Evening times-Republican. [volume] (Marshalltown, Iowa) 1890-1923, 1905-12-04
The Pennsylvania System Max
ing Experiments With a New
Form of Road Bed
SANTA FE PLANS WRECK CURE
Appoints an Inspector of Tracks and
Roadway to Watch for Defects =
Giant Railway Station at Leipsc =
Southern Pacific Builds a Hospital
Car.

An experiment is being made with
q new roadbed on the Philadelphia dl.
vision of the Pennsylvania railroad
and should 1t prove efficient after a
fair trial may be applied to the entire
system, says the Cleveland Plain Dealer.
A. force of 500 men has been put to
work laying concrete to serve as q
foundation for the ballast upon which
the ties and rails are to rest. This
form of roadbed has been tried by va.
rious roads and in each instance has
proved unsuccessful.
The chief virtue Of the concrete is to
prevent washouts and destruction Of
tracks by storms, to which the cause
of many wrecks can be traced. Only
five miles Of this road will be laid un-
til it has been thoroughly tested. Penn.
sylvania engineers say that the reason
that concrete has been unsuccessful In
the past is that the cement has been
laid under improper conditions or has
been subjected to treatment that de.
tracted from its value.
Concrete roadbeds will be much more
expensive, but 1t Is believed that the
additional economy in ties, which will
not rot SO quickly, will partly Offset
this.
With a view to minimizing the dan
ger of disaster, the management Of tho
Santa Fe has created the position Of
inspector Of tracks and roadway, says
the Chicago Record Herald. T. s. CAT
ferty, formerly roadmaster Of the COM
pany. with jurisdiction over the line
between Topeka and the Missouri riv-
er, has been appointed to the new
place. Mr. Cafferty will have jurisdic.
ton over the property comprised in the
eastern grand division Of the road
from Chicago to Newton and to Pur-
cell. l. T.
The position is much broader one
than that Of roadmaster and will in
sure more rigid supervision over the
physical condition Of the road. It is
the opinion of the management that an
inspector will be able to discover de-
fects in construction and material
which otherwise would 60 undiscover-
ed until fast moving train found It
and went into the ditch. The recent
wreck Of the California Limited train,
In which so many were killed and
wounded, is said to have been caused
by the spreading Of the rails, which
presumably was brought about. by
faulty construction or materials. The
new inspector will have under his con-
troll large and efficient track walking
gang. which via patrol the road day
and night.
st. Louis, with its mammoth railroad
station, is to be outdone by German
city, says the Philadelphia North Amer
lean. Consul General Guenther Of
Frankfort Germany, reports to the
state department that, according to q
German newspaper, the new main rail-
road station at Leipslc, now being con-
structed, will be the largest in the
world-that ia, in covered area-920, 518
square feet 1t win have twenty-six
tracks. The cost of construction will
be $3O,94O,OO0, Of which the city of
Leipsic contributes $3.sOe,o Several
millions are to be borne by the Ger
man federal postoff1ce department for
q separate postofice station, which will
not be completed before 1904. At the
present time the main railroad station
at st. Louis, with an area Of 30,45O
square meters and thirty-two tracks,
occupies the first place, followed in re-
spective order by the South station at
Boston, the st. Lazare station at Paris,