Evening times-Republican. [volume] (Marshalltown, Iowa) 1890-1923, 1904-04-16
Evansville & Princeton Trac.
ionSystem, a New lnterur-
ban, and What 1t Does
TAX WAS VOTED TO BUILD II
Towns of Evansville and Princeton,
Ind, Furnished s25oooo by Tax to
Establish a Public Equity - The
Building of the Shops and Other Ad-
iuncts and What They Contains

With the question of voting ta'
in aid of the construction of the Mar
shalltown Electric, Street & lnterur-
ban Railway Company before the peo.
pie, much discussion has been indulget
in relative to the necessity for such aid
1t has been contended by many PEG
pie that the eastern people could anc
would build this line themselves, anc
that a tax was not necessary. 1t has
been contended by others that ths
amount of the tax asked for was q
very much larger proportion Of the cost
OF the road than the company would ad-
init. The very best way to answer ques-
tons of this character is by reference
to work that has already been accom-
Iplished In the construction of Other
Iroads.
In the last issue of The Street Rail
way journal under date OF April 9
1904, there was a very extensive arti
Gle descriptive of the Evansville &
Princeton Traction System, whose lin=
of road extends from Evansville, Ind
in a northeasterly direction. to Prince
ton. The facts stated in this article
will prove Instructive reading to Mar
shalltown people, and Will give them
something OF an idea as to what the
company is doing In this city in the
way of building, preparatory TO INSTALL
| ing the system.
/ This line is 1875 miles in length,
and outside of the terminal cities and
towns thru which 1t passes, Is located
upon private right-of-way sixty feet
| in width. The population, according
to the last census in the towns ana
| townships directly on the route, was
l77141, and in townships tributary to
| the line, but not directly upon the
| line of road, there was a population
| equivalent TO 1,500, II located directly
on the road, making a total population
of 1854.
| The roadbed upon the private right
of-way Is twelve feet TO sixteen feet in
width with slopes and bitches. 1t is
thoroughly drained with open side
bitches, and cross drains OF extra heavy
sewer pipe culverts, having concrete
bulk heads. In addition large streams
are crossed by either gfrder or truss
bridges upon concrete abuttments.
The track consists of seventy pouir1
1T" rails, thirty feet lengths, of twen-
ty-two inch Weber Joints. The ties are
exS inches, by eight feet, mainly hewn
white oak. In Evansville seven inch
girder rail is used thru the paved
streets. The spikes are five and one
hal iy,n hos nv, nh cix he nf N
inch. The country sidings have spring
frogs and spring switches with long
leads. The road crosses the Evans
vile Belt Line in Evansville and IN
branch of the Evansville & Terre
Haute railway, north Of Fort BRANCH.
and the main line at Princeton. The
track is bonded under the joints with
No. 600 concealed copper bonds.
Bracket construction is used in the
country, span wire in the cities AMI
towns. The trolley wire consists of
No. 90 round wire and feeder No. 00d0
insulated copper.
The power house is brick structure
75x1G4 feet. located at Fort Branch,
adjacent to a creek where an artificial
lake was built for condensing water.
The power house is fitted with two 400
X. w. 360-volt. three phase alternating
current Westinghouse generators, d.
rectly connected to two 1Sx36x42- inch
Lane & Bodley Cross compound con-
densing Corliss engines. running at 100
revolutions per minute.
In the boiler room there are three
S00-horsepower Sterling boilers. The
power house is also fitted with one 500
X. w. Westinghouse rotary converter
and three 125 X. w. static transform
erS
The sub-station. near Evansville, Is
brick structure with tar and gravel
roof and concrete floor The trans
forming apparatus here is the same III
make and size. etc, as that in the main
station.
The car-house is 47x110 feet, and the
repair shop 20x50 feet. Both are located
at Fort Branch. adjacent to the power
house 1t is of brick. with tar ana
gravel roof, and is equipped with a
seven and one-half horsepower motor
emery Wheel shaper, medium sized
lathe drill press, wheel press. grind
stone, forge and the necessary small
tools
The rolling stock consists of five in |
terurban passengers cars. one double
truck work car. one double truck /
freight and express car and six single !
truck freight cars. The passenger cars
are single end semi convertible COM
baggage and passenger. with
vestibule They are forty-two feet
three inches over ALL and were bull, |
by the ST Louis Car Company. Each
car is equipped with four Westing- |
house No. ST motors and Westing-
house independent air brakes. They |
are heated by Peter Smith hot water |
heaters, and have dinner registers and |
arc headlights.
The total cost of this line is $3.50 o0c /
of which the local company at Evans
vile and Princeton furnished s250.0o0 |
in the stock of the company. A bon6-
ed Indebtedness was then placed on the
of 100000. These bonds We're
sold to Dennson. Prior & Co, of Cleye~
land, Ohio.
This line was put In operation in tho
middle Of December last and during the
month OF January. 1903 the average
daily receipts We're about $500. The
rate of fare charged depends upon the
distance travelled. The line is divided |,
into scent zones. and the thru fare is
IS cents. The company also sells 500
nile and 1,000-mile mileage books at
the rate of "a cents per mile. They
also sell school tickets and party tick
ats at special rates. The express ana