Cameron County press. [volume] (Emporium, Cameron County, Pa.) 1866-1922, 1907-12-12


last session of congress prohibiting
the members of congress from ac-
cepting or travelling upon railroad
passes there will be one line of road
on which the congressman will not
pay fare, and one which will, there
fore, prove exceedingly popular with
them. While not long line, it will
be as important in its way as any one
of the transcontinental lines and will
probably carry more passengers in a
day than are carried on the through
passenger trains of any one of the
big roads of the country. This road
will be for the exclusive accommoda-
tion of congressman, and for this rea-
son will partake of the nature of a
private line. No dining or sleeping
cars will be run, for the trip from one
end of the line to the other will take
only two minutes, and during the busy
hours of the day there will be a con-
tinual procession of the trains speed
ing up and down the underground
track, for this road is to run between
the capitol building and the magnifi-
cent house and senate annex building
now in course of construction.
The two buildings are not very far
apart, and yet far enough to make it
eXpedient that rapid and convenient
means of transportation be provided
for the members of congress in pass
ing to and fro between the senate and
house chambers and committee rooms,
and the private Offices of the indi-
vidual members in the new building,
which has come to be known as the
congressional fiat houses" even before
they have been finished and occupied
by the busy legislators. The most
novel and luxurious appointments
which the genius of man can devise
will be features of these two marble
palaces, and not the least interesting
and novel, as well as useful, will be
the underground railroad. This white
walled subway will be as bright as day
with the electric lights which will eX-
tend the entire way, and through it
will run elegant little open coaches
under the control of a uniformed mo-
tCeman. Each of the cars is of steel
and 16 feet long. The depot in the
house annex will be under the rotunda
of the building, and will be round in
form, having a diameter of rs feet.
The rotunda extends clear up through
the four stories of the great marble
structure, terminating in dome under
the roof.
Into the depot beneath this rotunda
will run the trains from the capitol,
and thither the members of congress
and other people whose privilege it
may be to use the trains will come by
means of quickrunning elevators.
Each of the cars holds ten, so that the
entire train will accommodate only
about 60 persons. a moment later the
conductor gives a signal, the motor
man turns on the electric current and
the train starts on it's journey.
1t looks more like toy train than
real grown-up one, this effect being
heightened by the circumstance that
all Of the cars are, so to speak, open
faced. That is to say one side of each
vehicle is entirely absent, being re-
placed merely by safety rail, so that
there is only one bench running
lengthwise. Passengers entering at
either end, seat themselves upon this
bench and look out through the open
side of the car.
The trip to the capitol occupies ex-
actly two minutes and is made through
a tunnel lined with white brick, arched
overhead, and brightly illuminated by
great numbers of electric lights. Inas
much as the tunnel is artificially heat
ed in winter, as we'll as ventilated,
there is no danger that the passengers
on the open-faced cars will catch cold.
The distance to be travelled is short,
however, being just about one-seventh
of a mile, or $50 feet.
On reaching the end of its journey.
the toy train pulls up alongside of a
platform and the passengers, hastily
disembarking, enter a waiting room In
the capitol basement, which occupies
part of the space formerly taken up
by the bathrooms of the house of rep
resentatives. New and very beauti-
full bathrooms, eight In number, have
been provided in the annex, thus max
ing it possible to do away with the
old accommodations. These bath
rooms, by the way, are lined with