Fort Worth gazette. [volume] (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1891-1898, 1891-09-10

| too high.
The embankments have settled sideways
| as well as lengthwayS, causing the track tC
| list over first TO the right. then TO the lef,
! side, throwing il out of line and ont of sur
face, and endangering the safety of the
| trains.
This is especially the case in the East
| Fork bottom. upon the Dougherty prairie
| and III the fiat ground near Cedar creek and
| Kings creek.
The track is generally in a deplorable
| condition and exceedingly dangerous 10
| passing trains.
| The iron is nearly all worn out. broken
J up and bent.
| The fish plates or joint straps are in many
| places cut in two, having only half strap
! with two bolts instead of q whole strap
| with four. Even the whole straps have in
| many places only three bolts. and some only
| two.
! The spikes have been shaken out of the
| rotten ties, ana i'll many places on tangents
| only spike to every other tie is used on
| the inside.
In some places l found two pieces of rail
not strapped al al, but simply butt-jointed
| and spiked to the tie, a very dangerous pro-
| cecdiug.
About five eighths of mile near Dallas
| is ironed with light steel car rail weighing
| about forty pounds to the yard. instead of
| tifty-six Us it should be
The ball of the rail is i'll many places
worn entirely off on one side, and the rail has
| then been turned around and the ball worn
| of on the other side, leaving only the web
| of the rail to run on.
The ties are generally rotten and danger
| Gus. At least five ties to every rail or $50
TO every mile, are rotten, and either broken
in the middle of the track or cut in two
under the rail:
Near Dallas a lot OF short six-foot ties. or
Il
all be eight feet in length 10 get safe bear
ing on the road-bed.
There is not particle of ballast used on
the entiI road. and in many places the ties
are down under the mud, or arc Skinned up
at the ends with bits Of plank sticks. chips
and old ties.
The bridges are generally liz q miserable
and very dangerous condition, especially
near White Rock creek in East Fork bot
tom, Kings creek and Cedar creek bot
toms, particularly bridges %. y, 30. ~, Us,
"a, o., H. - "a, 10, 81, IS, % 80, 81, 81, 81,
ST, and several near the forty-nine mile
post.
Wherever oak piling has been used they
are nearly all rotten through: the caps.
stringers and ties all rotten; guard rails
wanting, and bank sills settled down. /
saw only two bridges in good condition
one at White Rock creek and one at Buffalo;
balance all dangerous.
The cattle guards are generally in Il bad
condition; many built of odd scraps of luul-
Der and double ties used for I2Xl2 strimgers.
Taken altogether, the road-bcd track and
bridges are the worst over any road | ever
saw that pretended to carry passengers,
and will require at least 50 per cent of new
metal. 33l$ per cent of new ties, 50 per
cent of new bridges and 5000 carloads of
ballast TO put it i'll Il safe condition.
- The rolling stock.-I am reliably in
,olt Al N,,n
twelve fats, cabOoSe and one passenger
coach, and has leased one locomotive and
twenty box cars
The comptroller's books at Austin will
show that the rolling stock of this road is
assessed at only 1882, not enough to buy a
locomotive.
In my Judgment this amount of rolling
stock is inadequate to do the business of
the road or 10 handle the freight offered
along the line
The locomotive owned is in good order.
but the locomotive leased is in very bad
condition and needs repairs.
The passenger coach is about fifteen years
old, secondhand Alabama car badly used
up and quite rickety and not at all safe
j. Dcpots.-There is not single depot
on this road in Dallas county. = distance of
twenty-one miles. Only small 10x12 foot
pine box closet for selling tickets in Dallas,
and no platform TO that.
In kaufman county there is Il DOy-lOuSe
depot at Crandall, used exclusively for a
section house; neat, new small passenger
depot at kaufman, and a good freight and
passenger dept at Kemp. but the shed at
Cedar station is in Il tlmbled-down and for
lorn condition. inhabited by owls auo'
snakes
4. observation-disclosures is at this time no
work being done on the road that can be
called .'betterment''-oniy the ordinary,
almost pressing repairs and not enough Of
that
Along the whole line of the road from
Dallas to Cedar station did not see a single
piece of new bridge timber. a new
rail or any new material, ex-
cept about 1000 new ties-onlv
enough TO repair one and one-half miles of
track: and understand that such has been
the condition of affairs, during the mast
twelve months. except the two bridges I
have mentioned before and the small depot
at Kaufman.
Repairs must not be mistaken for better
ments. To substitute an IRON for 4 vooden
bridge. or a brick for a frame depot. or
steel for iron: to put in double track. new
billings. or to ballast the track NAV be
called betterments; but to simply repair
damages, to put in good tie for a bad one
or to turn rail around. to cut the weeds
of the track or TO snin up a low bent in a
bad bridge is only repairs.
5. Cedar station vent TO Cedar sta
tion and walked the track back 10 KEMP.