The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1891-06-06

-, ~ the Baltimore 4 Ohio railroad
ND the terminal facilities the COM
s ~ i, now providing at Benwood viii
p E. Il one OF the busiest and most i'm
D,, places on the entire line. There
lirlbs no more complete set OF yards in
,Eawbole system, though there may be
.o,oe with little greater capacity Tho
,,.minal system will include fully
",anped repair shop, round house
s,rBrient in capacity for housing TWEEN.
80 opgipes, water tanks, coal yards, gem
sr,I Offices, sidiugs sufficient to accom-
aoj,,e as many full trains OF cars rs
NY. .uyr aver he brought from any OF the
,brce divisions Tor which it will be n
terminal point, together with other
facilities not enjoyed by the B. & o.
heretofore. ..,.,,o.;o.
,bcmTb II will require ut least six
month TO get the yards and buildings
;rS" .bave for use. Ryan q Mcdonald
have been at work on the excavations
n ar pcarIy a wear, and the full year will
no fnishsd, Lelare. theH have ,thGi :, ss:slsli
eomnIefcl. They began last August
snJ have been at work all the time
Syrcnt some very bad weather, when
Tho men could not be worked to adyan-
,SSe There was to be excavated Mt
Me- start, according to the measure
mep,s OF the engineers, about three
ibousand cubic yards Of earth, and the
Ia., measurement showed that OF that
amount there still remains in its native
position about eighty thousand cubic
yards. ,...
been at work they have employed from
one hundred and fifty TO two hundred
and seyenty-iive men, according to the
Possibilities OF the work. There have
beep three steam sh6vels working on
tae lob nearly all the time and from
three to five locomotives nave been used
10 remove the earth to the embank-
ments. The appearance 0f'the big field
below the junction station has changed
entirely since the work commenced,
and one who remembered it as it was
before would not recognize it at all.
From a pleasant green field with here
and there Il tree, the remains OF an old
orchard, it has been changed to a'bar-
rn tract Of gravel and the surface has
Lsen lowered from ten TO twelve feet.
THREE TERMINALS CONSOLIDATED.
Tie desire OF the company was to
do away with the annoyance OF having
three terminals for Us many divisions,
and all within five miles OF each other.
lAe Pittsburgh division formerly ended
!. Wheeling; the Central Ohio division
q. bsIIaire, and the fourth division, or
the Grafton division, as it was familiar
IL known, ended at Benwood. This
made It necessary to have repair shops
arl terminal facilities Mt Bellaire, Ben
wood and Wheeling. At each point it
vas necessary to have shifting crews to
handle the trains and to keep Che loco
motives and cars in order and i'll place.
Three sets of accounting BaIerks and
yard men were necessary, and there
was an almost endless annoyance on
account Of hauling trains to and from
the various wards. These things caused
blOckades and apparently insurmounta-
BE delays, and there were continuous
Complaints about the service.
Under the old arrangement it was
Necessary to send passenger trains up
trOm Benwood to Wheeling to get pas
engen for the Trans.0hio and Fourth
divisions and to take them back and
transfer them or turn the cars. Trains
coming in from Pittsburgh had to be
made up anew and passengers had to
suffer the annoyance OF having their
seats turned before crossing the bridge.
Aspecial crew had to be Kept to haul
the passenger trains to Benwood, where
new engines were hitched on. These
things took time and were expensive.
a DECIDED GAIN.
BY means of a loop, trains coming
down from Wheeling and destined for
the Central Ohio division can be brought
into Bcnw6od head first, and taken
across the bridge without turning or
Changing either the position OF the cars
or the seats. The same is true OF trains
Coming into Wheeling from the West.
Trains coming from Pittsburgh for the
Last will come in the same way, and il
;he company completes its plan, which
includes the building of q new depot
mere and bringing trains into it from
Sixteenth street before crossing the
creek, there will be no necessity for
backing wheel from one end OF the
run to the other. This will be n great
advantage, f0r there Is no more danger
Gus thing in running passenger train
laah changing its direction near a sta
,non' People will insist on trying to
ie2ye a train while it is. preparing to go
mo station ii it has to stop and back
w. anu al the Wheeling station there
ate narrow escapes from accidents from
'oal cause almost every day.
4, 4oe%plain the work, itmust be known
!nat the plan includes three things.
tilst, there are tn, shops and yards;
t,eggAd, the loop fot getting upon the
tDHage, and tn. p, the raising OF all the
EaSks about the junction.
lie company bought about forty
SV'es oil ground lying Immediately be-
E ISW and west OF the old junction station.
tiHs land was from ten to twelve feet
Em,sher than the main track to the east.
M! ahe Ohio River tracks were close up to
Me tracks OF the B. 4 o. at the junction,
saa ior mile below the town of Ben.
"SSa proper, they were almost parallel,
on, Saa 70 close MS to make the loop III i'm
ggS,iolIlty except by moving the Ohio
DIVER tracks. The Ohio River tracks
Hete from twenty to thirty feet lower
T TiAa The land bought by the b. & o.
tae hrsi thing to be done was to cut the
sst oil land bought, down to the level
Ge main tracks OF the B. & O., and to
y.,Iu up an embankment to carry the
M2 and the tracks OF the Ohio River
NY ny careful estimates it was found that