The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1893-09-01
ALMOST BEYOND REPAIR.
No Account Of the Damage to the Ty-
bee Railroad Exaggerated.


The Central Railroad officials and
others who have examined into the con-
dition Of the Tybee Railroad since the
storm say that none of the reports with
regard to the damage done have been ex-
aggerated and that in some respects it
might have been carried even further.
General Superintendent Kline and
Supt. McNeely have been down the river
on a tug and have examined in detail the
track from the bridge over Lazaretto
creek to the Tybee hotel. They found it in
such a bad condition that they will prob
ably state in their report that the track
will have to be rebuilt if anything at all
is done for it, as repairing it with any de-
gree of satisfaction is practically impOssi-
Bile.
OF the portion which they examined,
the road from Lazaretto bridge to the
Tybee hotel is in the worst condition. The
track is practically all blown away from
that point down to the point Of the island
itself, having been carried everywhere
from 80 to / 600 feet from its bed. The
rails were twisted about as if they were
wisps of straw, and the water was at
times so high on the island that many
of the crossties actually fioated away
The por lion of the line from the Naylor
house was not treated quite so badly,
though it is practically beyond repairs.
In many places ii was washed out and in
others the sand was piled upon it five or
six feet Ia depth. The least damage is
towards the Hotel Tybee, which building
itself was practically unchanged except
at the kitchen and dining room. 1t seems
TO have been better protected in this
direction than anywhere else. The Laz-
arctic bridge is in as bad a condition as it
could be not to have been washed en-
tirely away That, too, would have to be
rebuilt before it would be of any value to
the road.
Although the track on the island is in
bad enough condition, the portion of it be-
tween the Lazaretto bridge and the bridge
over the St. Augustine creek is said to
be still worse An exploring party was
sent down yesterday to examine this por-
tion of IL, but there were some parts that
they could not reach on account of the
fact that even the roadbed in places has
been washed away for considerable dis
lance. Here. too. the track has been
treated as badly as it was on the island it
self The rails and ties were blown about
in the same manner, but thelworst dam
age was probably from the washing away
of the roadbed, which was rather costly
in construction on account of being
in such low marshy place.
The engine and three coaches, which
are now standing on the remains Of the
| track Just opposite the light house, will
be brought up to the city next week on
| lighters. A party of officials and hands
| viii go down to the scene of the wreck on
| Monday and arrangements will be made
for getting away this part of the prop
| erty, which is about all of il that is left.
Mr.. Conner has not determined yet what
! action he viii take with regard TO the
road 1t is evident that the only thing
| that can be done is to build new road,
| and it is evident, too, that the Central has
not the money even to repair it, much less
| to build another road to the island. The
! future Of the Tybee road is therefore I'M
| certain, but the people who live down
! there will have to trust to that future
/ for whatever transportation they get to
! and from the island The probability is
! or it may be called the certainty that they
/ will have TO depend on water routes, al
/ least until next summer comes around.
All of the employees at the Tybee depot
| vacated the place yesterday except the
! night Waterman. All the books and sup
! plies were moved over to the main offices
| of the Central railroad on West Broad
/ street. There are several passenger
coaches at the Tybee depot which cannot
be removed until the track is repaired
| They are all old coaches, however, and
are not in any particular demand just
! NOW