Las Vegas optic., 1913-08-21

will begin early this fall When com
pleted it will have cost the railway
company more than 100000 and will
finish the quarter million dollar pro
gram outlined for Topeka a few
months ago.
The new power plant will be built
west Of the present building used for
this purpose. It will be constructed
Of structural steel and corrugated iron
and viii house all the boilers, pumps,
and necessary machinery for the dis
tribution of heat and power among
the buildings in the shop territory.
The preliminary plans for the erec-
tion of this power house have been on
file in the engineering headquarters in
Topeka for some time Only the direct
authority from Chicago remained to
allow the completion of the details
and the call for bids This authority
has been received and the contract
will be let as soon as possible.
The rapid growth of the Santa Fe
railway shops in Topeka-the largest
in the world-in the last few years
has made it necessary for increased
power facilities The addition of new
departments, the construction Of new
paint shops, motive power office
building, heating apparatus and an ex-
tension of the machine shop have over
taxed the facilities of the old power
plant
The new machinery will be the
latest in modern machine art and will
be installed at a large cost. The old
plant will be converted into an cleo
trical department where the dynamos
and other electric power machinery
will be located.
It will cost the Santa Fe nearly
100000 for the installation Of new
alternating current electric generating
apparatus in the shops and for the new
boilers, stokers and coal and ash han
ding apparatus.
The authority received today for
the construction Of the power plant
addition brings the total expenditures
outlined for the Topeka shops this year
to more than a quarter of million
dollars.
The pouring of concrete began to-
day on the foundation work of the new
100000 addition to the machine
shops. The contractors will rush the
work that the Topeka Bridge and Iron
Works company may complete the
steel enclosure before cold weather.
The machine shop addition Increases
the facilities of the Topeka shops by
allowing working room for 200 more
expert shopmen,
American Reads Better Than Foreign
How American railroads compare
with those of Europe is shown by the
London Statist, which in commenting
upon English railroads, makes the fol-
lowing comparison with the Pennsyl-
vania railroad.
Assuming an average rate in this
country of about I'D per ton per mile,
the freight traffic of the whole of the
railways of England, Scotland. Ire
land and Wales would reach 13.OOO,-
100000 ton miles, The freight traffic
by the Pennsylvania system
alone exceeds Al, 100000, 900 ton miles,
or more than three times the amount
of work performed in conveying
freight by the whole Of the railways
of this country. In the United King
dom the railways now convey about
53O,0O0,OOO tons Of freight an average
distance Of about 25 miles, whereas
the Pennsylvania system last year
47s,OOO,OOO tons Of freight
an average distance OF 81 miles"
Proposed Federal Law to Cost Heavily
That it will cost the railroads s614,-
619,1OO to comply with the proposed
federal law requiring them to replace
the present wooden passenger equip /
ment with steel cars is the statement
contained in bulletin received in
Vevas today from special committee of
the American Railway association on
relations Of railway operation to leg