Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1889-12-20
THE C. & O.. SYSTEM.
GREAT IMPROVEMENTS BEING MADE
ALLALONG THE LINE.
A Talk with President ingalls, About the
Future Of Virginia and
This Railway.


cent visit 10 Cincinnati was accorded a
lengthy interview with President M. u.
ingalls,. of the Chesapeake and Ohio Rail-
way Company, and writes about it as fol-
lows, giving q vast deal of readable infor-
nation concerning improvements now IN
progress and Others projected
CINCINNATI. December 1889.
Among the foremost men OF the day IS
NJ. L. Ingalls,, president of the Chesapeake
and Ohio railway and OF the great Big
Four system. rs well as Of other interests.
Mr.. Ingalls, ia doing great work for Slr-
ginia. being the promoter OF important
enterprises in that State. To his energies
and comprehensive judgment are due the
vigorous and substantial development or
the Chesapeake and Ohio railway system.
sfr. ingalls, is one Of those men who think
and act so quickly that before you know
you have presented your caseyou are sur
prised to find your proposition .compre-
hcnded. revOlyed. and determined. the an
swer being ready for you. lsupposea man
"a busy as Mr.. lncalls IS has TO think that
WAY. or he wouldn't be guiding the various
combinations that so strongly aceentuate
the evident tendency to railway consolida-
tion-a tendency. by the way. that pro-
misses 20 solve the railroad problem IN TINS
country.
The BIG BRIDGE.
Cincinnati ia indebted 10 Mr.. ingalls, for
the finest Of the four bridges that cross
the Ohio here, "A bridge that cost i've mil
lions of dollars Ii Is the Chesapeake and
Ohio railway bridge. but II Is splendid
avenue also for fOOt-passengers and ye-
hicles Notwithstanding the fact that Mr..
MEALS is so deeply engaged IN great busi-
ness interests he finds time 10 be active IN
public affairs of general import, taking
leading port in all matters of political and
economical bearing.
GREAT TRAINS.
Twas lucltv enough TO catch this very
busy man in his Office to-day, where / called
TO INQUIRE about the improvements on the
Chesapeake and Ohio and the incidental
DEVELOPMENT along the line. Mr.. ingalls,
was nc once interested. Hc said:
Our business has increased so rapidly
that we have found 1t difficult to keep mp
with it. You know, suppose, that there
il an almost unprecedented demand lor
iron. OF course this makes very heavy
demand for coal. These two things. to-
gether with the iargely-increascd general
freight traffic on the hneo of the Chesapeake
and Ohio. have taxed Us to the utmost c.
Dacitv. The fact Is the growth has be'n
So rapid that we have not had enough
rollinr-stock to carry all the busi-
ness offered TO u. All tie coal-roads
have been especially busy this sea-
son. and everywhere there i q cal
for moro cars. The shops, IN fact, are un-
able 10 meet the demand for new ears. As
rapidly as possibe-and That Is very rapid
1--WE are making our equipment adc-
auate TO the rush of business. Nithln
Yorv short time we shall be able to take
care of All the business that can come TO
our line and shall ourselves bee creating
new business, rs the InonaCcmcnt 81 the
company is actively interested IN the de-
velopement Of some OF .he finest mineral
lands in the world that lle contiguous
10 the road. We are now almost
fully equipped. having obtained many
now freight-cars and having con-
tracts for the delivery of others that
will be put on the line as fast "a ,they can
be ,urncd out Of The shops. We have got
ten thirty new consolidated engine
enormous capable Of pulling the
heaviest freight trains over the mountains.
We have also contracted for three ten
wheel passenger engines. weighing without
the tender 10000 pounds each. hese are
among tho largest passenger engines ever
made. One of them was put INTO
service the other day and ~ now pull
ing the /. i. v, maMng schedule tIne
with that heavy train. The other sWo ".
be delivered soon and will be used for the
I
! ton. Heretofore We have had 10 e. two
/ engines 10 handle this train over tho
| heaviest part of the limo. but tho Work VIII
now be done b. these new monsters,
which will also supply steam Tor heating
the cars and running the dynamo OF the
/ elcctric-light plant Thus, You see, we are,
or Will be IN the near future, amply
| equipped with rolling stock both Tor
/ freight and passenger business.
NEW TRACK ROOM.
"To accommodate all this we needed
/ now track-room and new and increased
ward facilities. Consequently We nave put
/ down twentv-siX miles OF new sldlngs that
are now complete. and are having fourteen
miles Of side-track that viii be completed
in thirty DAYS, giving Us altogether forty
miles OF new sidlugs. You can put good
many cars on forty miles of track. In addi-
ton 10 this we have built ten miles Of dou-
bio track on the old portion OF theToad amt
six miles on the Cincinnati division, so
that altogether va have ftty-slN mics oi
additional track 10 GIVE room Tor m
/ crcasing business We are constructing
two secfiOns OF second OF double track IN
fbe Groeubrier district ami about ten
miles Of siding between Anderson e"d
Clifton Forge within q very short time
we will be able TO pass 100 cars IN every
three miles on the Huntington DIVISION,
leaving the main line entirely free for the
| i. =. Y. limited and our other fast express
trains.
NEW YARDS, SHOPS, AND DErOrs.
Ofcourse all this new rollinc-stock and
newtrack-roOm uccessitates increased yard
facilities. We are building extensive new
wards at Orleans street, klchmond; ~
Gladstone. on the James-Riyer DIVISION;
al Clifton Forge, at Hinton, at Upper
Creek near Canuelton, at ~. AiDan,, al
Russell. NY, opposite lronton, ana at
COyington, ny. All Of these are important
improvements to the line. as the AVERAGE
capacitv OF the yards Will be at least 1000
cars. That Mt Clifton Forge Will be even
more extensive, capable OF containing the
entire eollipment of the company. Very
elaborate shops viii be built at Clifton
Forge. where the mechanical business OF
the road will be mainly conducted. We
are also eniarging our shops at Richmond
nj Huntington the machinery in the Old
shops will be replaced with more modern
appliances.
CLIFTON FORGE.
at Clifton Forge we propose to build \
handsome hotel station and Office building,
costing $1,000. The plans tor this have
been made At StauntOn We are building
n new brick station. costing SlO,OJO. our
line has been extended over the Govern
rnent reservation at Fortress Monroe and
here. convenient 70 the Hygeia Hotel, we
shall build q handsome station. Others
will be built mt Iron Gate and Foster, and
at Charlottesville, where we already have
an unusually handsome building. new
waitino-rOom will be built convenient To
the residence portion of the town. Other
stations are beng painted our standard
color. and we are improving the general
appearance Of the line. All Of this work IS
now well under way.
AT Newport News the freight-sheds
and piers will be enlarged 10 double their
present capacity. This IS L. be done IN or
der 10 avoid delay, confusion, and expense
in handling ocean freight. Our sheds 30
the pier will be commodious storage ware
/ houses
BRIDGES AND RoAD-BKD.
Between forty and fifty new iron
bridges, ranging in span from thirty to two
hundred feet, have been put up. When
FIVE more iron bridges that have been con-
fracted for shall have been built, which
will be shortly, we will have no wooden
truss bridges on the line.
within the past year ono hundred
miles of new steel rails, weighing seventy
five pounds TO the yard (the average weight
Of rail being sixty Pounds, have been