The Washington critic., 1890-03-28
TIE NEW cAnLr ROAD.
How and When IL win be Stretched
Some Interesting Facts.

Some Interesting Facts.
The work of laying the seven miles
of steel cable will not, as enormously
stated in q morning paper, be com
menced tonight. Officials Of the
Washington and Georgetown Railroad
Company informed q CRrT1c reporter
this afternoon that the work of passing
the cable through the conduit would
not begin for week or ten days at
least The reason for this delay is that
certain wheels and machinery to be en-
ployed in the operation have not ar
rived yet.
Consequently said one of the Off
cials, 1--WE are not hurrying Mr.. Knox,
the contractor, who is moving the great
spool of cable He will, we believe,
have the spool at its destination to.
night, although there is no particular
bury"
At noon to-day The spool was at Four
and-a-half and N streets, only few
blocks from its final destination. In pass
ing over the sewer at NJ street the great
weight of the mass Of cable is said to
have caused cave-in. An investiga-
ton will be made by the proper officials.
As previously stated in The Critic
the cable will be drawn through the
underground conduit by grip.car to
which forty horses will be attached.
This work will be hazardous and will
attract much attention.
When the road is completed it will
be the first one ever put down in the
Capital City. The system that will be
used is the most popular one known to
modern invention. Ground was first
broken for the tube the 9th day Of last
September.
At the time ground was broken much
of the iron for rails, yokes and other
castings was still in the ore. Consid-
ering unloohed-for delays in getting
this material, the Seventh. line
has been constructed quicker than any
other on record.
Mr.. i. SaXton of KansasC City is the
contractor and builder of the road, as
sisted by number Of efficient lieuten-
ants. Mr.. Saxton has had large ex-
perience in building this class of tram
ways, having constructed forty-siX
miles in the Gate City alone, which
was, up to the time of building this
road, considered the finest in the world
1t eXcells in smoothness of track, regu-
larity of slot rail and general economy
of operation.
In general terms the m0dus operGndi
of the line is about as follows: An ex-
cavation is made in the street similar to
an ordinary water trench four feet deep,
in which is placed circular wooden
forms. Around these is placed cement
concrete. After this has hardened the
wooden forms are withdrawn, leaving
smooth circular tube throughout
the line. AT intervals of about
thirty feet a grooved wheel is placed in
the middle of the tube, over which the
cable runs. These wheels are placed
so that the grip in passing through the
tube will clear them. The cable, as
the grip passes, is raised several inches
by the grip and falls back into the pull
ley again after the car passes.
The grip. which is attached to the
car, grasps the cable similar to o vice,
operated by lever instead of a screw.
When the car is stopped the cable is re-
leased, but maintains its position
in the grip, or, in other words
the cable passes through the
grip on rollers. 1t follows that
the starting of the car is instantaneous
by a movement of lever, which cause:
the grip to take hold of the cable again
A car can also be stopped within a few
feet, because there is a rail l-brake ir
addition to the ordinary wheel brake.
A commendable feature of the con
struction of the Seventh. street cable is
that traffic has never been interfered
with along the old line. This is some
thing never before accomplished
either in Chicago, Kansas City or Sar
Francisco, the home of cable roads.