INTRODUCTION

       Broad Street Station was opened on December 5, 1881, and for many years after its construction was the largest passenger terminal in the world.  Its record of service spanned  three wars, and   it arose  from the ashes of two spectacular  fires to speedily begin new eras of usefulness to travelers. 

       The original Broad Street Station, a four-story Gothic brick structure, was con- sidered a stupendous undertaking, both from engineering and financial viewpoints. It  was served by eight tracks on the elevated wall structure which were covered by two arched sheds. The first  timetable  showed  that  Broad Street Station was  used  by 80 inbound and 80 outbound trains daily.  Soon after the station was completed, Wilmington,Baltimore, and West Chester traffic was taken into it, bringing a sharp increase  in  the number of passenger  trains operated in and out of the  terminal, and  additional facilities were required.

          In 1890, the station was enlarged and the number of tracks increased to 12; two years later, four additional tracks were added, and  the  massive  train shed covering  more than four acres was completed. In connection with the general improvements,  an  enlarged  office  building was constructed,  and on July  9, 1894,  the Company's General Offices were  transferred  from  233  South  Fourth   Street  to  Broad  Street  Station.

      The train shed was destroyed by fire on June 11, 1923, in one of the most serious blazes in Philadelphia's history.   Another fire which gutted a block-square track and platform area immediately adjacent to Broad Street Station was experienced on Sep- tember 13, 1943.

        Broad Street Station  has served the City of  Philadelphia   well during the past seventy  (70)  years.   It is an old landmark that many of us will dislike seeing go-but remember-it is being   replaced  by one of the  most modern,  practical and  beautiful   passenger terminals in the world.

         Prior to  the opening  of  Suburban  Station  on September 28, 1930,   some four hundred  fifty ( 450 )  odd  trains a  day operated in and out of  Broad  Street  Station. The  ninety ( 90 )   remaining  trains now operating in and out of Broad Street Station will  be handled at  Suburban  Station or  Pennsylvania Station-30th Street.  The gen- eral idea  is that all  "MU"  suburban   trains  will operate in and  out of the Suburban Station,  and   all other  trains  will  operate  in and out  of the Lower Level, Pennsyl- vania Station-30th Street.

         The  prohibition of  coal-burning  locomotives under the Suburban Station and  the Lower Level at  Pennsylvania  Station-30th   Street  presents a problem to which  the two-level plan  for the operation of  P. R. S. L. trains seems to offer the best solu- tion.   Outward   trains to  the  P. R. S. L. will be  set  up at the extreme   north end of Pennsylvania  Station  30th Street,  on the  Lower   Level, with the  locomotive cou- pling to train outside the station. Inbound trains will arrive on Tracks 1, 2, 3 or 4 on

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