Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1894-08-11
The Gable Line to Be Laid by the
Columbia Company.
VERY FEW ENGINEERING DIFFICULTIES
The New System in Operation
Probably Early in the Year.
POWER AND CAR HOUSES


of the northeastern section of the city, For
| a year or more the Columbia Railway Com
pany, whose road Is generally spoken of as
| the New York avenue or the H street line
| has been considering what power to adopt
and about June 10 last decided on the cable
The new state of affairs will mean that the
chronic sleepy man may lie abed five min
utes later than he does now and yet reach
| his place of business at the usual time; and
| the base ball crank may remain to witness
| nine full innings of the game and also be
enabled to get to his dining room at home
| before dinner grows cold and his wife's
| temper becomes heated.
| Washington has witnessed with it's own
| eyes the success of the cable system for
| street car propulsion, as evidenced by the
washington and Georgetown Railroad Com
pany'S lines on 9TH street, Pennsylvania
avenue and 14th street. The Columbia COM
pany fully expects equally as great success
with its venture rewarded the larger
| road, and apparently no cause exists why
| such should not be the case.
ore OF the trio of engineers who superin-
tended the construction Of the Washington
and Georgetown road-Mr. William b. Up
| ton-has been given the supervision of the
proposed work. The contract for the general
| street work has been closed with Mr.. E.
| Saxton, who built the roadways for the It'll
street. avenue and 1lth street lines 1t is
the intention and purpose of the Columbia
company to make the road model of its
kind, and TO secure that end the very best
or everything will be used in the work of
construction.
The Temporary Tracks.
Now is the time, 1t is asserted, of all
others to build cable road, for materials
are cheaper than they have been for years
1t has been arranged to commence work
October 1 next, or even earlier If it is pos
ala I'll
ground before that date. Traffic on the
road will rot be interfered with during the
change, for temporary tracks are to be
laid and the new rails will be used as
fast as they are laid. All plans for
the roadbed are now on paper The con-
duit will be similar to that on the Washing
ton and Georgetown line, and very heavy
rails are to be used.
Mr.. Upton is at present engaged In ar
ranging for the required change of loca-
ton of gas. water and sewer pipes along
the line. IN order to do this 1t is neces-
sary to examine the drawings at the offices
or the District Commissioners and the gas
company and determine on the method to
be pursued in overcoming the obstruc-
tons referred to. This is considered q
small matter, however, and will be dis
posed OF within one week.
Several hundred men will be engaged In
the work, which. according to Mr.. Upton,
Is rot expected to prove at all difficult
Where is not direct turn along the entire
route the only variations from a straight
line being several curves all of a large
radius and of the same nature as the one
at 18th street and Pennsylvania avenue
and that at the intersection of 9TH and
Water streets Some trouble may ensue in
enecting the crossing with the tracks of
the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad Company
at lst and II streets northeast while an
other point not easy to pass will be the
cable crossing at 9TH street northwest In
addition 10 those mentioned Ii will be
necessary to construct crossings at North
n Of Of -
street, 18th street and l4th street, where
the line is intersected by other street rail-
ways. The Columbia road will take the
under cable at 9Th street on the same
principle that the avenue cars cross eth
street If all goes well the road will be
ready to receive the cars before next
Christmas. 1t is likely that considerable
night work wiil be necessary, especially i'm
setting the crossings with the other lines
of railroad.
New Cars and Power House.
AS is now the case the eastern terminus
of the line will be at the intersection of III
street. 18th street and Maryland avenue
northeast. but the cars will not turn the
corner and rest on 18th street, but are to
stand between trips II street. The
tracks will be extended short distance on
Benning road in order to connect with the
car house. In regard to the cars it may be
interesting to note that the rolling stock of
with 1t. will be brand new. 1t has not as.
yet been decided what color they will be
painted. The speed of the cars will be nine
miles an hour, the same as is at present
maintained on the other cable road
The new power house is to be constructed
of brick and iron. 1t will face on the Ben
ming road, and eighty feet wide by two
hundred feet deep will be it's dimensions
1t will contain an engine room, tension
room, boiler room, oil and coal room. Steel
trUsses and an iron roof will be one of the
features of the construction. The front
part of the building will be spanned by an
eighty-foot truss, and the back part with
two trusses, one eighteen feet and the other
thirty-two feet. This building, which is in
tended only for the machinery. will be one
story in height, with 4 basement, and when
completed will resemble the eth street pow
er house to a certain extent
Offices of the Company.
Plans are now being prepared for the
power house, and it's erection is to be COM
r,enced early in September, the idea being
to get it under roof before cold weather in
order that the machinery may be placed in
PC sition at any time. No contracts have as
yet been entered into in regard to the build
ing of the power house or car house. The
machinery will all be of the most modern
type.
Separated from the power house by an
alley, the car house will be erected. This
Will be 125 feet by 30 feet in diameter, two
stories in height In front and one story in
the rear. All the offices of the company
are to be located in the house. The
present car barn will be utilized until the
completion of the new structure.
Although all details for the new road have
been mapped out, there is enormous
amount of work yet to be accomplished,
but energy will be the motto, and an at
tempt will be made to have the line in run
ming order by January 1 next However, it
will probably be a month later before the
gong sounded by a gripman is heard for the
first tine along II street, Massachusetts
avenue, X street and New York avenue
from 18th street west to 18th street east
In the words of Engineer Upton, 1t Is not
claimed that the new cable road Of the Co.
lumtia Railway Company Of Washington;
u. c., will be the best of it's kind on earth,
ut 1t Is most certain to be the very best
that money can make ii.
Personally Conducted Tour to Mag
ara Falls via ID. and d., $40.
Via Watkins Glen and Geneva. Royal
Blue Line Express. with through Pullman
sleeping cars attached, will leave Il. and o.
station sos pm, Thursday, August 10.