Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1892-07-26
THE CABLE LINES.
Everything Expected to he In Operation
the Ind of Next Week.


the End of Next Week.
By the end of next week. If everything goes
WELL the cable on the avenue and 18th street
lines of the Warrington and Georgetown rail-
road will be In operation. As this great work
nears completion the interest of the public in
croases Aside from this. however. Is the feel
ing of qualification on the part OF Mr.. Hurt,
the president of the road, and the engineers in
charge Of the work that all the details of this
stupendous enterprise have been carried out
and the work has been accomplished within the
time which was contemplated in the be-
ginning.
THREE MILLION DOLLARS EXPENDED.
The expenditure of $4,000 900 Is no slight
undertaking at the best. but when II must be
directed By the highest business and executive
skill toward the accomplishment of O certain
specified object then the difficulties become
very much greater. However, the bulk Of the
work has now been accomplished. The build
Ing where the power will be located Is not yet
completed, hut only the two lower stories Of
that structure have anything to do with the
running OF the cable road. The four upper
stories are to be leased and will be completed as
soon as possible. But the house as the center
OF abe power of the new system Is practically
ready for business. The great smokestack,
which towers 200 feet In the air, il completed
except the ornamental top Of terra Gotta. Al
ready smoke has issued from Its top in the test
made OF the engines.
THE MACHINERY ALL NEW.
All the machinery is new and those who have
put 1t in are naturally DESTROYS of knowing that
1t viii work all right. The engines and boilers
are in place and 80 are the great driving wheels,
must be provided with something to do. This
is to be accomplished by putting in the cable,
an undertaking which requires some nice work.
As no doubt the readers Of The STAR ore aware
there are to be three cables which will run from
the power house. One will 60 to Georgetown.
the other to the navy yard and the third out
14th street to Mount Pleasant
WHERE THE CABLES ARE.
just at present these cables are wound
about great spools, as they are called, and are
located near the driving wheels, ready for use.
The cables are large ropes made of the finest
steel. Each cable Is composed of six strands Of
nineteen wires each, which are arranged about
q confer hemp rope. They are as strong MS
con be made and cost rs cents per foot As
there are some fifteen miles of this cable
little calculation will show how much this one
item in the cost Of the road amounts to.
TO PUT THEM IN THE CONDUIT
The great point now is to get this cable in
the conduit This will be done by Harvesting
along through the conduit over the entire line
1t Is not EASY to get that number Of horses to
work together, but the car horses are pretty
well trained, and with driver at the head Of
each team IT is expected that the entire line
will move ct the crack of the whip as II it waa
a single team. This work will be done at
night when the horse cars have ceased to run.
The Georgetown cable ia to be put in the first
night. and unless everything goes Off smoothly
1t will require more than one night. This
cable is five miles long. as the distance
from the power house to Georgetown is about
two and half miles. When this ca ble is rest
ing all right on the wheels in the conduit. then
the cable TO the navy yard will be put in, and
following this the Mount Pleasant cable will be
slowed away.
BEADY POR OPERATIONS.
Then the road will be ready to begin active
operations, but before the service will be avail
able for the public trains Of cars viii be run
over the line to ascertain if all parts
of tie system are in good working
order. After the road once begins to
operate there will be no hitch unless the cables
break, and 1t is thought that the life Of the
cables On these lines viii be about nine months.
On the It'll street line the cable has been in use
some fourteen months and it is not yet worn
out. But that line has only one curve in it,
while there are numerous curves on the other
lines.