Fort Worth gazette. [volume] (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1891-1898, 1893-02-06
THE ROCK ISLAND WORK.
ALL CONSTRUCTION ABANDON
Ed FOR THE TIME BEING.
The Condition Of the New Roadbsd- How the
Road Is Bull Other Railroad Mat
lers Of Some Interest

Yesterday Gazette reporter paid
visit to Bowie for the purppse OF asuct-
timing the stage Of the work ui cohsuuc
ton on the Rock leland ana
found everything &C sWnusli'
bnut n milo of track has been laid with
In the last week and the spikcrs finished
the work of back spikug Saturday even
ING. The construction gangs have hceh
drawn Oh for the time being, except "
small force engaged iu thp work Ot SUI
facing and alignng the track. mere ~
no material ia the yards ana but rev
grading outfit tents are now p'tinsu
there No crOss-sectiOninR has been done
south of the s0dth limits Of the town OF
Bowie, and 90 nll practical intents 9hu
purposes the work Of construction nus
been abandoned.
The roadbod and track b brought up in
a wOrkmHnlike manner The grade hue
M riridly maintained aud there has been
no easing up for the purpose Of reduc-
ing the amount of earth or rock eHcava-
zion aud ns result there are none OF
the says ~ common 100 new roads ana
which Jerks "a train $50 severely. The
earth work in cuts and lilis is according
10 the standard specifications used ON
the Chicago. Kansas aud Nebraska, now
known ns The Rock Island lines west OF
the Missouri river An ills under eight
feet Ia hpighth have a crown Of fourteen
feet, slope / / = feet boz ], bernie OF eight
feet iu width from the toe of the cmbnuk-
meut to the edge ut the borrow Pit MI
ILLS over ten feet iu hclghth have u
slope OF - boo ]. crown OF - feet ana
bcrme of 10 feet The surface work is
done carefully aud the track is rendered
nA solid as 10 rs possible for q new one ~
b., aud shows the Rock Island people
are going slow iu order Co hav" % track
of trst-cluHs condition aud over when
they can whirl cn whenever occasion
demands IN the work of grading the
top soil is carefully drawn 10 one side
aud after The track Is laid this is usra
Tor HurlnCng. thus giving btlItI hul.
last then would have been the case bad
the surluciug been composed ot suhsoh.
The truck n laid with 5B pound steel
rails from the Joliet steel rail mills. joints
urr laid even instead of brOkeu, ns b. tn"
custom on many rUud5. Angle nnT7'
instead Of fish plates. are used .u making
joints aud mo- Joint ties are usrd, the
Joint coming between the ties aud sup
ported ON them by mcms OF the angle
bars which affords rigid yet sufficiently
flexible Joint tu Weld under the hummer
blow of engine drivers aud yet retain iiN
elasticity Solid white uuk tcshrr used
$500 to the mile, which are nudIy No..
sppctvd before beng placed iu the track
and dll That are iu the last defective are
rejected Sulit switches are used alto.
gpthrr us the chances for dorn lment are
far less boy the use of this type thnh
hy amy other
The line follows the uyuc just west
uf the town of Bowie which lets thr ruud
dpsn into the valley on ur $40 Rmdr
nr about forty feet tp the mile. TINS
i4 the maximum grade ilom the Rcd
river crossing to Bowie hut south of
Bowie thr brcnhs of the Trinity being
very hummorlv require per
cent grade. Il is also the proc-