Las Vegas daily optic. [volume] (Las Vegas, N.M.) 1880-1908, 1905-04-19

CHICAGO tprll i7.-The Atchison
Topeka & 81 ,l re railroad company
will spend . illion dollars to save
five miles OF read and dodge a hill In
New Mexico.
To any n except shrewdly calcu-
lating engineers and financiers, the
expenditure of 10 million dollars and
the employment OF hundreds OF men
for at Leaf Two years on a dinky little
cut.off-the Belen cut-oif-down In
that southwestern territory
would appear foolish, But the men AZ
the head of the Atchison. Topeka &
Santa Fee pondered long before they
made the move, and 1t is to be suppos-
ed they reckoned the cost and the
profit.
Saves Only Five Miles.
When all that has been said has
been done the Santa FEES new short
line" to the Pacific coast will be Just
five miles shorter than it is today.
For these the company Is not paying
2 million dollars a mile. Instead. IL
is giving the whole 10 million dollars
10 a single half mile on the journey.
This is between La Junta and Albu-
uueruue. II is $500 feet difference
in altitude between Ration mountain.
the highest point on the present line
and Abo pass, the highest point on
the proposed cutoff.
What the close figurers in the Santa
Ce offices want is not The shortest
possible line to the west, but the most
economical line, one over which they
can run long freight trains with only
one engine to pull each; a line without
any steep grades and upon which oper-
ating can be cut down TO
the minimum. This subsequent cut
ting of operating expenses eventually
will pay for the cutoff. Ration noun
tain Is 1908 feet high, on the present
Santa Fe main line. which is a 4 per
cent grade, 1875 feet rise to the mile.
Three or four of the largest engines
in the world are required TO push a
single freight train up that hill. Clio
rieta mountain, 1921 feet high, is al
most as bad. Heavy traffic multi
plies the cost of maintenance Of such
4 road, Accidents are common Push
er engines crush the ''empties'' ahead
OF them. Freshets sweep down the
gulches and blockade traffic for days
at a time.
Is long as he santa re Is obliged
10 haul Thousands Of car loads of
through freight over the $50 miles Of
steep mountain grades between La
Junta and Albuquerque ii Is wasting
immense sums Of money in fuel, re-
pairs. and general operating expenses.
u Gpil DtlG Ill lIfiSlb Iidiift WIN JG
Rock Islands tangent line across the
table lands of the southwest the road
realized that it must eliminate, with
out regard to expense, its mountain
climbing.
To justify the expensive change the
Santa Fe must save in it's operating
expenses at least 4 per cent interest
10 million dollars. This is $780,
900 a year. The fuel to run The en-
gines over the proposed cutoff must
be $50 tons less every day than is now
consumed TO move the same amount
of freight. All this, it must be con !
sidered. has been figured out by ex-
the road will be built.
An Advantage to Each.
With little or no difference in The
grade of the respective road, the San
ia Fe will have the shortest line be-
tween Chicago and Los Angeles by
nineteen miles: between Chicago and
San Francisco by 1873 miles, and be- +,
tween Kansas City and San Francis
co by 1919 miles. The Rock Island,
on the other hand, retains the short
est line between Kansas City and Los
Angeles by l46 miles. and between
City and FL Paso by 140 miles.