Ashtabula weekly telegraph. [volume] (Ashtabula, Ohio) 1853-1873, 1871-09-30
THE LAKE SHORE ROAD,
New ImProvements-Enor Traffic
Increased Facilities.
From the Detroit Tribune.

Under its present official management the
Lake Shore and Michigan Southern Railroad
has unqueslionably become one of the most
admirable lines of railway in the United st,ics,
and the management are inau ,urating IA srrit S
OF improvements which will give still Gurti.t +
facilities for the transaction of the immense
business which is constantly pressing upon l..
The work OF constructing double track from
Buffalo 10 Chicago Is already in progress, and
sections are completed. From Cleveland
west, the trains run out for II considerable
distance on the track of the Cleveland, CO.
lumbus and Cincinnati line, which thus far is
alleady provided with II double track Sill
another is 10 be laid however, So that four
parallel tracks will speedily travels. this Sec
ton. The improvement is being extended
towards Toledo, and great part Of this work
Will be completed this season. Sections of
double track already exist between Cleveland
and Buffalo, and the gaps will be filled us
suon as ii can be done On .he division lie.
tween Toledo and Chicago double line cx-
lists US far as Elkhart, and the design is To
double track The remainder speedily
The business demands upon this line have
become enormous, as indeed is The case with
all the great trunk roads east and west On
the Toledo division over sixty trains are run
daily and the necessity for increased track Ia
ciiIics and other Improvements has become
imperative. The rolling stock of the line is
already large, but new and more powerful To-
comotives must be obtained 10 drive the trains
which are constantly increasing in size and
weight, especially as regards the passenger
traffic. The company is therefore putting 100
new locomotives ON the line, which will be
larger and stronger than any hitherto cm-
played. They will have 17X24 inch cylinders
and The passenger engines will have the same
power as those designed for The freight busi-
ness, with however, The usual difference in
tuelr favor in the size of the driving wheels
The increased power in the passenger locomo-
tives has been rendered necessary by the in
crease in the size of The passenger trains which
are now dispatched over all their trunk lines.
The Superintendent of the Cleveland and To-
ledo division states that 1t is not an uncommon
occurrence for the through expnss ut night 10
ave Cleveland with two baggage cars and
tn passenger coaches, half Of which at least
will be sleeping cars filled with passengers,
ald drawing very heavily. The day trains
carry niue aud ten cars as rule. Such trains
have proved altogether too heavy loads Tor
many OF the present engines to handle with
the speed required Tor the through business,
and new locomotives are therefore being
bought by the quantity.
The cOaches run on the through trains are
now OF very high order, and many OF the
drawinl;-room cars and the Wagner sleepers
are not surpassed by anything in the country
Gu all the trstclass through coaches the six
wheeled trucks are used, u vast improvement
In comfort and soliditY over the four wheeled
oles, although they draw somewhat more
heavily and are more damaging 10 the rails.
That they are an improvement, however. is
evidenced by the fact that they are being
adopted by the best railroads in the country
for all their frst-class cars. The coaches are
all provided with the Miller platform, air
brakes are at the command of the engineer,
and everything which experience hss s'.-s---'
"