Complete rearrangement of heating, lighting, and power services of all the buildings within a ten-block area of the Grand Central railway and subway terminal zone, ax well as a difficult problem in demolition, was occasioned by the location of the site of the new Waldorf-Astoria Hotel in New York City, The hotel, a skyscraper 46 stories high, occupies a block over the New York Central tracks, with column footings that go far below the railroad bed. The most intricate problem was moving the railroad powerhouse from the middle of the block. The steam service requirement way solved by arranging for a new supply from a large central steam company, An old boiler plant, 100 feet under 43rd Street, was converted into what is maid to be the inngest electrical sab-station in the world. Thousands of feot of steam and hot water pipe had to be measured at the site, fabirioated at a dis tance, transported, erected and connected without any possible fractional discrepancies, Less than eight months were available to study the problem, redesign the plant and put the changes into effect, and further complications arose from the necessity of maintaining all the utilities at normal daring the change over. The work Was supervised by the railroad's chief engineer, Particular care was taken to eliminate any possible vibration from teams, Vibra tion mats laid on top of each concrete foot Ing consisted of one cheet of lead tein. thick, a sheet of compressed asbestos tin. thick, then a sheet of galvanized iron about the thickness of " postal card, a about of asbestos and a top sheet of bin. lead, A space of G-ina wax left between the concrete footings and the surrounding concrete or rock. On top of these mara came the steel grillages, and on top of each arilinge is bolted an tron billet, to which in turn arp bolted the stoo} building columns,
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