Shepherdstown register. [volume] (Shepherdstown, Va. [W. Va.]) 1849-1955, 1902-05-08
Railroad Affairs-contract Awarded.

The Baltimore & Ohio Railroad
Company has awarded to F. Il. Glenn
ents & Co., of Philadelphia, the con-
tract for the construction Of that part
of the Cherry Run and Potomac Val
ley Railroad (the proposed cutoff be-
tween Cherry Run and Harper's Ferry,
by way of Shepherdstown) extending
from Cherry Run to Wilson's, short
distance west of Martinsburg. The
length of the section contracted for is
about ten miles, mile and a-half
longer than the present line, but the
grade will be l33 feet to the mile as
against SO feet.
The Martinsburg World says that
the contractors have already COM
menced making arrangements for the
construction of the cutoff. Charles
King, one of the members of the con-
tracing firm, will superintend the
work and will make the headquarters
of the firm at North Mountain, while
the Baltimore and Ohio civil engineer
in charge of the work, W. L. Sisson,
has established his headquarters in the
B. & o. building in Martinsburg, and
will make his home there until the
work is completed. The cutoff is to
be completed in eighteen months. The
construction is to be an unusually
heavy piece of work. The first three
miles Of the line from Cherry Run will
be along the Potomac river blufs,a and
most of the excavation there, as along
the entire line, will be rock. Six or
eight large stone arch bridges will be
constructed in building the road, the
largest of which will be over Back
Creek. This bridge will be So feet
high. The building of the road along
the river bluffs will be unusually diff
fcult. From 700 to 1000 men will
be employed in constructing the road.
These men will live in shanties con-
structed at any place along the route
where they are working.
The contractors started William
Kilmer out buying horses and mules
for the work this week. Other pre-
liminaries, such as buying the lumber
of the shanties and stables, have been
arranged. The contractors who are
to build this work now have work on
the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad at
Mt. Airy, Nd, and on the Pittsburg
division. The building of this cutoff
will require a very heavy plant, a great
deal of heavy machinery being used,
such as steam drills, steam shovels, etc.
It is said that the object of the sur
veys at Harper's Ferry and on the
Virginia side of the Potomac below
that place is to provide additional B.
& O. freight tracks from Harper Fer
ry to Point Of Rocks. The reason for
going south of the Potomac is that
there is not sufficient space on the
north side for an additional track
without much cutting and tunnellng.
On the south of the river grading is
easy and the building Of bridge at
Harpers Ferry across the Shenandoah
river would not cost large sum; the
one crossing the Potomac near Point
of Rocks would be the most expensive.
Additional tracks are required at va
rious places by the Baltimore and Ohio
because of the enormous increase IN
both freight and passenger traffic. 1t
seems to us very improbable, however,
that the B. & o. will build new tracks
that will shut it out Of its great freight
yards at Brunswick. The probability
is that the B. & o. is gobbling up
all the available right Of way so as
to shut out prospective competing
lines.
The Baltimore and Ohio Railroad,