co. had the contract for the structural steel, which was fabricated by the McClintic-Marshall Co. and erected by the Kelly-Atkinson Construction Co. The George A. Fuller Co. has the general contract for the superstructure, and the concrete floors and roof will be placed by O. W. Rosenthal & Co. All the above principal contractors are Chicago firms. The design and construction of this freight terminal were under the direction of Thomas Rodd, Chief Engineer, and Robert Trimble, Chief Engineer of Maintenance-of-Way, Pennsylvania Lines.
Transactions of the American Society of Civil Engineers, 1924
This paper presents the underlying principles or influences that brought about the development of the present modern Pennsylvania Freight Terminal in Chicago, known as the Polk Street Freight Station. No attempt has been made to describe in detail the engineering features involved, but only to present a briefly historical and descriptive survey of the subject.
General Situation.
For the sake of a clearer understanding of the situation, it seems well to explain that the Pennsylvania Lines West of Pittsburgh, although controlled by the Pennsylvania Railroad Company, was operated as a separate system, and that the City of Chicago was served by two divisions of this system; that is, the Pittsburgh, Fort Wayne and Chicago Railway and the Pittsburgh, Cincinnati, Chicago and St. Louis Railroad.
The tracks ofthe Pittsburgh,Fort Wayne and Chicago Railway Company reached the terminal passenger station,known as the Chicago Union Station, from the south, and those of the Pittsburgh, Cincinnati, Chicago and St. Louis Railroad Company, from the north. Each road had its own freight terminals, and the Polk Street Freight Station replaces only the freight facilities of the Pittsburgh, Fort Wayne and Chicago Railway Company.
For many years the facilities of the railroads between Canal Street and the south bank of the Chicago River, from Twelfth Street to Lake Street, had been inadequate for the handling of the business in an economical and satisfactory manner. The Union Passenger Station, built in 1881, and used by four great railroad systems, namely, the Pennsylvania, the Chicago, Burlington and Quincy, the Chicago, Milwaukee and St. Paul, and the Chicago and Alton, occupied the area adjacent to Canal Street from Van Buren Street to Madison Street. Serving this station from the south were four main tracks, occupying, roughly, the middle ground between Canal Street and the Chicago River.
The freight facilities of the Pittsburgh,Fort Wayne and Chicago Railway Company were situated at various widely separated points. Directly opposite theUnion Station, the area adjacent to the Chicago River, between Jackson Street and Madison Street, was occupied by two inbound freight-houses. Between Jackson Street and Van Buren Street, adjacent to the river, was one outbound house and south of Van Buren Street, adjacent to Canal Street, was another outbound house. South of Polk Street, adjacent to the river, was another inbound house and team yard. North of the Union Station, at the corner of Madison and Canal Streets,was a team yard.
On the east side of Canal Street, between Harrison and Twelfth Streets, were the engine-house and freight terminal of the Chicago, Burlington and Quincy Railroad Company. Between the main tracks leading to the Union Station and the river, the area between Polk Street and Van Buren Street was occupied by the freight yards and houses of the Chicago and Alton Railroad Company, with the exception of three plots occupied by Marshall Field and Company and the Chicago Edison Electric Company.
The plans for the new Union Station, now being constructed, called for the elimination of all the freight facilities of the Pittsburgh, Fort Wayne and Chicago Railway Company, with the exception of the small inbound house and team tracks, south of Polk Street, and for the serious curtailment of these and of the freight facilities of the Chicago, Burlington and Quincy Railroad and Chicago and Alton Railroad Companies.
Plate VII shows the situation as it existed prior to the beginning of construction work on the new Union Station, with the outlines of the property required for the new Union Station shown in hachure. The location of the new freight facilities of the three railroads is superimposed.
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