The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1912-11-22
INSIDE FACTS OF CONDITION
 OF N. H. ROAD
Coroner's Star Wit- ness Everett, Makes
 Startling Statements
Says Speed Of More Than 8 Niles Under Present COndi- ti0ns of Main Lines is
 Positively Dangerous

That the New Haven road has al- lowed it's roadbed on the main line from New York to Boston to become so badly run down that it will take a year to get it back to it's former high standard was the declaration to The Farmer to-day of George E. Everett.
 MT. Everett says the road is jeopar-
 dizing the lives of its passengers on
 the main line when it runs trains St
 a speed greater than 30 to 35> miles an hour over such roadbed as exists
 in general from New York to eBos-
 ton.
 He says the alarming conditions
 are not peculiar to the main line. They exist on the branches as well.
 He has made personal inspection of the line running from South NorwaIk
 to Danbury, and also of the Berkshire
 division, both at the rittsfield and the
 Bridgeport terminals. Only the fact that ties live longer in gravel than in ballast keeps the conditions on these branch lines less periIous than on the main line.
 Everett is the man who gave to Coroner Phelan a personal exhibition of the wretched condition of the main line road bed. when with his bare fingers he pulled spikes from the railroad ties near the scene of the Westport wreck of Oct g. For B years-within IS days-an employe of the railroad, he speaks with au- thority on matters pertaining to the upkeep of road bed. for this was his principal business during the greater part of his life $
 Everett takes issue with c. c. FL well. the engineer of the Public Utili- ties Commission. Mr. ElWell has been quoted as saving that he found the roadbed in fairly good condition MT. ElweH was the roa dnlaster of the New York division in the early s90'si when the four track system was in
 it'I don't know how he ,daree say, such a thing, railroad man as he is'' ex- claimed Everett with a show of in- dignation- sHe is practical rail- roader and he ought to know from his inspection what the conditions are.
 Last Sunday morning following tho wreck at Greens Farms four other men and walked all the way from South Norwalk, along the tracks, 10 the scene. One of the party had read a statement from a railroad official that the .roadbed was in good condi- ton.
 Between Westport and Greens Farms one of the five kicked five spikes out of the ties. Another pull eQ three out Dy nand. It was com mon to count 10 or IS ties every rail length which were rotten and decay ed. There were broken and loose bolts by the hundreds. The road is i'm an awful condition.
 'sWhen we reached Greens Farms we found that the railroad men had taken up a great many of the ties and had burned them. We could see that the burning ties were rotten. They .,T,SN ii IT <F,nf was in case an inspection of the ties was made and these of course were the best ones. All they didn't burn up-of the rotten tfes-they took away on the work train.
 When I got back, to South Nor l walk, I wrote to A President Me11en telling him the exact conditions But it doesn't seem to do any good to tell these things to the railroad~men. THE STATE MUST DO SOMETHING" l
 t'I will gladly give my experience to assist in improving conditions, and I l think I may say fairly that know 1 about as much about track work as 1 almost any man. But it seems that 1 I can't argue the question with any of the New Haven railroad men
 Referring to the general. condition | of the system, Everett said the Berk- | shire tracks about three miles from I Bridgeport.
 Speaking of the Berkshire tracks he said there were enough new ties | to keep the rails fairly firm, but speaking of the effect of new and old | ties in the same roadbed he pointed | out that the old, ties, rotting away | have a tendency to give. under pres sure, while new ties are firm. The result is that the train passing over the | roadbed finds an uneven resistance and the engine goes "burnping" over the bad roadbed.
 He added that the branch lines nave roadbeds of gravel rather than of trap rock! The wooden ties have longer life in the gravel bed than in trap rock, hence with the same period of neglect the ties in ballast rot much more than in the gravel bed. All the hranches have an advantage over the main line.
 s.It seems to me that the officials of the. road don't make 8 study Of. these things said Everett. eThe road master surprises me. because he certainly knows these things just as well as T do; that's just what I told him at Saugatuck."
 eff I had been in the employ of the New Haven road IS days longer, I would have rounded out 35 years of said he. For that reason believe I am qualified to speak. I re- gard the road department as the of railroa ding, and l be- Lieve it is just as foolish to try to run f trains over a road bed like the New Haven main line as to build a house on a rotten foundation. But it isl worse with the railroad, because it