The San Francisco call., 1909-01-02


happy and to look young" said the
handsome Creosus. .It is the only way
to keep your good 1eoks. Why. when 1
feel a little blue / Just trot ont my car,
Ell F'leda. and take a run. Any one
who is a friend of mine can have its
use'
THAT is all very WELL" observed the
clerk to whom he was talking, Ito take
a run in q private car when you. feel
blue. Why. the old chap has just spent
$4,000 rehxing it. A man who has the
ThandsoRest private. car on the coast
has no right to feel blue"
Although railways sharply curtailed
their expenses throughout 1907, the or
ders for locomotives in that year were
three and a half times greater than
that of 1908; for passenger cars, so
per cent larger. and for freight cars
almost three times as large. Going
back as far as 1906, the number of
locomotives ordered was six times as
large as 1908. the number of passen-
ger cars three times as large, and the
number of freight cars six times as
large.
In 1907 approximately 5,212 miles of
new main track We're laid, while a sim
liar record for 1908 shows 3,214 miles.
a decrease of 1898 miles, or. 1873 per
cent. The 1908 record is the smallest
since 1904, when 1892 miles were laid.
The mileage built in 1904 showed a
falling off of 1920 miles or 33.2 ner
cent, from, 1903. 1t sis rather interest
ing to note that for. each fifth year
since 1893 the mileage record has been
a little over 5000 miles. In 1894 there
were 1,760 miles of new main track
laid, decrease of 1,264 miles, or Al
per cent, from the mileage built in
1888 This parallels closely the per-
centage of decrease this year. Not un-
til 1898, when $3.50 miles were laid,
did the. record again reach that of
1898, showing. a drag of five years fol-
lowing that panic.
More than 900 miles of railway have
been equipped with automatic block
signals during the last IL months, in
spite of hard. times, and. probably, 1000
miles will be equipped during the year.
The Grand Trunk Pacific track lay
ing outfit has crossed the new Battle
river bridge and has begun to lay steel
on the last lap to the prairie section
Battle river to Glover Bar bridge,
about Ito miles. If the weather is not
too. severe this gap sshould be closed
within the next 40 days, completing
the line from Winnipeg to Edmonton,
80 iiilies. me ~CloVer Bar Drldge will
be completed by December 81 This
and the Battle river bridge are two
of the largest on .the Grand Trunk Pa
cific. Battle river bridge is steel
viaduct ,2,770 feet long and 1S4 feet
high. consisting of 81 spans. Glover
Bar bridge is a steel viaduct 1,653 feet
long. 1861 feet high, consisting of 10
spans.
1t iss estimated that the total cost of
the Beaverton-W Willsburg cutoff in Ore
gon and the changes in the Yamhill
division to Hartman will be $911.314.37
or this sum, s214,694.37 has been ex-
pended in the purchase of the right of
way, for bridge materials and for the
grading of the new lines. The total
length of the cutoff will be about 10.17
miles, including the high bridge over
the willamette .at Oswego. The cutoff
involves change of 5.3 miles in the
Yamhiil division.
IL may be news to j. Downey Harvey
that "E II. Hartman. had got control
OF the Ocean Shore railroad, q conces
sion that includes right of way
through San Francisco This accord
ing to the Railroad Age Gazette for
aSt