Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1904-11-26
REMOVAL OF RAILWAY
Coming Of Congress Re- Is Necessary
the Cleaning of Space
Work on reteHal

with the return of consrsk the railroad
that has been atingaDn he plaza east
of the Capitol will dis<ppsar. Day and
night for the past two {Eno13hs and more
the three 'tdinky'' enginessshayG been puff
ing back and forth in fron4 of the majestic
structure, drawing their load of earth from
the foundation site of tho new House of
Representatives office building to the i'm
mense ILL., in the vicinity of North Cap
itol and E streets, which Will be part of the
approach to the union station soon to conf
mand a view Of this section of Washington.
But the national legislators must not be
disturbed in their deliberations by this
noise, no matter how good an excuse there
may be for It, and so the octopus must
untwine it's arms from the Capitol
Sometime next week the tracks will be
removed. In fact, the work which It was
designed the dirt trains should aid in &C
complishing Is nearly complete. There are
probably only about 5000 of the &C. 600 cubic
yards of earth in the foundation site remain
ing to be removed. This will be carried
away by wagons.
The place where a big block of fine houses
once stood-bounded by New Jersey avenue
and b, c and 1st streets outheast-now
presents to view great hole, alive with
workmen hurrying to and fro7 and buzzing
with the escape Of steam and the scraping
OF machinery. Across the eastern side, the
big railroad tunnel that is to pierce Capitol
Hill mas puSHeu It's way DILL tnlS IS nearly
finished, and when 1t is time for the Office
building to rise from the ground the tunnel
will be ready to fill its place In the base
ment with Its station where the congress
sional limited will stop to accommodate the
legislative passengers.
Huge Pile Of Earth.
In the hollow just behind the Baltimore
and Ohio railroad station can be seen most
Of the earth that was once In the place Of
this excavation. 1t has been dumped from
20-foot trestle by the car load, until it
has reached the level of the tracks on the
trestle and made that structure unneces-
sary. As the amount of earth brought over
has increased the trestle has been extended
and turned In the direction in which It has
been desired to spread the filling. Some
idea Of the quantity of earth taken from
the big hole on the other side of the Capitol
may be got from this immense pile, which
Is only portion of 1t.
The curiosity of all who have passed near
the Capitol within the past, few months has
been aroused by the presence Of the rail-
road there. The switches street crossings,
fiagmen and other things which go to make
up well-regulated railroad, set down al
most bodily on the spacious plaza, though
on a small scale, have drawn many inter-
ested persons to watch. Some have ex-
pressed disapproval, saying 1t was an I'M
pardonable designation Of the govern
ment's property, and should not have been
permitted even for short while. On the
whole, however, the criticism has been con-
fined to those who are unacquainted with
the exigencies of the vast work in progress
in this section of the city, and the reasons
for using every opportunity to reach an
early completion 1t has seemed to be a
case of the end justifying the means At
least this was the opinion Of the District
Commissioners.