The St. Louis Republic. [volume] (St. Louis, Mo.) 1888-1919, 1903-07-28
Suburban Railroad Plans Many
Improvements on lis Sev-
eral Lines.
TO INCREASE POWER CAPACITY.
Fifty New Cars Have Been Or
dered and Company Intends
to Reduce Time on Mcr-
amec Division.

lHe 81 luulS Sibul ptii iNdll"dS
Company IS pushing to completion a series
of improvements that will enable it to fur
nish better service to the public. to re-
duce the time some of the lines, and
that will aggregate sl.2O,0oo
BY October 10 or November ! the work,
now under way. will be finished. but some
time before spring the company will be-
gin establishing terminals at the Worlds
Fair grounds. Just what arrangements the
company will make to get to the Worlds
Fair have not been decided, but General
Manager Jenkins said yesterday that the
Suburban line would have terminals at the
Exposition grounds.
The power house at Hodiamont avenue
will be equipped with five new batteries of
$50 horse power each. The capacity of the
boiler-room will be 5,oOo-horse power, which
is equal 10 S01o-horse power at the en-
gincs. 4 new engine has been shipped from
Chicago. and will be installed soon. The
! five new batteries are already on the
ground.
TO INCREASE POWER.
After the improvements at the Hodia-
mont Station are completed. the quantity
| of power sent out will be 5000 kilowatts, in
| stead of 3,S75. as at present. BY improve
ments at the substations and the possible
establishment of a new substation the COM
pany will be able to maintain a pressure
of 800 volts on the motors OF the cars.
| The voltage OF the motors now IN use Is
from the central power station 1t Is impos-
| sihle to keep the voltage up TO the ilm.;.
| This defect will be remedieI. The BIen;-
wood substaton on the Meramec High
| lands line will be remodeed and rotary
transformer will be installed The current
T be will fbn bs RI ts in
| a voltage of 500. no matter how far out on
| the line the cars may be.
The company is also considering the es-
tahlishment OF substation. equlpped with
transforming apparatus, on the Florissant
| linz. which runs from. Wellston. Park to
| Florissant. a distance OF eleven miles. This
| line VIII be rebuilt.
The last of the track work on the main
| line. which runs from Fourth and E!nl
way. Nine-inch rails are being laid on Lo,
| Gust street, and that work Will be finished
this week. The track from Iandeventer
avenue tu the Suburban right OF way, a
| distance of fifty yards, has yet to be laid
and then the relaying of the main line will
be. complete.
WILL LAY HEAVY RAILS.
| The company is improving the Meramec
| Highlands line from Sarah to Kings high
! way. on Manchester avenue with nine-inch
| rails. but. as it is necessary to grade the
| street, from building line to building line.
the work is progressing slowly. None of the
new steel has been laid. The south side OF
| the street has already been cut down. and
the old south track replaced.
| Another Improvement will be made in the
! Meramec Highlands line by elimina ting the
| double curve on Sarah street, stort dis
lance north of the Wabash tracks. This
| curve is dangerous. anu it Is so sharp that
| two long cars cannot pass there. For this
reason the company has been unable to
operate the large cars on the MerameC
| Highlands line
| The Suburban Company. however. has
bought lot on the southeast corner Of the
! 1t. After this track Is built it will not be
| necessary for the cars to slow down before
| making the curve, and larger cars will be
| operated on the Highlands line.
ELIMINATE SHARP CURVES.
| The Suburban Company also expects to
make improvements that will eliminate the
loss of time in rounding the curves on Thir-
| tenth and Fourteenth streets, but what
those Improvements will be has not been
announced.
| With the improvements on the Meramec
Highlands line, the company will be able
| to run the Meramec cars on schedule time,
| which cannot always be done at present.
The scheduled time for making the run
| ton of Fourth and Elm streets Is ninety
| six minutes. Larger cars will also be run
on this line. The car facilities on the Flor
| issant line will also be increased
1t Is not the intention of the company
| to increase the speed on the Suburban Park
line. as General Manager jenkins consid-
| ers that the cars on that line are now run
| ming as fast as is consistent with proper
| precaution against accidents.
| In fact. it is not proposed to increase the
running time on any line, but to make such
| improvements as will make 1t possible for
| the cars to keep up their speed when dis
| tant from the power-house. and to elm
mate delays by 1eveling grades and abolish
| ing sharp curves.
The ST Louis Car Company Is building
| fifty new cars, each with a seating capacity
| Of ffty-two. for the Suburban Company.
| Some Of these cars will be in service with
| in few weeks.
| In order to have shed space for the new
cars. the Suburban Company will rebuild
| the barns at Hodiamont avenue tlat were
| burned down last spring. The engineers are
at work on the plans. The part that burned
| down had capacity of 10 cars. The car
| house on Manchester avenue will also be
| reconstructed.
| A steam heating plant and an air plant
| for the purpose of cleaning the cars will be
added to the carhouse on Manchester ave-
| nue., as well as to the one on Hodamont
|