Mexico Missouri message., 1900-07-26

ern division includes the line be-
tween Chicago and st. Louis, with
branches between RoodhOuse and
Bloomington and Springfield and
Peoria, Ill. The road has been en-
tircly rebuilt with S0-pound steel
rails and ballasted with granite be-
tween Chicago and Bloomington
and between ROodhouse and st.
Louis.
More than 1000 men are at
work rebuilding the road between
Kansas City and Roodhouse on the
Western division. Modern appli-
ances and modern machinery are
used in making this modern rail
road. The old rails are taken out
and used for sidiugs or sent back
to the mills to be rolled over into
heavier rails. Where the track is
too low it is raised, sometimes as
high as 30 feet, and as the earth
is dumped from the ears il is
smoothed ovei by leyeller shaped
like Il pillow and pushed along by IA
locomotive. In the same manner
Il long train of fiat ears loaded
with earth is unloaded. A ma
chine pointed like Il pillow or TRAN
gle is placed on the end car. "A
cable attached to the unlOader
connects with the engine ut the
other end of the train. a lever is
pulled and the unloader travels
from ear to ear depositing the
earth on each side of the train.
When the unloader completes its
journey the ears are almost rs
clean as if swept by giant broom.
Thus i'm few minutes this modern
machine does the work of hundreds
of shovellers.
But more facinating is the work
of the big steam shovel, another
labor and time saving device. In
cutting down grades and finding Il
new route for railroad it works
marvels. 1t eats thru the side of
hill with the same ease that II
corcr cuts thru an apple. Only
solid rock can stop the progress of
the steam shovel. 1t is simply a
giant scoop attached to the end of
crane. When the scoop is filed
the crane is swung around and the
earth is emptied on the ears wait
ing to haul it away to another
part of the road where fill is
needed. The road is being ballast
ed with crushed granite brought
hundreds of miles. jackson cOun-
ty limestone could be used for bal
last, but was not because it pull
verizes and makes the roadbed
dusty. Much of the old ballast of
the Alton is used as a foundation
for the new layer, which has a
depth of two feet.
A reporter for The Star went
over the Alton railroad as far as
Glasgow, Mo-, last week with Alex
Hilton, general agent of the road.
The tracklayers, the graders and
the powerful machinery were all
seen at work tearing up the old
railroad and putting down a new
one. The most remarkable thing
is that all this work is carried on
without interruption to traffic.
This includes the work on the new
steel bridge, which is to span the
Missouri river at Glasgow. The
old bridge is being taken out and
the new one put in, span by span,
and yet freight and passenger
trains continue to cross the bridge.
Where there are extra heavy fills
or cuts IA temporary track is laid
for the use of the trains. The new
bridge is pin-cOnnected truss
bridge. and will cost when finished
nearly | million dollars.
The new locomotives bought by
the Alton railroad weigh, with
their tenders, more than 100 tons
each. They are called moguls and
are nearly twice as big as the old
style of locomotives. The differ
ence in power between the two
styles of locomotive, as expressed
by railroad men, is 81 900 pounds
weight on the driving wheels OF
the old locomotive and 49,, OOO
pounds on the new. One of these
moguls has hauled 100 loaded