The Fulton County news. [volume] (McConnellsburg, Pa.) 1899-current, 1915-05-27
MOUNTAINS NOT BARRIERS.
Railroads No Longer Need Follow Long
Winding Water Courses, or Pass
Through Expensive Tunnels.

felt they were doomed to be for
ever deprived of railroad facili-
ties. This conclusion was based
upon the fact that, until recently,
railroads could not be operated
successfully upon a grade that
exceeded 2 per cent. Hence the
oldtime steam roads followed
long winding water courses, or
pass through tunnels made at the
expenditure of millions of dol
lars, and then with great risk of
loss of life and destruction of
property. Thanks to the devel-
opments of science, and of mod
ern invention, railroads may be
built and operated most success
fully right up the steep mountain
side, or across the hills and hol-
lows-much more easily than the
hauling by teams over hilly roads.
When the present promoter, E.
j. Post, came into this communi-
ty and proposed building a real
standard gauge railroad right
across the Cove mountain and
thus connect McConnellsburg
with the Cumberland Valley rail-
road at Fort Loudon, it was
thought impracticable le-if not i'm
possible, by many, and some
there are, who refuse to be con-
vinced even now. There were
enough, however, who had suf-
ficent faith in the project to put
up money and form an organiza-
ton, get a charter, find compan-
les who were glad to take the
contract to construct the work,
and now the work has actually
begun.
In order to make assurance
doubly sure, the officers of the
home Company, conceived the
idea of inviting as many of the
citizens of Fulton and Franklin
as cared to join, to be the guests
of the Company in an automobile
excursion to Hagerstown, there
to be the guests of the Hagers-
town & Frederick Railway Com
pany. This excursion was pulled
off last saturday and more than
sixty persons in fourteen auto
mobiles made the journey. At
Hagerstown the party was met
by representatives of the H. & F.
Ry Co., special car was placed
at their disposal, and the party
was taken over the road as far as
Braddock Heights on the summit
of the South Mountain, a distance
of % miles, a most beautiful spot,
indeed. Here after a magnifi-
cent luncheon had been served,
the guests were shown the sub
station power house of the Com
pany at the summit of the noun
tain and were shown also the
electric locomotive, of the same
type and tonnage as proposed for
our local railway. The locomo-
tive was seen in operation draw
ing trains loaded with materials
over grades as high as 81 per
cent. on direct haul of three
miles which was taken with ap-
parently little effort. The ap-
proximate weight of tonnage
pulled by this locomotive, accord
ing to the statements of the Of
ficials of the Hagerstown Rail-
way Company, was approximate
ly 200 tons. The grade at this
point incidentally, is 81 per cent.
sleeper than the grade at the
steepest part of our proposed line
from McConnellsburg to Fort
Loudon as our grade does not at
any point exceed 6 per cent.
The electric locomotive demon
strated, is one of four used by
that company which hook onto
freight cars on the steam railway
at Frederick and Hagerstown and
convey them from those cities
right over the trolley tracks to
the various mountains and foot
hills, a distance of thirty miles,
loaded to their capacity deliver
ing them to various points of des-
tination, where they are reload
ed with the products of the ter
ritory contiguous to the trolley
line and shipped to market.
The demonstration given show