all the rolling stock may at all times be in the highest state of
efficiency; and in this respect the provision made by the company has
been lavish and liberal to a degree.

The repair and inspection shop of the Interborough Rapid Transit
Company adjoins the car yards of the company and occupies the entire
block between Seventh Avenue on the west, Lenox Avenue and the Harlem
River on the east, 148th Street on the south, and 149th Street on the
north. The electric subway trains will enter the shops and car yard by
means of the Lenox Avenue extension, which runs directly north from
the junction at 142d Street and Lenox Avenue of the East Side main
line. The branch leaves the main line at 142d Street, gradually
approaches the surface, and emerges at about 147th Street.

[Sidenote: _General
Arrangement_]

The inspection shed is at the southern end of the property and
occupies an area of approximately 336 feet by 240 feet. It is divided
into three bays, of which the north bay is equipped with four tracks
running its entire length, and the middle bay with five tracks. The
south bay contains the machine-tool equipment, and consists of
eighteen electrically driven machines, locker and wash rooms, heating
boilers, etc., and has only one track extending through it.

[Sidenote: _Construction_]

The construction of the inspection shops is that which is ordinarily
known as "reinforced concrete," and no wood is employed in the walls
or roof. The building is a steel structure made up of four rows of
center columns, which consist of twenty-one bays of 16 feet each,
supporting the roof trusses. The foundations for these center columns
are concrete piers mounted on piles. After the erection of the steel
skeleton, the sides of the building and the interior walls are
constructed by the use of 3/4-inch furring channels, located 16 inches
apart, on which are fastened a series of expanded metal laths. The
concrete is then applied to these laths in six coats, three on each
side, and termed respectively the scratch coat, the rough coat, and
the fining coat. In the later, the concrete is made with white sand,
to give a finished appearance to the building.

The roof is composed of concrete slabs, reinforced with expanded metal
laths and finished with cement and mortar. It is then water-proofed
with vulcanite water-proofing and gravel.

In this connection it might be said that, although this system of
construction has been employed before