The herald. [microfilm reel] (Los Angeles [Calif.]) 1893-1900, 1898-07-17

HonesdaIe, Pa.-It il twenty miles frpW
Honesdale to Carbonate. From Caxbou-
dale to Honesdale 1t Is sixteen unilessr I1ae
il what they will tell tho inquiripg traveller
who has occasion to take the Deiaware and
Hudson cars at this place to make the trip
between the two towns for the first ttmA
The information will be puzzling to him.
but 1t will be true.
Another thing will puzzle him stiil more.
The car he enters Is elaborately fitted and
furnished, but is less than half the size OF
the ordinary passenger car. 1t moves out
from the covered station on the coal piers
few yards and stops. If the traveller looks
ahead out of the car window he will see
the narrow track leading straight up the
side of high hill, at an angle Of nearly
IS degrees. The top of the hill IL about
an eighth OF mile away. There IL no To-
connective anywhere to be seen. Up this hill
the car is hauled by cable. Once at the
top the car continues on it's way down the
other side. Down this grade the car runo
by gravity until it reaches the foot of an
other hill, when 1t il whisked to the top
In the same manner as the first one. In
this way the grand summit OF the noun
tain range that divides the LackawaunA
from the Lackawanna valley is surmount-
ed eight of the long planes being ascended
before the summit Is reached.
The ride from Fairview Summit on to
Carbonate is over an uninterrupted de-
Ginning grade. The road curves abruptly
around projecting hills, clings, high in The
air, to the sides of rocky lodges. and spans
deep chasms by airy trestles. On their ride
down the mountain the trains are frequent
ly run mile minute. The runner. with
his hand on the brake. controls the train.
He can send it along at the speed of the
wind or bring it to standstill at his will
AT one point on the down-mountain trip
the traveller will see track running par
allel with the one he Is on, a rod or tive
to his left, but perhaps twenty feet below
him.
This is some rival road" Is the first
thought of the stranger.
A few seconds later, after dash through
q deep, dark rock-cut, he is amazed to find
his train speeding along on that same par
allel track, with the one he saw 1t from
above him on the hillside. This is the
Shepherds Crook. Long coal trains round
ing this crook find their head and rear ends
SO near together that one could easily toss
a piece of coal from a rear car into a front
one.
From Honesdale to Carbonate Is twenty
miles. From Carbonate to Honesdale Is
sixteen miles, This paradox in distance 10
due to the fact that the railroad follows
another course in coming from Carbondale
to Honeedale. and the way is four miles
shorter This railroad. over the Moosio
mountain, was the first of any length to
be put in operation in this country. 1t was
completed in 1929, and was intended wholly
for the transportation of coal from the Del
aware and Hudson mines at Carbondale to
the head of the company's canal at Homes
dale, the canal taking 1t to tidewater at
Rondout. 1t was impossible tosuse loco
motive road, and 1t was impossible to get
the empty coal cars back to Carbondale
over the same track. So there had to be
eight track and LOADED" track.
This gravity railroad occupies a unique
place in railroad history, for It was on Its
original rails, on August 9. 1929, that the
first locomotive ever placed on a railroad
on the American continent was run. The
locomotive was intended to draw the coal
cars from the foot of the last plane on the
loaded track over long level stretch Of
road to the piers, and was abandoned
after the trial trip. The locomotive not
only made the initial trip In this country,
but 1t demonstrated the practicability of
steam as a motive power on railroads moro
than month before Stephenson's locomo-
tive, the Rocket, was run on the Liverpool
and Manchester railroad and from which
latter date the success of locomotives Is
| recorded by all railroad historians. DR..
| Otis Avery OF Honesdale Is the last sur
| vivor Of that first locomotive trip. He was
| one of the three persons who were on thu
| locomotive with Iforatio Allen. the engi-
neer who ran it, and at 80 is still actively
engaged in his PROFESSIONALLY York Sun.