Chapter 10 In the other large room,soon to be seen By Esteban & his friends was a large massive Roots rotary blower housing a pair of winged rotors within it. The vertical oval shaped piece of machinery housing the twin rotors was 21 feet high,13 feet wide & 18 feet in length.
In the engine room adjacent to it,was the large twin cylinder steam engine that drove the the blower through four large gears & the aforementioned large,single long shaft.
Vincent & the others entered through a pair of doors that were mechanically rigged to another pair of doors at the other end of a room,
so that if one pair of doors were open,the others could not be opened. This room functioned as an airlock,keeping any air from unnecessarily escaping.
The decorative wooden doors were were made of almost thick,but solid wood & were of a pre-Victorian design.
They entered through the second pair of doors.
They came into a large saloon & waiting area that was 120 feet long.
Esteban was the first to see the main interior of the subway station & gasped at the immensity of it.
AT the end of the waiting area was the mouth of an eight foot diameter tunnel. A pair of steps led down from the waiting area to the subway platform & tunnel entrance. Unseen in front of the tunnel & to the right of it was an opening covered by a decorative grate that had an identical door set into it that was locked to the right of the grated opening was the twin cylinder stationary steam engine of about two hundred horsepower that Esteban heard it was the large drive shaft geared to the engines' flywheel & followed by it were a pair of large boilers.
Though cosmetically restored,the boilers were beyond repair. Instead, a steam main supplied the pressurized steam to the engine that Mouse had rigged to it.
What everyone didn't see was that directly beneath the waiting area was another opening for air to circulate through the blower ,but the only visible evidence that it was there was a grated opening in the waiting room floor next to the rooms' right wall. The area from everyone's point of view looked like the late 19th century front basement dining room of a first class city residence.
The interior as well as the lighting within the tunnel was originally lit by gas lamps which Mouse & others had converted to electricity.
Above the tunnel entrance was a keystone of pressed brick over which were the letters in German text that read 'Pneumatic'
followed below it by the year '1870' & then below it the word 'TRANSIT',the two T's larger than the rest of the words' lettering.
In the engine room adjacent to it,was the large twin cylinder steam engine that drove the the blower through four large gears & the aforementioned large,single long shaft.
Vincent & the others entered through a pair of doors that were mechanically rigged to another pair of doors at the other end of a room,
so that if one pair of doors were open,the others could not be opened. This room functioned as an airlock,keeping any air from unnecessarily escaping.
The decorative wooden doors were were made of almost thick,but solid wood & were of a pre-Victorian design.
They entered through the second pair of doors.
They came into a large saloon & waiting area that was 120 feet long.
Esteban was the first to see the main interior of the subway station & gasped at the immensity of it.
AT the end of the waiting area was the mouth of an eight foot diameter tunnel. A pair of steps led down from the waiting area to the subway platform & tunnel entrance. Unseen in front of the tunnel & to the right of it was an opening covered by a decorative grate that had an identical door set into it that was locked to the right of the grated opening was the twin cylinder stationary steam engine of about two hundred horsepower that Esteban heard it was the large drive shaft geared to the engines' flywheel & followed by it were a pair of large boilers.
Though cosmetically restored,the boilers were beyond repair. Instead, a steam main supplied the pressurized steam to the engine that Mouse had rigged to it.
What everyone didn't see was that directly beneath the waiting area was another opening for air to circulate through the blower ,but the only visible evidence that it was there was a grated opening in the waiting room floor next to the rooms' right wall. The area from everyone's point of view looked like the late 19th century front basement dining room of a first class city residence.
The interior as well as the lighting within the tunnel was originally lit by gas lamps which Mouse & others had converted to electricity.
Above the tunnel entrance was a keystone of pressed brick over which were the letters in German text that read 'Pneumatic'
followed below it by the year '1870' & then below it the word 'TRANSIT',the two T's larger than the rest of the words' lettering.