The Oskaloosa herald., 1902-07-03
The KNELL HTOLLED
And the Narrow Gauge Railroad
Is No More.

Sunday, June 20, 1902, will hereaft-
er be preserved as great date in the
history of the Burlington & Western
division of the o., B. & @ system.
1t marks the making Of new record
in railroad construction, and records
the passing of the last bit of Narrow
Gauge line in Iowa. In a little over
twelve hours, one hundred and
twenty-five miles OF railroad were
rebuilt, twenty railroad crossings and
frogs we're put in, and entirely new
of different gauge was
one end of the line to
the other without the stoppage of
traffic aud with only slight delay In
trains. All this was accomplished
too in the face of a drenching rain
that never ceased from the time the
work was started at day break until
the last spike was driven. The enor-
nifty of the undertaking must be view
ed in prospectus it was impossible for
anyone to see other than very small
part of the work performed. Full
credit for the perfected plans and the
precision with which they were ex-
ecuted must be given to Robert Law,
general manager of the road, who had
worked out every detail before hand.
At his right hand stood his valiant
lieutenant, Road Master J.T. Shehan,
who is an army in himself, and most
energetic and able volunteer gener
ais in the ervice were Road Masters
Shields, of the Rock Island, McHenry,
of the B., @. r & N, Calvin, of the
Ottumwa Division and Double, of the
Burlington Division of the @ !, B. &
q 1t was great piece of work and
a marvel of5.execution. Every mao,
in whatever capacity he served, de-
serves the generous thanks of the
road for working like beaver while
the elements emptied their soaking
draughts and blowed their chilling
breath on them for hours.
How il Was Done.
Preparations for the work of max.
ing standard gauge of the 125 miles
of track between Mediapolis and o.
kaloosa and Washington have been
In progressIabout six weeks. Ante
dating this work, however, all the
bridges ands culverts had been re-
built for the carrying of mod ern and
broad gauge trains and loads. About
the first preparation for the widen
ing of the gauge was the passing of
an "adzing machine" over the line
from Mediapolis 10 Osk aloosa and
from Winfield to Washington. This
machine cut into the ties and made
level any uneven places so that when
the rail was moved.over it would rest
in a comparatively even bed cut
through 1.-THE ties. Low places of
courseicouldI not be remedied and
these will IbelIfixed by subse quent
work The spikes for the outside of
the rail were set and partially driven
prior Volthe date for the great change
and as many spikes were pulled from
the old position of the rails as was
practical to to do. When the time
for the changer arrived Sunday all
that remainedifor the men to do was
to pull the spikes remaining on the
outside ofsthe rail as it rested in its
old place, shove the rails into it's
new position against the spikes
driven to receive it, spike the in
terror ofithe rail and the desired end
was accomplished. Twenty men were
for each four miles of the
road to be done. A part of the men
pulled the spikes that held the rails
to theirIoriginal position, another
part with bars lifted and showed the
rails into the new position and the
third detail of men spiked the rail to
the inside and passed on to repeat
their particular work. The progress
in this way was quite rapid and one
who did not see the thing accom-
plished would naturally say that
work of 30 great magnitude could
not have been accomplished with so
little seeming labor. But the work
had been most carefully planned. All
possible preparations for the accom-
of the desired end had
been made and when the time to
move arrived she was moved. In
fact the move seemed almost auto
matte.
The Last Narrow Guage Train.
The last narrow guage train to
leave the city in the regular service
was Saturday evening at 6:15, but
le last B. & w. equipment that
passed out of Oskaloosa was the spe.
cial train of Sunday morning that
distributed couple of hundred Ia
borers between Oskaloosa and Mar
The train was in charge
of Conductor Billy Moreland, Engin-
eer N. Beather was at the throttle of
engine No. 3S and Frank Borton was
firing. Ray Wells was doing duty as
brakeman. The train took the men
from Oskaloosa and those from OF
tumwa. The Ottumwa train trans