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corbel blocks set upon 8 in. by 8 in. posts. This floor was used in icing cars with cake ice and has a set of gravity slides from the elevating and lowering machines, which deliver ice to the platform conveyors.

The third floor of the "working space," which is 22 ft. 3 in. above the top of rail of the tracks, has a sub-floor of 1 in. plank laid diagonally, then one thickness of waterproof paper, and a finished floor of 2 in. plank. The floor slopes to a gutter along the west side of the room, which is connected to downspouts. This floor is used for the making and handling of crushed ice. The crusher is upon a platform 7 ft. above the floor on the center line of the elevating and lowering machinery in the

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center of the room. This is arranged so that cake ice can be delivered to the crusher from either elevating and lowering machine on the north or south side of the working space. There are double sash windows at each end of this room, and the windows on the west side of the building are partly protected by sun shades. The roof over the working space runs east and west, and is carried on framed wood trusses of similar construction to that of the main building.

Along the west side of the ice house, paralleling the icing tracks are three levels of platforms, 13 ft. 9 in. wide, and extending the full length of the building, and beyond at each end, with a total length of 1,009 ft. The first platform level is 3 ft. 9 in. above grade, and the floor slopes towards the conveyor, which is located along the platform close to the building. The second floor is 13 ft. 3 in. above grade, the same elevation as the second floor of the working space, and is built level with the

conveyor along the platform close to the building. The third floor of the platform is 22 ft. 3 in. above grade, corresponding to the third floor of the working space, and has a sloping frame canopy of composition roofing with a frame hood to give additional protection from the weather.

The construction of these platforms is of yellow pine lumber. The 8 in. by 8 in. posts extend from the concrete footing to the third platform level. The other pieces used are 10 in. by 16 in. girders, 3 in. by 10 in. joists spaced 16 in. apart, and 2 in. plank for floor.

In operating the plant as first rebuilt in 1917, the natural ice from the surrounding country was received at the first floor platform in cars and

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delivered by the conveyors to the working space; also ice was delivered by wagon direct to the working space, where the blocks were handled by the elevating machines, into the storage rooms. In taking blocks of ice from the storage rooms for icing of cars, the method of handling was the same, the successive steps being simply reversed. But as the operation of the plant progressed, it was found that the facilities for handling ice into the house were entirely inadequate. This was especially true if the winter's supply of natural ice was small, and it became necessary to bring manufactured ice to the platform for storage in the house. At such times there might be cars of ice for storage held out by train of cars being iced at platform. In these cases, the icing of cars at the platform was done from cars on an adjoining track, the ice being handled from car to car by hand.

As the perishable shipments through this station increased, which were especially heavy during the period of the World War, making larger demands for ice, it was found that the storage space must be increased and in 1918-1919 an additional storage capacity of 6,000 tons was added to the house, and later, in 1919, to facilitate the handling of the block ice into the house, there was made midway between the two ends of each storage room at the second floor platform, doors through which cakes of ice are handled for storage. Inside the building, at each

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ICING FACILITIES-ILLINOIS CENTRAL RAILROAD-WATERLOO, IOWA

of these doors, is a platform and a flexible conveyor 44 ft. 9 in. in length, one end of which is fastened to the platform at the floor level, while the other end can be raised or lowered by means of cables and pulleys hung from the roof trusses to meet the levels of ice as stored in the house. These flexible conveyors proved so very successful in handling ice into the house that they are now used also for moving block ice out of the storage rooms to the platform conveyors, and the elevating and lowering machines are now used exclusively for moving cake ice from the storage rooms to the crusher room above.

To provide better facilities for the unloading of cars of ice at this house, there was built, in 1919, an elevated trestle of pile and timber

construction, 10 ft. high at the north end of the house, on the east side of the platform, which brings the floor of the car on the same level as the second story platform. The trestle has a capacity of seven cars, and ice from these is placed on the platform conveyor which delivers to the house for storage, or direct to the cars where the ice is placed in the bunkers.

The block ice for cars is taken from the storage rooms at second platform level, being received from the flexible conveyors in the house, and placed on the platform conveyor, which delivers it to the cars, where

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it is placed in the bunkers by hand. When the ice is to be taken from the house for crushing, the cakes are moved from the storage rooms by means of the skids to the elevating machines in each storage room, at the wall of the working space. The elevating machine is so arranged that a receiving basket is installed to receive the cake of ice from the skids. From this basket the ice is taken by the machine and delivered to the crusher on the third floor of the working space, and after passing through this machine which breaks it into pieces less than 1 ft. cube, it is delivered to the cars in carts traveling along the third floor platform. From this platform the crushed ice is placed in cars by means of a No. 14 gauge sheet iron spout, hung from a 60-lb. iron rail placed

along the edge of the platform for its entire length. The pipe section of this spout is 12 in. in diameter and the receiving end into which crushed ice is dumped from the carts increases to a 3 ft. by 3 ft. opening. The receiving end of the spout is fastened by a hinged arrangement to a two-wheel truck traveling on the 60-lb. rail, the wheels of the truck being 5 ft. apart. A third wheel 3 ft. from the truck and fastened to the end of a steel plate, prevents tipping. This third wheel travels along the platform on a 8 in. by 4 in. steel plate the full length of the platform. By means of a bent metal arm with movable counter

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weight, the discharge or lower end of the spout is moved through the arc of a circle to position, for the icing of cars. This operation and the moving of the truck with the spout along the platform is all done by hand from the platform level.

The salt used in connection with the icing of cars is delivered in cars and spouted to a concrete conveyor pit located under the first floor platform and directly under the working space. A conveyor takes the salt to a bin of 24-ton capacity in the crusher room on the third floor. This bin is 6 ft. 8 in. above the floor; it is of timber construction and is lined inside with 2 in. sheathing. The bottom slopes to the center where a spout with control gate allows the filling of carts. There is

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