Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1907-12-11
RAILWAY LINE TO RIVER
Projected Through Maryland
Counties to Great Falls.
JOINS THE OLD DOMINION
Revival of the Rumor Of Wabash
Road Extension.
VIEWS OF LOCAL OFFICIAL
Confirmation Of Reported Activity
in Surveys and Securing
Rights of Way.
VIEWS OF LOCAL OFFICIAL

An officer of the Old Dominion and
| Great Falls Railway Company confirms
the dispatch recently printed in The Stal
| from Frederick, Md, to the effect thai
| active steps are being taken for the build
ing of a railway from Frederick City
| through Frederick and Montgomery coun-
ties in Maryland to the Potomac river, q
shor. distance south of Leesburg, Va, and
| thence by bridge across the river to q
connection with the road at Great Falls
The residents of those Maryland coun-
ties are so much interested in this project
that. in addition to giving rights of way
for the new line, it is said in the account
from Frederick that a fund has been Sc
cured for meeting the expenses of the
survey of the route.
The new line is to be built by the time
the road from Gettysburg to Frederick il
completed, and is planned to furnish g
connecting link with that road to this city
| The new link to the Potomac Is also to
make a connection with the Western
Maryland railroad at Thurmont, and it is
expected that the freight business, as vel
as the passenger traffic, from that source
will reach considerable proportions.
According to this officer of the Old Do
minion and Great Falls Company the line
is to be built by that company under g
charter, to be secured in the near future
from the state of Maryland, as at present
the company has only the right to oper-
ate road within the state of Virginia.
The new section of what might be re-
garded as an extension of the Old Do
minion and Great Falls road will be about
thirty-one miles long, and, 1t was init
mated by the official in question. that the
expected traffic, especially from western
| Maryland, will be so heavy that the con-
struction will be that of regulation
steam road.
Reconstruction of Old Dominion.
If that plan is carried out 1t will also
be necessary to practically reconstruct the
present line of the Old Dominion road
from Great Falls to the Virginia side of
the Aqueduct bridge in order to bring the
grades down SO that the road will be
suitable for heavy traffic.
Such a northern extension of this Vir-
ginia road, which up to this time has
simply been suburban line, connecting
the city with the Great Falls. and whose
business has been to a large extent de-
pendent on the attractions of the falls as
a pleasure resort, will also involve the
building of a bridge across the Potomac.
1t seems to be the idea of the officer
of the company referred to that while the
item in the business that will come to
this new line both from Gettysburg and
from the west via the Western Maryland,
which, as Is well known, Is nowcontrolled
by the Wabash system, the freight busf-
ness Is likely to assume considerable vol
ume especially in the coal from the West
Virginia mines, which could be landed at
the Virginia side of the Aqueduct bridge.
1t is said in the dispatch from Fred
erick in regard to this proposed extern
sion that the enterprise Is understood to
be backed up by people who have ample
means to carry out this or any other
project which they favor, and so 1t might
stances that perhaps this Is the form
which the much-talked-about Wabash
connection with this city Is to take.
Revival of Rumor.
Ever since the Old Dominion road was
started there have been rumors that 1t
was merely intended as a means for the
Wabash road to gain an entrance into
Washington. But beyond such rumor
nothing tangible has developed up to this
time, unless it may be considered that
this proposed extension into Maryland
of the Old Dominion is the beginning Of
the development of the alleged Wabash
plan.
The Old Dominion road was built en-
trely from money supplied by John r.
Mclean and Senator Stephen B. Elkins,
and their expenditures are supposed to be
represented by million dollars of stock,
which constitutes all the securities thus
far issued by the company. While this
stock is listed on the Washington Stock
Exchange, 1t has never been an active
trader, and the general superstition is
the entire issue is owned by these two