The Tiffin tribune. (Tiffin, Ohio) 1868-1887, 1871-08-03
EVENING, AUGUST 3. 1871.
The Great Railroad Tr;umDh.

7 lIlsesI and Of mighty railroad feats.-
! Hhen the Union Pacific road was con-
!, trueted and track laid at the rate Ol
. alfee and four mI.-s = day, We thought
mere was nothing left 10 be done in
, ais connection To ast0nish the people.
= SuI IN this We We're quite mistaken.
n nr SuniiSy last the Ohio & Mississip-
= u railroad authorities and those in
!, Ter employ accomplished a work
o which Ior orcOmpleteness of preparation,
3 extent of the work and dispatch with
which it was accomplished, quite
\ esllpsed all previous railroad feats.
In Is5f the entire line Of the o. &
q \. road was opened, creating some
. what ola sensation, inasmuch as it
, was broad guage, being Is inches
WIDER than the usual roads of the
country. The capacity Of its coaches,
with increased comfort, attracted the
attention of travellers, who were not
slew TO see the benefits which thespa-
= ci'us ears furnished them in theirnas-
, sage through the country.
: There Were those in that daV that
: foresaw what has since become plain
! to many others, namely, that this in
!, erased capacity was at the expense of
, rolling stock and track, and the broad
guige BoiIld hardly be able to COM
pee finally with the harrow guage
roalS. to which the railroad was more
|. and more turning each year -T-.
J The officers Of the o. & NJ. road were
imposed for years with the tlisadvan-
tages Pntafied upon them by the six
feet slage, disadvantages in cOnnec-
tions, in the through ear traffic, and
IN tie increased amount Of dead
weight necessarily attached TO the
broad S1age engines and cars, and
ehans was meditated rs soon rs it
could be accomplished.
7 Sui II was not = clild's play To-
make the change. y large outlay Of
money was necessary, and the prep
arations made, were OF no ordinary
magnitude
( On the 25th of January last tlle
/ change To four feet nine inches was
decided on, and the officers at once set
themselves at work to prepare for the
work. II was, however, not until
April that active preparations had be-
gun .. o..
Whe;r it is remembered that the
company had three hundred and forty
miles Of road, besides the louisville
division, eighty-seyen locomotives, I
fifteen hundred cars, hand ears and .
other machinery, besides side tracks, f.
all OF which sooner or later had to be I
| changed, part of 1t before the change I
M the track, some idea Of the activ- !
lty of the measures tp lac adopted may /
be formed.
Anticipating thenew order of things |
fortynew locomotives were purchased, /
all OF which iIave been delivered, and |
are HOW ready foruse. Five new pas
senger cars have been provided
Twenty-elght engines and seven hun
dred cars, of different Kinds, were |
changed from the broad TO tire mar /
row guage, the engines at a cost each .
Of s, 500. a... .-.
Besides this the broad guage rolling ]
stock had to be so disposed rs to have
IL at last where changes cOnld he made,
which was ut Cincinnati, st. Louis, /
Nincennes and COchFane. Seven hun .
dred new freight ears and three hnn- |
dred new box cars were contracted .
for. .. ....
While this was going on men were |
busily employed preparing to change |
the track. Ali the curves were sur
Veyed, and on nearly all of them the .
track was laid, inasmuch rs here the /
change could not so readily he made /
by moving in the old rails. The ties .
were chamfefed, that is, hewn Off
with an adZe on the uppeFsuriaeea ut the I
point where the Old rail was to rest, |
which was seven and a half inches in
wardly from the old position. To IA /
cilitate the business, in the alternate /
cross ties, at the point where the in |
neT side of the rail was to rest, spikes /
We're driven so that the rail when re- /
leased from its old faStenings, could \
be moved Immediately against them, l
and at once occupy the new position. 1
This work was proceeding for weeks. /
At the same time preparations Were L
made to change the side tracks. The |
switches, small rs they are, were I
troublesome TO change, but this was
rods that would be needed, an1t
then splicing them, so that when the !
splice Should be removed the connec- /
ton between the rods and the outer
rail could be made at once. To still |
further expedite the business the old |
spikes in the alternate ties were re-
moved, in order to reduce the labor on |
the day of change to the minimum. /
The day of The elimination of the i
plans drew near, and there was moth ]
ing incomplete The last passengerl
train on the broad guage left Cincin- Z
matt and st. Louis on Saturday morn
ing. At daylight the hands were sent !
over The road. phe employees Of other
roads had been drawn upon to the ]
number of nearly one thousand, swell ]
ling the Whole number FOR tie last |
day to about twenty-five hundred -
The force was divided intQ squads of 1
seven men, each squad taking one
mile, and the squads of each five miles I
assigned To 4 section boss. ..-
At midnight, on Saturday, the roll !
ling stock of the road was all disposed !
according to Encouragement, and the |
road bed was ready for the cOntem- !
plated change AT the first blush Of
dawn yesterday morning the work |.
commenced along the entire line. The /
squads in each section, divided in two /,
parts, cOmmenced at the outside of
the section and worked inwardly, the !
two PARTIES approaching each other
A part of the force drew the spikes
that held the old rails, and when they
were sufficiently advanced, others
were ready to apply their tools and
shove The rail inwardiy 10 the place
designated by the spikes already driv-
en-several rails might be removed at
once, for il must be remembered that
on nearly the whole of the road is the
Fish joint rail, the several rails being
hound together rs one, so thatIt was
like moving the whole track. The
rail once moved to its place, the re-
mainder of the party came, and i'm the
alternate ties drove the outside spikes,
which finished the work. ,......
The first section finished was at
Adamson, at 4:25 in the morning
This was followed by others in quick
succession, so that by II o'clock i'm the
morning; n. Gazly, Esq, the attorney
of the road, received dispatch from
Engineer LOvett, saying the work was
done, having been accomplished in an
average time TO each section of about
seven hours.
1t was a work grandly prepared
for AMI most triumphantly achieved.