Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1892-12-17

railroads direct gain, when the temporary loan
Of It's mall privileges becomes o permanent gift,
viii be 30 vast that, without the aid Of the
other items enumerated, II will be sufficient to
ever exaggerated, on account Of the abolition
OF grade crossings and the reconstruction Of
Long bridge"
BALANCING rHR ACCOUNT.
. The railroad. In view Of these acquisitions,
can afford and ought 70 elevate OF depress and
bridge it., Eacks- and reconstruct Long bridge
without charging tho city or governments SIN
&c penny. II sny further contribution were TO
be exActsd from the public IL should take the
shape Of the grant Of additional public prop
erty to facilitate an enlargement Of the cramped
space which tho road can now legally occupy
for station purposes. and not money payment
toward building long, ugly approaches to
bridges across the tracks, toward changing the
street grades to cross such bridges or toward
paying damages to property owners injured BY
these approaches.
SUPERIORITY OF BERLIN ILHvATRD STRUCTURE.
1t 10 possible for the railroad a. we'll - the
public to avoid these classes Of sxpenses In
stead Of using depressed tracks part Of the way
in girdert tunnel, the railroad can, perhaps. bet
ter solve the grade crossings problem by the
construction OF an elevated structure Of the
Berlin type, described and commend ed for
local adoption in The STAB, and possibly 10 be
used by the Baltimore and Ohio Before the
last Congress the railroad insisted that an
effective depression Of its tracks was impracti-
cable. would create ditch or canal in South
Washington and would be incompatible with
the desired elevation Of the tracks ct Long
bridge. These objections are not tsnable in
view OF the evidence Of the engineers, but in
the light Of the teachings Of Berlin the elevated
structure Of q certain type seems to be better
both for railroad and public, and the formers
al fv.1t A~~o 80 - T. - =
tracks may well be permitted to prevail. The
public will, doubtless, heartily indorse the
construction Of an arched masonry viaduct,
which will not disturb the grade Of streets or
street car lines, and under which there will be
convenient passage at all points.
Tho railroad has, however, apparently re-
versed its views Of last year, favorng an ele-
waited structure, and advocates the hitherto
despised submerged track and canal scheme"
upon the consideration, possibly, that greater
demand can plausibly be made upon the Dis
trict for contribution to the expense of the
the cost Of a masonry viaduct. II Congress
should decide that all the money expense in any
event is to fall upon tho railroad the latter may
possibly return to its former view of the superb
ority of the elevated structure.
II, however, . depression of the tracks Is pro-
vided-and that is far better than no relief
from grade crossings-they should be lowered
to high-water mark, and run in q girder tunnel
wherever possible, with street crossings on
level wherever practicable. In estimating the
amount Of depression which will be necessary
to permit q street to cross the tracks on q level
bridge q suggestion Of the railroad commission
ers of Massachusetts in their report Of 1889 10
significant. They say: 1.-THE general adoption
of the train brake on freight trains would IA
cilitate the work Of abolishing grade crossings,
since the highway need not then be more than
fourteen or fifteen feet in the clear above the
tracks, and the saving Of three or four feet in
height would materially diminish the COST
Both railroads promise fine new stations. 1t
Is hoped that in building them hotels on the
London plan and great convention hall a. ad-
vocated in THE STAR may be constructed in
connection with one or both Of them.
THE RAILROADS. PROPOSITION.
What the Pennsylvanis Company Wants
With Plans to Mako Its Desires Perfectly
Plain.
Congress will soon be called upon to give CON-
sideration to measure which, it is expected,
will relieve South Washington Of its grade