Richmond daily palladium. [volume] (Richmond, Ind.) 1876-1904, 1901-06-17
NOTESOF THE RAIL WAYS
An Interesting Experiment In
Electric Railroading.
MISSOURI PAOIFIUs NEW SCHEME.

system of Telephones he Put In
Along Its Lines-New York Central
TO Beautify Its Reute-Fentures OF
New Railroad Bridge In Ru~sIa-a
Club Car.
American railroad men Will watch
with great interest. says the Atlanta
Constitution, the revolution in railroad
construction contemplated in the bill
which has just passed the house Of
lords providing for the construction OF
an electric road between Manchester
and Liverpool
As described in the cable reports. il is
TO be n single rail road The train Will
run on track shaped like an inverted
V, with the single rail as the apex.
There is TO be one long car, which VIII
straddle the track. one-half of il hang
ing on each side of the track. Every
ear will carry its own motor Ii is ex-
pected that the distance OF 33 miles
will be covered In 50 minutes. or about
10 miles an hour. and the projectors
claim that as derailment is impossible
this high rate of speed will be safe.
This saddle back idea. as il is called.
experiments made in this country some
years ago. but il was deemed impracti-
| cal because of steam at that time being
| the only motive power. 1t Is now
| claimed that with electricity the rail
| road can be made a practical success.
The Missouri Pacific Railway conpa-
ny proposes to try IA new experiment.
| with n view of making things more
| convenient for its patrons and at the
same time building up its own bust
| ness says Topeka dispatch 10 the
| Kansas City Journal IL intends to put
| I'm system of telephones along Its
| lines TO connect d station that does not
| justify the employment of an agent
| with the nearest station that does.
| A telephone station will be establish
| ed At the siding. and the key 10 the box
| will be left with the nearest family.
| Then when a farmer wants car set In
at the siding or wants TO send mes
| sage he can 60 to the telephone. call up
| the agent at the next town and trans
| act his business over the wire instead
| OF being compelled to drive TO the next
town for that purpose. The board of
| railroad commissioners was recently
notified of the plan. If II proves sue
cessful the railroad commissioners be
| lieve that other roads Will adopt the
| same scheme.
The New York Central railroad tn
order to beautify its stations and track
| with park ways and other scenic effects
| has employed a landscape gardener
who will make this his sole study. He
is not only TO lay out grounds at sta
tons with grass. flowers and shrub
berry but also to ornament the run
ways. emhankments and hllsides
where the track is laid with various
kinds of trees and shruhbery. says the
New York Tribune The man chosen
as landscape gardener is Charles W
Leavilt. Jr.. of New York city.
Consul Hughes of Coburg writing tc
the state department, says that. accord
ing TO Russian official publications. The
old wooden boat bridge over the Ann
Davja. on the Middle Asiatic railroad
near Tschardjni. will be replaced by
an iron bridge 5000 feet in length Tn.
new structure. continues the consul is
to be built in such a way as TO pre-
vent the river from shifting the bridge
foundations. According TO the plans
published. there are to be - piers
each about lS5 feet apart. The total
weight of the structure will be abou,
$50 tons. and. IL is estimated. the cost
will be about s.. sos 800 The consul
| suggests that this may be an oppor-
tunty for American bridge builders if
immediate action is taken.