Evening star., 1936-07-19
lob Of REPLACING
CAR RAILS BEGUN
800 Work on 14th Street
Tracks Between New York
Avenue and H.

In a shower of sparks from bat
terry of acetylene cutting torches, a
crew of 300 men began at midnight
last night Washington's largest street
car construction project, replacement
of rails on Fourteenth street from
New York avenue to H street.
Designed to speed up traffic by re-
routing several street car lines. and
to relieve congestion at one of the
busiest intersections, the project en-.
tails changing two sets of tracks about
$50 feet long. Each set Of track in
cludes two wheel rails and two guide
rails for the third rail under thu
pavement.
Street. car service on the Mount
Pleasant and Fourteenth street
and the line ending at Fifteenth street
and New York avenue was halted al
midnight and buses were substituted
as trucks, cranes, tractors and der
ricks went into action to cut the old
track into sections, lift it out and re-
place it with. the new rails.
Despite the magnitude Of the job
it was expected to be completed within
six hours, in time to carry traffic or
the new routes this morning.
Elaborate Plans Made.
To insure the utmost speed and &C.
curacy, elaborate plans were made tt
prevent any hitch in the work. White
marks were painted at 20-foot inter
walls, where each rail was to be cut.
A green mark was painted exactl,
in the middle of each section, so tn
men would know exactly, withou
measuring, where to place the chail
and hook for the derrick to lift ou
the 700-pound section of steel.
All excavation had been com
pleted. so that as soon as one piec
was sheared by the acetylene cut
ters it was lifted out by one Of tn
five cranes or three derrick trucks
and one of the new rail sections wa
lifted into place.
To eliminate further measure
ments in lining up the new rails
pegs had been placed where the en-
Of each rail was to rest. The peg
were circled with white paint to b
visible easily at night, the last wor
in precaution.
| Outside Rails Abandoned.
When the job is completed the tw
middle rails of the four-trac
stretch between New York avenu
and H, on Fourteenth, will have beel
replaced. The two outside rails ar
to be abandoned, but will be takel
up later. The west rail of the tw
to be replaced will be moved II inche
farther west to allow a wider spac
between the new rails, and will hav
switch at the New York avenu
end to correspond to one now Il
place on the east rail.
The job is complicated by the larg
number of castings required on tn
third-rail type of switch and inter
section, which must fit together lik
the pieces of a crossword puzzle. r
H Dalglish, chief engineer of tn
Capital Transit Co., explained. tn
job is the largest rerouting chang
in the history Of Washington elec
tric transportation and one Of tn
largest In the country, he said.
Even before midnight the cutter
began work with their acetylen
torches. cutting about halfwa
through from the top to reduce tn
time required to cut the section
when. the cars stopped at midnight
The hlue-green flame eats througl
the heavy rolled steel rails, weighin
about 100 pounds to the yard, in
minute or less.
The work Of fitting the rails an
guide lines calls for q high degre
of skin, even in the laborers, an
several Of those on the job last nigh
have been with the company sine
the third-rail tracks, now being re
moved. were laid to replace the oil
cable car rails in 1896.