The Fairmont West Virginian. (Fairmont, W. Va.) 1904-1914, 1914-12-08
Of
. ALL RAILROAD
IMPROVEMENTS
COMPLETION OF MAGNOLIA THE
GROWING ACHIEVEMENT IN
RAILWAY CONSTRUCTION.
COST OF BUILDING WAS S5oo,ooC
AMiLE-DISTANCE IS TWELVE
MILES. ..
BATTLING PROBLEM OF TRANS
PoRTATioN OF HEAVY FREIGHT
SOLVED.

..E SOLVED.
With the opening OF the Magnolia
cutoff line of the Baltimore and Ohio
railroad between Orleans Road and
Little Cacapon, w. Va, distance of
12 miles, on December G, new epoch
was recorded in the history OF the
worlds transportation which marked
the completion of the largest improve.
ment of the kind ever undertaken, as
well as the most costly per mile of
line,and the last work Of q budget of
',betterments commenced five years ago
to build the only two main lines of four
tracks each operated by one system
and crossing two mountain ranges.
The new Magnolia cutoff cost the
Baltimore and Ohio railroad $6,O00,000,
or $500, COCOA mile, and with other i'm
provements involving the reduction of
grades, elimination OF curves, removal
OF tunnels and purchase Of new equip.
ment, the total cost has been about
500, 900.
BY reason of the geography Of, the
Baltimore and Ohio railroad being such
that two maIn lines from the west con-
meet at Cumberland, Md, one from
Chicago and Pittsburgh, and the other
from st. Louis and Cincinnati, each OF
which is fed by numerous sub-matn and
branch lines, the Magnolia cutoff
solves a problem Of transportation
which has been the study of railroad
experts throughout the world in an
effort to provide the most effective re.
lief of the congestion which rsulted
from crowding tn main tracks east OF
Cumberland. In solving this problem
third and fourth tracks were added to
the main line under plan which even
tually will provided four.traclr railroad
to the seabord at Baltimore.
Coincident with the extension of ia
cilities in the coal regions of Maryland,
West Virginia and Pennsylvania and
the growth of business Of recent years,
the eastern end of the Cumberland d.
vision of the Baltimore and Ohio han
died the greatest density Of traffic of
any stretch of railroad in the United
States, as over it there were moved
Il, 000,000 tons of freight mile of road
annually TIE building Of extra tracks
facilitated the movement of freight to
some extent, but 1t became necessary
to open the neck of the bottle" by add
ing the two main tracks known as the
Magnolia cutoff. Chief engineers of
the railroad had recommended it during
the last 15years. each under somewhat
different plans as to the character of
construction, cost and distance; and
when the work was started an engineer
representing the Japanese government
established his identity with the work
in order to study Its progress.
Primarily the cutoff is an essential
factor in the economics Of transporta-
ton, for not only will it save about s
miles in distance, but 1t will avoid a
summit OF the mountains for eastbopnd
traffic and in this way effect an econ
omy in the expense of train operation
by doing away with the use of extra
locomotives as helpers. Tho new line
is almost straight like the crow flies
between Orleans Road and Little Caca-
pom and eliminates S87 degrees of cur
vature compared with the original main
line which was built along the winding
banks of the Potomac river In the days
before engineering problems were con-
Quered by such measures, There Is
practically no grad over the new line.
At certain points on the Improvement
the four main tracks are side by side,
while at other places the new line
crosses overhead on concrete and steel
bridges and passes under mountains
through tunnels.
To facilitate train movement over
this section Of the road, automatic sig
nails and telephones have been Installed
in order to abolish the train order sys-
tenn and operate the line by signal in.
dications.
The new line entailed the excayating.
OF 100000 cubic yards Of rocks and
earth; building four tunnelsW tthsa COM
binsd Length OF Z, 900 feet, erecting 2br3
600 cubic yards 81 concrete bridge
swerk; 1000 cubic yards Bet concrete
ret amin and inteF. Tn eli walls ana no.
inioyfnE Il 500 900 cub ic ysrdp ct mute
ftai from d cut 300 teet eeep Which