Ottumwa tri-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1903-1916, 1904-02-25
TO ENLARGE YARDS
EXTENSIVE IMPROVEMENTS CON.
TEMPLATED BY MlLwAU.
KEE COMPANY.
New Double Track to Be Built on the
Main Line Of Burlington Between
Whitebreast and Troy Which Will
Eliminate Heavy Grade.

to the south side of the river, the
building of a twelve stall brick round
house, the lessening of the grade be-
tween Ottumwa junction and Rutledge
and building a double track between
these stations, are few of the i'm
provements contemplated by the Mil
waukee the coming summer. 1t is ex-
pected that within few weeks the
" Gather will moderate sufficiently to
allow work to be begun on the propos-
ed new tracks.
The increasing business of the Mil
YANKEE on the Kansas City division
has made the enlarging of the yards
and round house necessary. The pres
ent yards are entirely inadequate to
handle the traffic and there is no room
for more tracks. Last year three long
sidetracks were built on the south
side of the river when the work was
stopped on account of the cold wealth.
| er. Several new tracks will
! be added this summer and
it is expected that most of the switch.
ing will be done in the new yards
| The present yards will be retained for
store yards and Ottumwa will probab'
| ly be made a distributing point for
empty cars as the old tracks will &C
commodate several hundred.
Larger Round House.
The capacity of the present round
house is inadequate to accommodate
the engines for the hauling Ge trains
| One of the greatest handicaps of the
1 local officials is. the shortage of mo
| tive power which is caused by the lack
of room in the round house to care fol
the engines in proper manner. 1t is
expected that when the new round
house is built it will be used only fol
| freight engines and the present build
ing will be used for passenger en-
i gines.
The Double Track.
The present track of the Milwaukee
/ between the Ottumwa junction ant
Rutledge is said to have grade o.
85 feet to the mile which makes il
necessary to use pusher on all eas
and north bound trains. Last sum
mer several surveys were made will
a view to lessening the grade and it is
stated that the coming summer a dou
BILE track will be built between these
two points which will make much bet
ter time possible It3has not yet beer
decided which route will be adopted
but the one running up Harrow.
branch is regarded with much favor.
| Burlington improvements.
| A force of surveyors are at work
running several surveys between
! Whitebreast and Troy on the main lin,
! of the Burlington and it is expected
that in the near future a double tract
will be built between these two sta
tions. This is now the only singh
track on the Burlington between Bur
lington and Red Oak and not only il
J, there sharp curve but the grade il
the heaviest on the Burlington mail
line in Iowa. The present survey
are to determine the prospective cos
OF building double track that will
eliminate both the curve and tn
heavy grade. II is hoped to complet
the double track in Iowa within tn
next two years. Local. officials stat
that the SURVEYS are being made TO
the purpose OF determining the pros
pcCtlSc CGol aNG Lildl U06 double traC
will probably be built but not befor
next year. although it may possibly b
commenced the coming summer.
!, Lost Driver.
. Engine No. 1888, attached to Bur
| lington passenger train No. 2, met wit
; a peculiar accident at the Union depo
at Burlington Friday just as tn
train started on it's journey to Chicago
The big driving wheels had made onl
few revolutions, when there was
: sharp sound of cracking metal and
} was discovered upon investigation tina
/. one of the driving wheels had broke
: off at the, axle. Had the driving whee
!, dropped off while the train was speed
ing across the Illinois prairies the re
suit would have been disastrous to lif
and property. The engine had been in
: spected the night before and wha
caused the accident is a mystery,
similar accident happened severe
!, years ago. The late Engineer Kelle
!, brought fast mail train No into Bun
; lington and after the engine had bee
= uncoupled and he started for the roun
I house one Of the truck wheels of tn
9 engine dropped off.