The Washington herald., 1913-05-28
PARTY NSPECTS
BLUEMONT Line
Washington and Old Domin-
ion Railroad Company Of
fcials Act as Hosts.
SERVES $4,000 PERSONS
Newspaper Men Are Delighted with
Trip and the Equipment
of Line.
SERVES $4,000 PERSONS

oficiaIs of the Washington and Old
Dominion Railroad Company yesterday
entertained a party of friends and news
paper men with a tour of the line be-
tween Washington and Bluemont. Va,
which recently has been electrified" At
Bluemont the party left their special car
and drove through historic Smokers Gap
to the top Of the ridge for a view of
Loudoun and Clarke Counties.
The inspection trip was both delightful
and informing. Wet as the air was-and
it was so wet at times that what the
Weather Bureau calls precipitation" &C.
curred-the snug coach in which the
inspecting party and their hosts travelled
and the yet snugger buffet car loaded
with valuables ahead. were as cheerful
as IL all the suns in the armament were
shining therein.
The precipitation, in fact, was slight,
despite the constant cloudiness. Only for
a few minutes at Bluemont, while the
travellers were posing for the photo
grapher, as debonairly as possible under
a driving drizzle that found its way in
to the inside Of the collar with fiendish
ingenuity. were the brave inspectors of
electrifcation subjected to real rain.
The railroads officials. who were hosts,
guides, and mentors on the journey, were
F. c. Wright, president; W. B. Emmert.
general manager: ]. v. Davis. general
passenger and freight agent; Wilton ].
Lambert, general attorney, and ]. A.
Lehew, trainmaster.
Their guests were John Poole, President
of the Federal National Bank; L. P.
Shoemaker and A. c. P. Shoemaker, real
estate men, and these scribes or pen
q - D II Z
son, B. A. Mattingly, w. P. Kennedy
Charles Bayne, Wingrove Bathon, John
]. DAILY, A. W. Leonard, and F. D.
Lander. At Herndon, c. NJ. Rippey,
newspaper man of that place, was taken
on, and at Leesburg the party was
largely augmented by the advent of
Joel Chandler Harris. a son of 'Old Re-
mus" who is polishing up the Loudon
Mirror.
A most palatable luncheon was served
while the special train 'whisked through
the thriving villages that the electrified
Washington and Old Dominion. formerly
the Bluemont branch of the Southern, Is
making to grow as they never grew be-
fore. Between the courses of this ad-
mirable feast the officials said that the
biggest of these little towns were Falls
Church. Herndon. Sterling, Ashburn.
Peonian Springs, Purcellville, Hamilton,
Round Hill. and Bluemont.
All thes places showed signs Of quick
ening impulses. The real business OF the
community was plainly centered In the
beautiful farms and gardens and
orchards, many of them the homes of
wealthy townspeople. but in the villages
there were mills and shops and stores
with an apparent plenty of prosperity.
The growth of the towns. it is planned
by the officials of the railroads. will be
advanced not only by the settlement of
the arabic lands, but also by manufac-
tories and other industries which Will be
encoura ged to locate at some OF the
sites between Washington and Bluemont.
The railroad men said that the de-
velopment of the region lying along
the road had gone forward remarkably
since the first electric cars were sent
all the way through from Washington
to Bluemont December 81. The road
brings a beautiful residence country
into almost suburban distance from
Washington. During the several
months from July 80 to that date
single line of railroad was being con-
verified from steam into an electric
line without an actual stoppage of
traffic. Such a thing had never been
done before There were no prece-
dents. as the lawyers say. so the man
ayers of the road had 10 make their
own presidents, which they did.
But now the company is operating
daily sixteen passenger trains each
way between Washington and Blue
mont. The running schedule is two
hours and forteen minutes for the
fifty-four miles, with thirty stops.
These figures are contrasted with five
passenger trains each way when the
railroad was STEAM" on a schedule
that could not be counted without
some embarrassment
The company, which still uses two
big Baldwin locomotives to haul its
freight trains. puts two of them
through each way every night. Elec-
trio locomotives later will be substi-
tuted for these steam engines. The
trains handle mail. express, and pas
sengers' luggage, which is transferred
to other railroads under the usual
agreements.
Altogether, the railroad, with its
branches to Great Falls and Alexan-
dria. is serving about 10000 people.