The Birmingham age-herald., 1905-01-27
SPENDING BIG SUM ON IMPROVEMENTS Railway, Light and Power Co.
 Announces Plans EXTENSIVE DEVELOPMENT South Bessemer Line Will Be Relad, Modern Devices VIII Be Installed
 and Gas Mains Will
 Be Extended.
EXTENSIVE DEVELOPMENT

The Birmingham Railway, Light and Power company will spend several hum dred thousand dollars in Birmingham and the suburbs this year. General Manager J. A. Emery has just returned rom New York where he and President Robert Jemison were in conference with the ma | jority stockholders of the company ana the engineers. Ford. Bacon & Davis ana yesterday he gave an account of the work to be done. -
 In brief the improvements will include | coal hauling apparatus, coal storage bins | and mechanical stokers at the power house; extension of gas mains In all | directions, viaduct over the rahroau | tracks in Bessemer, terminal In bes- semer with freight house. waiting sta- | ton and electric light office the relay | ing of the South Bessemer line between | Powderly and Bessemer with 7-pound rails ten new cars of the best type seV- eral new trail cars; a new freight motor | car: new freight box cars, and general | overhauing of the electric light wires | and replacing many of them with cop | per wire.
 At Power House.
 The improvements in the. power house will cost in the neighborhood Of $zVo,Voo | and it will be about twelve months pe- 1 fore they are completed. The coal stor-
  l about l20OO tons. This improvement Will necessitate the alteration of portion or the power house. It will be a new de- parture and one which will be of great benefit to the company and operating the plant It will avoid all danger or clos /, ing down on account of lack or coal which might arise from one cause or another.
 The mechanical stokers will be wei come addition to the people of Birming- ham in that they will tend to diminish by about 50 per cent the smoke from the chimneys Improvements have aireaoy been made at the power house Whlch greatly reduces the amount or smoke pouring out of the big stack, ana the further lessening of smoke Will almost do away with the volume of soot long complained of in the business section. It will take several months to make the plans for these improvements and those changing the power house, and 1t will be six or eight months later before the im- provements will be completed.
 The extension of the gas lines Will mean an expenditure of about $oO'Ooo The mains will be run in every direc- tion in the city limits, and will also be extended some in the suburbs. The extensions will bring gas within the reach of thousands of people who have previously been unable to get 1t because of the distance from the mains. The new mains will be run in whatever direction it is thought the best results can be obtained.
 Improvements at Bessemer.
 Announcement was made by MT. Elm cry that the viaduct would be built across the tracks of the various railroads at Bessemer. This will facilitate travel on the electric car lines, will decrease 41,. to a minimum, and will be general inn movement in every way. The viaduct will cost something like $25'OOO and Will be erected as soon as possible.
 Bessemer is to have a terminal station costing over $10,0O0. One portion or II will be used as a freighe depot the in- crease in the freight and travel demand ing larger quarters in Bessemer. Another portion of the building will be arranged conveniently as a waiting room, which will be a great accommodation to the travelling public of Bessemer. The offlce Of the electric light department in Besse- mer will occupy still another portion of the building, and will be another con venience as 1t will assure better results from electric lighting In Bessemer.
 The station Is to be erected soon, and will be on the property owned by the company between Alabama ard First avenues, near Nineteenth streeS.
 New Rails.
 About 600 tons of Ensley rail will be 1sed by the company in relaying the South Ressemer line between Powderly and Bessemer, and the improvement Will cost something near $20'OOO. This work will be done as soon as possible. This will be the second time the company has used rails made at Ensley by the Tennessee company, as 70-pound Ensley a1 m I.QkeVteW Highland avenue line which Is now being relaid.
 This stretch of track Is about five miles long, and the new track Will Ia cilitate travel a great deal In fact' IL will allow a decided cut in the schedule, as much faster time can be maoe With safety over the new track.
 Ten new cars, improvements over the aoo series in use on the East Lake line, will begin to arrive next month, and they will immediately be put into service. The cars will have number or minor lm- movements, such as a ieng.hening of the nlatforms six inches at either end of fhe cars. but the main difference will be two extra seats on either side of the car. mak- ing them 24-seat cars instead of 2o-seat cars This makes an addltion7i seating capacity of eight people.
 The company will build three or four trailers in it's own shops in the city for the East Lake business. They will con form In every way with the zoo series Of motor cars and will be handsomely fir ished. a great improvement over tho pres ent trailers used on that line. The build ing of these cars in the companys own shops Is a new departure, and IS another forward step by the company, vhica nov has the reputation of being the best equipped company in the south and as well equipped as any in the country
 Increase In Freight Traffic.
 The large increase in the freight busi- ness of the company demands new freight motor car, which will be ordered and delivered at an early date. This will make four of these large motor freight cars in service. and will put the com pany in position to handle the increasing business. Six or seven new box cars to be used in the freight traffic will be built in the companys plant in Birmingham, and they will also be turned out as soon as possible.
 A very important improvement will be the overhauling of the electric light wire system of the company In many places copper wire will be substituted for the present wire, and that insures a much better service all over the city
 urt.t na,,t all xtri1I