The evening times., 1900-10-08
BoNFIREs OF OLD CARS.
a Trolley Company's Way of Clear
ing Out Its Morgue.
CFrom tie New York Suu.)

(Frum tie New York SUM-
In the railroad cut near Third Avenue on
the old Sea Beach route to Coney Island
the Brooklyn Rapid Transit Company of
late has been making big bonfres Of old
cars. The burning Of the cars has aroused
considerable interest among people passing
the spot. because an old trolley car when
properly set Oh fire does not make mean
blaze. Then, too, some of the cars de-
stroyed have appeared to ordinary observ-
ers as though they were still good for
something aud their destruction has
caused some wonder. In the eyes Of the
railroad people. however. the cars are good
only for the junk TO be found in their
ashes
For a long time the Brooklyn Rapid
Transit Company has had morgue for
its cid ears at the foot CT Sixty-second
Street Brooklyn. When the company ac-
quired the Nassau lines a great many old
cars came into its possession and the
Inorgue's capacity CT late has been over
aEsd- For this reason the company de-
cided to set fire to the oldest cars in the
morgue which would not be fit for service
even On country lines. Two hundred and
ten cars were condemned in all and for
several days strings of these have been
seen moving slowly to the crematory IN
the railroad cut where enc after another
they have been consigned to t:se flames.
cliff on one side of the cut A derrick
has been erected there and as the cars are
brought up they are lifted off their trucks
and tilted on one side. The windows and
doors are taken out Of them to save the
glass Holes are cut in the roof to i'm
prove the draft, and then a lot of oil
soaked waste is put under them and ig-
nited. The blaze for a time is fierce
one, for the cars are old and dry and
burn like tinder. The spectacle always
attracts crowd The men in charge of
ness 50 well that in fifteen CT twenty min-
utes after the FIRE is started nothing is
left At first the cars were burned
down near the water front and there
about twenty ears 4 cay went up in
smoke: but the residents complained of
the smoke. So the cars are now burned
farther iriand and only six Or eight are
set on fire in q day.
The destruction of the cars does not
mean a total loss to the railroad company,
as the spectators may possibly imagine.
a lot OF the trucks caa be used again and
the ashes always yield profitable return
IN junk After each car is burned the
ruins are carefully overhauled and every
scrap Of iron is saved and taken to the
junk pile. The 30 cars are expected to
yield about eco tons OF junk and for this
DIGS VIII De invited Dig JUNK UGdiSES
Every big railroad company finds itself
at times with a lot OF old cars on its
hands, but efforts are always made to
dispose of them to small country lines.
Cars in fairly good condition which have
been discarded because the size and pat
tern are not up to date, are often seized
upon by small lines running through
sparsely settled districts where the trolley
is a blessing, no matter what the cars
a lot of old Brooklyn car lines, the Brook
Iyn Rapid Transit Company has come into
possession Of cars whose antiquity is
shown by the fact that in their prime they
were moved by horses. Most of them ran
on the Atlantic Avenue line, which was
absorbed by the Nassau, and when the
trolley craze struck Brooklyn they were
turned into trolley cars. In the horse
car days these cars were considered
elaborate