Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1905-04-12
BIG FAIR IN PROSPECT
INTERNATIONAL RAILWAY CON-
oREss TO MEET HERE.
Construction Of ssWhite City" in Prog
ress-Thousands Of Feet Of
Space Occupied.

Washington Is to have worlds fair on
small scale. devoted entirely to railway
appliances of American manufacture and
hundreds of carpenters. painters and other
mechanics are employed rushing the work
on the buildings which will form the rail-
way white city" The large plat of ground
south of the Washington monument and
west of 14th street is being transformed
from boys play ground into a village
nlled with handsome booths, railway tracks,
lighting plants band stands and all that
go to make up a modern industrial ex-
hibit.
May Sd there will open in this city the
international railway congress. the first
one ever held in America. These congresses
meet every five years. and have in the
past held sessions in London, Paris, St.
Petersburg and elsewhere in Europe, but
never before in America. At this congress
about 600 delegates from the railways in
number of foreign countries will be pres
emit and In addition to these there will be
400 delegates from the Americas present.
1t is to bring to the attention of the mem
Ders OF this congress what manufacturers
OF American railway appliances are doing
that this exhibition is to be held.
1t will be the first exhibition of it's kind
ever held in the world, and on view there
will be everything that is in use about a
railway. from the rails and the building of
The main exhibition building which stands
almost in line between the White House
and the Monument, contains q, 900 square
rect or space, exclusive of aisles and pas
sage ways.
In this building. which is completed, booth
space has been assigned to the manufactur-
ers of the smaller and lighter appliances
used about railway cars. such as curtains,
doors, steps, car seats and interior fittings
generally. In process Of construction on
the grounds around the main building are
nfty-one smaller buildings which will be
devoted to exhibitions of railway machin-
cry and appliances of all kinds.
Some Of the Exhibitors.
The Westinghouse Air Brake Company,
the Baldwin Locomotive Works, the Cen
eral Electric Company, the Gould Coupler
Company, General Railway Signal Com
pany, the Pennsylvania Steel Company
are among the firms now having build
1ngs erected, and it is expected that with
in the next week there will be large ad-
dftions to the exhibits. in these build
ings there will be practical exhibitions of
the working of the appliances on exhibit
ton. One firm will operate car on
track under a complete signal tower in
order to show the workings of the signal,
another will exhibit a machine that will
rivet engine frames by hydraulic ma
chlnery. There will be exhibitions of car
heating and lighting systems, of safety ap-
pnanceS or all Kinds, in fact, of everything
pertaining to the operation Of a railway
system of today.
Some idea of the ground covered by the
exhibition can be had when 1t is known
that outside the main building 100000 square
feet of space will be taken up by the
booths alone In addition to this 1000 feet
of railway track will be laid at 14th and
D streets southwest and on this will be ex-
hibited the locomotives and cars that are
too heavy to bring on the grounds.
While the exhibition is primarily for the
benefit of the delegates to the International
Railway Congress. the public, those inter-
ested in railway matters. will also be ad-
mitted but the admission will be by card
only, in order to exclude those who would
come from curiosity and not from a desire
to gain useful information.
The construction of the exhibition build
ing is being advanced rapidly, but lot Of
work remains to be done before the exhi-
btion will be ready to open. The buildings
are to be painted white and will be illumi-
ated with hundreds of electric lights and
will present a brilliant spectacle. Mr.. ].
Alexander Brown of New York. secretary
of the railway appliance exposition, is in
charge of the grounds and is kept busy
assigning exhibitors to the space they are
to occupy when the exhibition is on.