The Portland daily press., 1865-02-06
The Third Rair-practioal Difficulties.

! latiye Railroad Committee, and we publish
the following remarks, therefore, written
some days since, not SO much for any lnnu-
ence they are expected to exert upon TINS
question, as to satisfy those who nave elamof-
ed for third rail from here TO Boston that
thew have really lost nothing, that they have
been pursuing an tgntS fatuuS, mat tnird
rail on that route is totally impractcaoie II
{ 4 not practically impossible. y z1AA.% g
Il is very easy for the Boston Board Of
Trade to write about third rail from this
city to that-practically extending the Grand
Trunk to the "Hnb"--and it. Is equally easy
for Mr.. John A. Poor, from his new railroad
headquarters in Boston, to talk about extend
log the ''broad gauge from Halifax to New
York." aud 1t Is not difficult thing for por-
ton of our people to get their fears excited
lest Portland should be Switched OF" by
some Poor management; but after these things
have occurred; after the talk has all been in
duleed in and the fears have been excited,
there are a few practical questions that stand
out unanswered.
1.-Who is to pay the expense OF laying
third raj? 1t will require no small amount
Of money in times like these, to lay hundred
and twelve miles, even of single rail, and who
Is to foot the bill? Will the Grand Trunk do
it? TIE G. T. has as large load on its broad
shoulders as 1t can comfortably carry, and no
fear need be entertained that it will take on
responsibility OF such doubtful feasibility
Z Will the Eastern Railroad corporation do it !?
We are told by those who ought to know, that
this corporation looks with disiavor upon the
project. But suppose they could do 1t from
Boston to Portsmouth, who will continue the
81 rail over the P. S. & P. road, of which
the Eastern Railroad Company has only
lease2 Would the P. S. & P. road be likely
to favor project which would create a strong
motive for the Boston & Maine road TO seek
for some other route by which to reach Port
land, in order to avoid the increased danger
from complex gauge?
2.-Suppose Sd rail to be laid, how are
trains to be run2 The Boston Board of Trade
show their ignorance of the practical difficult
ties in the way of such an arrangement, by
suggesting that mixed trains may be run
trains made up In part Of narrow and in part
hardly be expected to supply itself with a
double set of rolling stock, to at two different
gauges; nor is it presumed they would allow
the Grand Trunk to run trains over their road.
Trains of mixed cars, therefore, would
seem to be an inevitable result of q mixed
gauge, and yet the running of such trains,
consistently with reasonable safety, is prGcti-
all L. - Al l.
and narrow cars, standing as they would with
one side upon the same rail, would strike by
each other. No man could go between the
cars to shackle them with any safety. They
could not be coupled with single link, but
would require chain, which would leave al
together too much slack between the cars,
! and then. especially in passing curves. the
draft would be diagonally to the rail, and thus
tend to pull the cars from the track. These
are real and not simply ideal dificulties-difi-
3 cnlties which have been talked over by rail-
road men, aud they have been suggested to us
by gentleman who has more practical knowl-
edge of railroading, probably, than the whole
8 Boston Board of Trade put together,
sisao 3-Sappose it be decided to lay down a Sd
rail, outside Of the narrow gauge rails, has it
occurred to those who seem to look upon it
. asa very trifing undertaking, that an entire
set OF new ties would be required; that ordi-
nary narrow gauge sleepers are not long
u enough to admit rail nine inches nearer the
end than the narrow gauge rail is laid? Does
a itoecar to such persons that every platform,
every depot, and every bridge ON the line is
Z liable to require changing in order to admit a
rail nine inches outside of the present rails.
Have they considered that every switch would
require changing and duplicating, thus in
PRODUCING additional confusion and danger {?
Thesedificulties can all be met, but they only
show that such change as the Boston Board
of Trade talk about, may involve very much
larger outlay than perhaps they contemplate,
working as they evidently do from theoreti-
y cal AMI not from practical base.
49, 4.-Finally, has it not been demonstrated
Is over and over again. that it is impracticable,
TO any great extent to run the rolling stock OF
one corporation over the track Of another I?
Does any Kennebec & Portland passenger cars
v run to Boston, or any Boston cars run to the
o,sK x snnebec, except on special occasions
80 Would a third rail give the slightest possible
advantage over the present arrangement, to
passengers going through to Boston? By no
means, for the passengers from the Ksnnebec
change juat as much as do those brought
Gin by the Grand Trunk road. 1t is, then; for
purposes of freight, only that the "friends" of
Mr.. John A. Poor, in "the lower provinces,
a urge the extensionSof the broad gauge from
Portland to Neto York" Boshl Who be-
llevss that freight, to any extent, is to be sent
from Portland to New York, or dice perse, by
rail, much less from Halifax to Boston! The
idea is too preposteroas to require amoment's
serious consideration.
q The truth is, In our judgement, the Massa-
chusetts people, when asked to aid the scheme
s of Mr.. Poor, were very anxious to md some
excuse for politely bowling him out of the
State House door, and 60 they seized upon
u our alleged "unfriendly" statute. If no such
statute had stood in the way some other ex-
cuse would have been made available, and IL
me statute was repealed all the aid granted by
0assaeaasetts 10 railroad in eastern Maine,
4 nlsns pc putin amosquito's eye and not make
Inc insect wink. The Bostonions know very
we'll that no railroad from Banoor To the
r Provinces can bring grists to their mill or to
New York. We doubt If such a road would
sensibIy adsct the trade Of Portland. Bangor
would derive slgnal benefit from 1T, and there
the great bulk OF the freighting business
would switch off and take the easier and
cheaper conveyance by water; aud in our
. opinion, the energy and capital of Portland
can be expended to infinitely better purpose,
especially II the objects to build up the city,
than in constructing roads into the slower
provinces" with which we now have very
com Fortabiey communications, eight or nine