Wheeling register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1878-1935, 1882-11-21
THE B. & o.'s POLICY.
How the Through Line Is to Take
in Wheeling,
And comuI.te the Direct Line From Chicago
to Pittsburgh-The Strategy by Which
Pittsburgh was Reached by the
Marrow Gauge Purchase.


TIL. Rro1srEr Of yesterday published the
fact that sixteen carloads Of Workmen and
tool. would arrive, yesterday, on the Balti-
NOR, and Ohio read and proceed at once TO
Wsshipgto, to begin the work OF widening
The gauge Of the Pittsburg Southern road
TIL. purchase Of the latter line, BY the d.
20 and the probable siguidcanes OF the
ownership, have slready been limited at
but later developments explain precisely
this stratsg.s movement BY which the b. q
o/eains western foOthold-iR Pittsburg.
The inspecting officers of the B. & 0. who
visited here a week ago, have returned to
Baltimore, having completed the inspection
of all lines and track east Of the Ohio river.
Friday and Saturday were spent upon the
Pittsburg Division and its numerous
branches penetrating the great coke region
in every direction. The massive new
bridge over the YoughioSheny, about a
mile east of Connellsville, was tested by the
inspection party, theirs being the hrst pas,
ssnger train to pas over il. The special
went ON TO Morrell, where there are almost
numberless coke ovens, the producS OF
which has hitherto been transported oy
wagon. The bridge itself is built for douole
track. and the road-bed constructed for IKE
nse, The Morreil Branch, as it is called,
Is really the commencement OF the cus-on
which Is to shorten the time between Bal
timore and Washington TO Chicago, by near
ly. If not quite, three hours. only tne
rom paratively short distance from the
Pittsburg Division below ConneIisville "
washington, Pa, will have 10 be laid with
rail to complete the new route, SS tne d.
& o. has already line from muesii ny
to Washington, Pa,,-the hempneiu III
vision. Loo,, -, o5s
from time to time to
plsLoDGE THE PENNSYLVANIA COMPANY
from its apparently impreSnabfe position
in controlling the great traffic west-bound
from Pittsburg, they have all failed, or so
nearly so as to make little or no impress
sion. The Pittsburg and Lake Erie, 1t is
true, is, in connection with the Vanderbilt
lines from Cleveland, a competitor to the
Pennsylvania for Chicago business, but 1t
figures to no very great extent as such. All
the business Of the B. & o. from Pittsburg
west-bound has been given to these roads,
the bulk of il TO the Pennsylvania road. 1t
is not much at the best under the existing
state of affairs, but its possibilities OF
growth have evidently been closely
studied by the Baltimore and Ohio manage
ment, and now it is plain that the
great iron metropolis is to be made the seat
of operations which cannot but cause the
road considerable concern.
Some time since paragraph appeared In
the public prints TO the effect that the
Southern Railroad had been
purchased by the Baltimore and Ohio, but
as 10 lust what was meant by this transac-
ton there appeared to be limit OF knowl-
edge. The Pennsylvania doubtless appre.
ciated something of its importance, and
Vanderbilt unquestionably smelled good
sized mouse. To the latter it possibly e1-
planned the anxiety of the Pittsburgh
Southern to gain his consent to crossing
bis lines to the coke regions, though
bad he had the slightest suspicion
that this crossing meant the letting
in to Pittsburgh of the B. & o. by new
line, it is quite possible he would have
remarked regarding the road as
be is said by Chicago reporters to nave re-
marked regarding the public. So, too, the
as to the eIigency that
might arise relative to passing over its
tracks, while the property holder who
parted with fifteen miles right
)f way on reason able terms would very
likely had higher bidders from rival lines
bad Il been suspected that the B. & o. was
the moving spirit in all these interesting
details. The fact of the matter is the
Baltimore and Ohio was
THE UNDIsPUTED OWNER
Of the Pittsburgh Southern Railroad nearly
i've weeks prior to any outside knowledge
IF the purchase, and all the preliminaries
10 making the availability of the new lire
certain were accomplished before Wander
Dilt, the Pennsylvania or any one else but
the inside few knew anything OF the trans
Ter of the property. Third Vice President
Spencer, with his associates in the transac-
ton, John K. Cowen, counsel of the COM
pany, and Superintendent King, of the
division, were the trio OF the
Baltimore and Ohio officials who &C
complished the whole business, and
they did it with great neatness, thor
oughpess, tact and secrecy. With tie
Southern the Baltimore and
Ohio will speedily open active work as
direct and unpurchasable competitor OF
the Pennsylvauia for not only the enorm-
Gus traffic originating in Pittsburgh, and
difusing throughout the West, but that OF
the West in the shape of cereal products,
which so largely centre in that city. The
Pittsburgh Southern is narrow gauge,
thir,y.six miles in length, and extending
from Pittsburgh to Washington, Pa, and
when built it was mostly graded for the
standard guage. The b. and o. will not use
the line into Pittsburgh direct, but has for
upward of month bad very large force
of men at work constructing fifteen miles
of new line, which, starting from
Finlysville, on the Pittsburg Southern,
connects with the Pittsburg Division Of the
Baltimore and Ohio at Glenwood, from
which point there is a double track into
Pittsburg. These matters were also Of the
arrangements perfected by Messrs. Spencer,
Cowen and King before the world came to
know OF their doings. The contractor is
under $25, 900 bonds TO have the hfteen
miles completed by April Is. Meantime
the gauge is being changed to the standard,
and by the time the spring business opens
up in Pittsburg, the Baltimore and Ohio
will be so strong in the territory that has
so long been absolutely controlled BY the
Pennsylvania as to make itself decidedly
felt.
PASSES THROUGH WHEELING.
The B. & o. line will be via the Pittsburg
Southern to Washington, Pa, thence over
the present Hempfeld division to Wheel
ing, thence to Chicago over the Trans-0hio
divisions. While little longer than the
Pennsylvania line, the PIttsburg, Fort
Wayne and Chicago, it will rot be enough
less than fifty miles-to make any appre-
cipble difference. 1t is, however, but the
question Of less than year when the B. &
o., in connection with the Pittsburg and
Western, will have the short line to Chi.
cage, thus becoming q doubly formidable
rival to the old line. The interest of the
Pittsburg and Western and the B. &
o. are largely interviewer and the
arrangements between the two roads will
make them practically Is one. Mr.. Hynd-
man, formerly Superintendent Of the Pitts
burgh Division of the B. & o., is the gene.
raj manager Of the P. and W., and the two
companies control the Junction road, now
in course of construction through, more