The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1904-04-21
WORLDS FAIR LINE.
Rock Island Makes Plans for Handling
Bio Business.

All railroads running into the world S
fair CITY have been preparing for the in
creased passenger traffic and for the un-
usual amount of business which they ex-
pect to handle soon. Among these vari-
Gus lines none will be better fixed to take
care of the business and give better SER
vice than the Rock Island system. This
railroad company has been doing great
deal Of work recently in order to shape
circumstances so as to be able to handle
its share of worlds fair visitors.
During the last six months the road
bed from Wichita to St. Louis has been
almost wholly rebuilt. Connecting lines
have been SO arranged as to make the
entire system one direct line into st.
Louis.
The advantages of this new arrange
ment and train schedule will be some
thing to be appreciated by the public and
especially is Wichita to be congratulated
upon having through train service to
the worlds fair city
Pertaining to the improvements of the
Rock Island, the Kansas City Journal
says:
The Rock Islands new st. Louis-Kan-
sas City line. which, it is thought, will
be ready for trains by June l at the lat
est and maybe sooner, will be one of the
finest pieces of track in Missouri and,
for that matter, in the entire west. While
il will not be exactly straight, it will be
more nearly so than ~any other line be-
tween this city and st. Louis. 1t has
the lowest grade of any railroad in the
state it being $40 of l per cent, and
its maximum curvature is unusually low,
being degrees while many of the roads
have a curvature of , TO : degrees. These
two features alone will prove a great
factor in favor of the new line, for
trains can be run over it at greater speed
than if the curvature and grade were
greater. and it will not require so much
power to operate heavy trains over it.
When it is considered that nearly the
entire roadbed was cut through solid
rock. or made by filling deep gulches, it
will be realized that expense was no part
of the plan of constructing it. but the
sole object in view was to build a direct
ard substantial line between st. Louis
and Kansas City. Much of the roadbed is
of crushed rock and concrete, and not a
piece of woodwork will form a part of
the line when it is finished. All the
gulches and creeks will be bridged with
heavy steel.
Part of the line has been in operation
from St Louis for several years, having
been built by a St. Louis man. The new
part begins at Versailles, Mo, distance
of l2s miles from Kansas City. This sec
ton is being constructed by the Stubbs-
FIick-Johnson company of this city.
Trains are now in operation from ST.
Louis to Windsor about seventy-two
miles east of this city and the track has
been laid thirty miles this way from
Windsor The grading is almost COM
pieted, the work being just in the out
skirts OF Kansas City now. The COM
pany has four or five little cuts to fill
between here and Windsor but expects
TO be ready TO turn over its part Of the
work within thirty days.
The Rock Island will open two other
lines into St Louis very soon. They are
the water level line between Memphis
and St Louis, known as the st. Louis,
Memphis and Southeastern. and the Chi
cago-St. Louis line. which is being COM
pleted from Sullivan. Mo. to the world $
fair city This will be double track
line 1t was thought that both these lines