Norwich bulletin., 1916-02-14
SHORE LINE DISQUALIFICATION
 IS NEST IN ORDER.
Contract For Four Line Section From Groton to Midway Awarded-More Work at South Lyme.

Groton to Midway Awarded-Mors
 Work at South Lyme.
 The next in order of the Shore Line division improvements is to be the four tracking of a section through the ports that the New Haven officials Is not yet ready to verify, says the New Haven Times Leader.
 At the time this job Is started or soon afterward, two other sections Of four tracking are to be tackled. One of them will be much nearer New Ha- ven than any of the others Another Is to be in the vicinity of the Mantle bridge. Figures for the construction of these pieces of four tracking are be- contract may be awarded as soon as the directors have approved the opera tions.
 The New Haven road will not oficiaI- ly announce any of the proposed i'm provements until the directors have set their seal of approval on them, and the directors are approving the jobs only when there is enough money in sight to pay for the work. This "pay-as- we-go" policy is expected to give the road in due time first-class property and the best equipment possible.
 Funds already in hand are suficent to pay for the Thames river bridge and for s1S0, 900 piece of four tracking be- yond the bridge in the town of Ston- ington. There are funds also for the through Old Saybrook, which would practically turn that line into a rail- road yard. Besides this the road is financing and doing with it's own gangs the work of installing additional sid- ing on either side the Connecticut riv- CT.
 When the Times-Leader inquired as to the possible work in New London and at Mantle the road handed out an official statement as follows: Contract for a four track section between Groton and Midway has been awarded to the Lathrop & Shea Co.,; wor< to 1e commenced at once. The improvement contemplates construc- tion of 3.1 miles of four track railroad with grade reduction in order to facili- tate movement of trains between Mid way and New London .Tae grade is reduced from 40 feet per mile to 30 feet per mile and the work includes the widening of three highway bridges.
 There is no work under way west of Winthrop cove or east of New Haven. However, a siding is to be extended at South Lyme, work to be done by com pany forces, and possibly this refers to that near Mantle bridge There was no intimation that the work was under way, in the query, but 1t is an open secret in many
 
 these jobs in three places as the next steD in their four tracking plan. It is the Shore Line division that is | to get the next identification. Had the road not slumped so tremendously | the new identification work would have been started this spring and sec | ton electrified would have been the
 line from Boston to Providence. Of | f1cials still have the job in mind and | expect to undertake it when times are | ripe for such work
 With the Boston, Providence and the
 New York-New Haven section running under electric power the New Haven's | heaviest traffic zones would be cared | for completely. And with four track | ed Shore line in operation the cleo trif1cation would then be extended | from Providence to New Haven, ana
 SO the road would have an extremely | up-to-date route between Boston ant | New York
 That the plan is possible, thousl probably a considerable distance in tn, future, is admitted by men interested | in the work.
 | Since the completion of the New | Haver's power plant at Cos Cob th' | views of the roads officials on powel supply have changed radically. The! believe it would be much cheaper anC
 better for the road to buy Its electric | power than to generate it. | we are not making our own coal, | the officials argued, "so there is no req
 son why we should make our electrici' 1 ty Spending money to build power | houses is somewhat similar to huyins | and operating coal mines l This theory took root in the minds of the officials and caused the plans for 8 big power house at Cedar Hil
 to be pigeon-holed. These plans were | drawn up before the power buying idee | was thoroughly presented and before
 the New York Edison company set z | figure for power from it's big plant 1T | the Bronx The New York Edison ser vice is so satisfactory that the whole 1 identification ideas of the New HaveT
 road were reE9lutionized and now. if z | Possible purchaser were to appear. the
 road might be willing to sell its Go: Cob power house and buy all its cur
 rent from private corporations. | It is likely that the United 1lluminat | ing company of New Haven ana | Bridgeport, may have had this in minC | when the company began plans for z | huge power plant on the Housatonit | river near the railroad bridge. Wher | preliminary surveyes on this propert!
 were made, it Is reported that the New
 Haven road was to build the poweI l house there.
 But the United Illuminating compan! hopes some day to have a plant. ther' ! from which both Bridgeport and NeV
 Haven can be handled. and all the ter | ritory in between. The present powe plants in both cities would then bt l used as ub-stations to handle curren trans Vitted from the Milford shore O
 the Housatonic river.
 The United Illuminating company:
 plan is one for the future and proba bly, vii not be ready much before thu New Haven's Shore Line is fully cleo 1 trified.