The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 18??-19??, 1913-04-15

thing like 3Iz,oee,ece IN subsidies.
The road is about 500 miles n IN
Guiding its branches, and it cost over
$40. oO0, Gee, or abolt 800, 600 a mile.
when it was begun h indians oo-
tected to its constr action and IN order
TO pacify them the work was begun
at both ends and carried on to the
meeting point, half way between the
coast and the capital. AS all the ma
terials came from England, this en-
tailed an enormous expense 1t costing
as much as IS to bring a steel rail
from Vera Cruz to the capital by
wagon. The same was SO for a time
OF the Mexican Central rallroao; wnich
runs from Ell Paso to Mexico City.
The road from Vera Cruz was cap
italized at $46, 900, 900, and it has al
ways paid a good profit on the in
vestment. For a long time it had a
monopoly, and at the start its freight
rates for this haul of less than 800
miles were SIS a ton and it's pas
senger fares were 10 cAnts a mile.
The road is a marvel of engineering
and it has some Of the steepest grades
upon record. 1t runs from the low
lands at Vera Cruz right up the noun
tains, and it has some grades so steep
that a SiameSe twin engine, with a
dOuble-header, has been constructed
to mount them. This engine has two
Ire BOXES, TWO DOlicTS anu TWO SETS
Of driving wheels to max it go. With
it the train climbs an altitude OF q
500 feet in twelve miles, and more
than 1000 feet in twenty-five miles,
lifting you out of the tropics and into
the temperate
Some Queer Features of Railroad
Building.
A large part of the old Mexican
road had ties of mahogany and ebony.
The chief objection to the ebony ties
was that it was hard to drive the
spikes into them and almost impos-
sible to get them out when the rails
had to be changed. On the Tehaun-
tepec road some OF the track is laid on
mahogany ties which cost there from
35-to so cents each. The ebony trees
do not grow as large as the mahogany
trees and their ties are more eXpen-
sive to make. On the Mexican road
many steel ties have been employed.
These are hollow plates, about four
inches wide and of the same length
as an ordinary tie, SO made that when
turned upside down they loo like
a trough. The I~nteroceanic road uses
steel disks to hold the rails, tying
them together with a cross piece Of
iron, but these do not work as wei.
as the solid steel ties.
A large part of the Mexican Cen
trail railway Is laid with wooden ties,
and his. reminds me of a story one
Of the constructors tells as to Mexican
contracts. Said he:
1.-THE average haciendado here has
queer ideas of business. l found a
strip Of forest along the line of the
Mexican Central which might have
supplied us with a goodly number OF
ties. I called upon the owner and
asked him at what rate he could cup
ply us with 5000. He replied that
| the price would be so cents each.
$ then said, But suppose l take 10000
ties
! "'Oh,' replied the man. In thai
4 case I could not let you have then
, for less than IS cents apiece
"'And if I wan 100, 0
S One hundred thousand ties ex
claimed the farmer, raising his hands
S I doubt whether l could get then
: out. 1t would be a great deal q
j trouble. l could not think Of under
taking to supply that number for les
n than $3.50 each"
0 Passenger Travel.
| find the Mexican railways vel
managed and the ears exceedingl,
0 comfortable. There are Pullmal
Sleepers on all the main lines an,
under ordinary conditions one cal
lake his berth Or drawing room a
o ST. Louis and go to Mexico City with
e out change. The eating arrange
I ments are excellent and the fares ar
l. about the same as in the States.
l. AS to local travel, the rates are les
Is than those Of our country, the usua
first-class fare being two and four
n tenthS cents gold a mile and the sec
2 ond-class about one cent and a quar-
l. ter per mile. All of the principe
railways have first and second elias
coaches, but only the common pee
pie and the Indians use the latte,
s, Nevertheless IS per cent of the pas
e. senger come from the sec
ic ond-class. The poems love to trave
o. n whenever one of them gets a fe,
IN dollars ahead he spends it by givin
n himself and his family a railway jour
ne ney. Sometimes he rides as far as h
u can and then comes back upon foo
One Of the great sources Of sue
Of rattle is the religious shrines. TT
&c noonc no nnon nil0riHnan e H..